ACC CHAMPS: Virginia captures ACC Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship!

For the 16th time in program history, the Virginia Cavaliers are your ACC Women’s Swimming & Diving Champions, finishing a whopping 159.5 points over 2019 ACC Champs NC State.

The title moves Virginia into a tie with North Carolina for the most ACC Women’s Swimming & Diving titles in the conference. The Hoos have won 11 of the past 13 titles, dating back to 2008. NC State won in 2017 and 2019.

Virginia amassed 1492.5 points to set a record for the most number of points ever scored at the ACC Championships, breaking its own record set back in 2014.

“I couldn’t be happier for this team of young ladies,” said Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo. “They have been working together all year towards a common goal, and that goal was not necessarily to win the ACC Championship, but outdo ourselves. I told them that I believed this was the best team in the history of the University of Virginia. So, the goal here at ACCs was to score more points than this team has ever scored.”

Earning the Most Valuable Swimmer award was junior Paige Madden, who picked up five ACC titles and scored 96 points for the team. Madden is Virginia’s first Most Valuable Swimmer since since former Cavalier (and US Olympic gold medalist) Lauren Purdue earned it for the third time 2013. Madden is the 14th Cavalier to earn the honor in school history.

But the work isn’t over yet. The ACC Championship, though a nice notch in the belt, is not the end goal for this year’s team.

“This is just a steppingstone for NCAAs,” DeSorbo continued. “We are not necessarily focused on [the ACC championships]. It’s always great to win and I don’t think it will ever get old to jump into the pool at the end of the competition with a conference championship, but the ultimate goal is moving towards contending for national titles. I’m excited to see what this team does going forward as we head into the NCAA Championships. The next goal is for the team is to be the best they have ever been at the NCAA Championships.”

The NCAA Championships will take place in Athens, Georgia from March 18-21. Virginia is currently ranked second in the country, behind three-time defending national champions Stanford. You can read the school’s recap here, and there are highlights below.