Virginia women’s swim and dive wins third straight National Championship

In dominant fashion, the Virginia Cavaliers women’s swimming and dive team have won its third straight National Championship. With six individual National Championships and wins in all five relays, the Wahoos blew the competition out of the water with second place Texas scoring 414.5 points relative to Virginia’s 541.5. The team victory is UVA’s third in three years, asserting the program’s dominance in essentially every possible way.

Among Virginia’s individual performers, Kate Douglass won three individual National Championships (200 IM, 100 fly, 200 breast), Gretchen Walsh won two (100 back, 100 free), and her sister Alex Walsh won one (400 IM). Meanwhile, the team dominated in the relays with wins in all five including the 200 medley relay (G. Walsh, A. Walsh, Cuomo, Douglass), the 800 free relay (Canny, A. Walsh, Tiltmann, Nelson), the 200 free relay (Douglass, G. Walsh, Cuomo, Parker), the 400 medley relay (G. Walsh, A. Walsh, Douglass, Canny) and the 400 free relay (Douglass, A. Walsh, Parker, G. Walsh).

Virginia also had eight All-Americans who didn’t win championships with Reilly Tiltmann (sixth in 200 back), Ella Nelson (third in 200 breast), Anna Keating (seventh in 200 breast), Abby Harter (seventh in 200 fly), Maxine Parker (10th in 100 free), Aimee Canny (14th in 100 free), Lexi Cuomo (16th in 100 free), and Maddie Donohoe (11th in 1,650 free) all swimming All-American times.

Clearly, Todd Desorbo has established a dynasty of success for women’s swimming in Charlottesville. UVA is just the fifth program to ever win three straight National Championships, joining Texas, Stanford, Georgia, and Auburn. Overall, Virginia as an athletic department is now tied with Maryland for the 16th-most team National Championships with 32.