Virginia Cavaliers Dominant in Home Dual Meet Sweep Against North Carolina
Head coach Mark Gangloff’s North Carolina Tar Heels were back in action Friday against Virginia after some recent cancellations due to COVID-19 protocols, but UNC’s women and men could not keep pace with fierce ACC rival Virginia. The reigning-national-champion Cavalier women remained undefeated in dual meet action, while the UVA men bounced back following a loss at the hands of Virginia Tech last week. Virginia’s women won 168-126, and the men came out on top by a 171-124 margin.
Virginia’s women saw excellent performances from its usual suspects. Kate Douglass posted elite times in winning the 100 breast (59.48) and 200 breast (2:05.67), and she also led off UVA’s first-place 400 medley relay in 51.84. Douglass’ best strokes are butterfly and freestyle, but her stellar swims in her supposed off-strokes was a testament to her versatility. Douglass owns the nation’s top time in the 200 breast (2:03.58), and she was just two seconds off that mark Friday while swimming a time only three others have achieved all season.
Alex Walsh won the 200 free (1:46.64) and 100 free (48.59), and younger sister Gretchen Walsh won the 50 free (22.03) and 100 fly (52.43). Ella Nelson recorded a swift time of 4:03.95 to win the 400 IM. That time is slightly off her season-best mark of 4:02.19 from November, but that time ranks second in the nation, and only Alex Walsh, Nelson, fellow Cavalier Emma Weyant and Stanford’s Brooke Forde have been faster than that 4:03.95 all season.
UVA’s women could get their biggest test of the season Saturday when NC State, the second-place finisher behind Virginia at last year’s NCAAs, comes to town.
On the men’s side, a trio of Virginia swimmers had multiple event wins. Justin Grender took first in the 100 (47.83) and 200 back (1:44.48), and Noah Nichols won the 100 (53.22) and 200 breast (1:57.58), while Jack Wright clocked first-place times in the 200 (1:36.56) and 500 free (4:31.20).
Check out full results here, and read the full press release from Virginia below:
The No. 18/1 Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams swept NR/24 North Carolina on Friday afternoon at the Aquatic and Fitness Center.
UVA’s women improved to 5-0 in duals with a 168-126 win over UNC, while the men moved to 2-3 with a 171-124 win over the Tar Heels. The Cavaliers won 23 events overall, with the men picking up 12 wins and the women finishing with 11.
Junior Ella Nelson highlighted the day for UVA with a UVA pool record in the 400-yard IM.
WOMEN’S RESULTS
- Virginia’s Kate Douglass, Alexis Wenger, Gretchen Walsh and Reilly Tiltmann won the 400-yard medley relay in 3:31.90.
- Alex Walsh won the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle events. Walsh took the 200 free in 1:46.64 and swam a season-best 48.59 to win the 100 free.
- Gretchen Walsh cruised to a win in the 50 free in 22.03 and completed her individual event sweep with a win in the 100-yard butterfly (52.43).
- Douglass swept the breaststroke events, going 59.48 to win the 100 and 2:05.67 to win the 200.
- Carter Bristow had her first dual meet win with a 4:57.55 in the 500-yard freestyle.
- Maddie Donohoe won the 1000-yard freestyle in 10:16.65.
- Abby Harter won the 200-yard butterfly in 1:58.11.
- Nelson set a UVA pool record with a 4:03.95 to win the 400-yard IM to close out the individual events.
MEN’S RESULTS
- UVA took the top two spots in the 400-yard medley relay to open the dual. Justin Grender, Noah Nichols, Max Edwards and Matt King, respectively, finished first in 3:10.01 and Matt Brownstead, Scooter Iida, Josh Fong and August Lamb were second in 3:12.46.
- Brownstead and King took the 50-yard free and 100-yard freestyle, respectively.
- Nichols swept the breaststroke events, with a 53.22 in the 100-yard breaststroke and 1:57.58 in the 200. Iida finished second to Nichols in both the 100 and 200.
- Jack Wright won the 200-yard freestyle (1:36.56) and 500-yard freestyle (4:31.20).
- Edwards clocked in first in the 100-yard butterfly (48.21) and Fong won the 200-yard butterfly (1:46.90).
- Grender swept the 100 and 200-yard backstroke for the second consecutive dual meet.
- Casey Storch closed out the men’s individual events with a win in the 400-yard IM in 3:46.60.
DIVING
- Nicholas Sanders scored a season-best and the top score of the season for UVA on the 1-meter with a 309.23. Sanders also had a season-best and NCAA Zone A qualifying score on the 3-meter with a 329.63.
- Walker Creedon led UVA with a 336.90 on the 3-meter board.
- Charlotte Bowen led the UVA women on the 3-meter with a season-best score of 308.92 and posted a season-best 281.93 on the 1-meter to finish third in both events.
- Jennifer Bell was fourth on the 3-meter with a season-high 296.25.
- Lizzy Kaye scored a 270.98 to place fourth on the 1-meter.
FROM TODD DESORBO
“It was a great start to our weekend, where we are recognizing our fourth years in their last home dual meet of their careers. The day started off great with some really awesome relays, usually relays set the tone for the rest of the meet. I usually know if the relays are good then the rest of the meet will be good and that held true today. Definitely saw a lot of fight and excitement in our team. They were happy to be home competing in front of a good crowd with a lot of family and alumni back in town supporting the team. It was a great atmosphere and great environment. The team swam really well. The goal was to come back from our meet last weekend at VT and just be better. I think we were better today. Really pleased with how we swam and how our diver’s dove. It was a great start to the weekend against a great rival in UNC, in the conference.
“Really want to shout out to our fourth years in their last weekend of home dual meets. Really special time for them having been here and contributed, supported and put a lot into this program the last four years. So, excited for them and excited for them to compete again tomorrow and continue for the rest of the season.
“Looking forward to tomorrow, an even bigger challenge with NC State in town. A great friend of mine, Braden (Holloway), their head coach, so excited to welcome them back to town and I know NC State will battle hard and give us a great challenge. Certainly, we look forward to that as we prepare for the postseason that is coming up really quickly.”
UP NEXT
Virginia hosts NC State in its final dual meet of the season on Saturday. Diving begins at 10 a.m. and swimming begins at 2 p.m.
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