Obviously, Virginia women’s swimming and diving is the back-to-back-to-back-to-back national champion. Four straight times have the Cavaliers staked their claim as the nation’s very best, but the number four is also significant for another reason — Virginia signed four of the top 11 swimmers in the 2024 high school recruiting class.
Those freshman swimmers — Katie Grimes, Leah Hayes, Anna Moesch and Bailey Hartman — compose the next generation of superstar Cavaliers. That quartet will aim to etch their names into the history books alongside the historic achievements of a Walsh sister or Class of 2023 alumna Kate Douglass.
It seems like a lot of pressure for these young swimmers. Well, according to Hayes, it is not. Quite simply, for Hayes, swimming is all about a strong love of team, sport and self. When Hayes faces adversity, she powers through.
Interestingly enough, swimming had not always been Hayes’ primary sport. Her parents mandated Hayes play an instrument and play a sport — and she tried ballet, soccer, dance and others in conjunction with playing the piano, before falling in love with swimming at the age of seven.
“One of my friends at the time had invited me to do swim lessons,” Hayes said in an interview with The Cavalier Daily. “And [after that], you couldn’t keep me out of the water.”
But at the age of eight years old, she also developed alopecia universalis — an autoimmune disorder which causes complete hair loss. She initially wore a wig, but the transition between a wig and a swimming cap was difficult. Hayes then decided that she would not wear a swimming cap at all, in a statement of self-love for her body.
“It started helping me accept myself for who I was, and it also eventually led me to no longer wear a wig in public places,” Hayes said.
To this day, she still races without a swimming cap. And in her races, Hayes has been an absolute superstar.
Like many of these Cavaliers, Hayes came to Charlottesville with an already prolific resume. She was a member of the 2024-25 United States National Team, a bronze medalist in the 2022 FINA World Championships and the 2018 SportsKid of the Year from Sports Illustrated Kids, among other accomplishments.
In some ways, Hayes’ swimming progression has been tied to Virginia for years. That aforementioned bronze medal she earned in 2022? To some extent, it was assisted by the fact that Douglass dropped the event — giving Hayes the chance to compete. Hayes, just 16 years old at the time, capitalized by earning bronze with a time of 02:08.91 in that 200 meter medley. It seems like destiny that she ended up at Virginia.
Hayes is one of the bright stars for the Cavaliers, and the nation. In her first year with the Cavaliers, Hayes has already made her mark — posting a 4:01.34 performance in the 400 IM at the Tennessee Invite, which is the third-fastest time in program history.
But behind the scenes, the overarching sentiment for Virginia is not pressure — it’s just fun.
“I think it’s more about just the fun that we experience in practice and just on the deck with each other that take [the pressures] off and help us excel,” Hayes said.
“Just keep swimming,” is a little jingle from the film “Finding Nemo.” It is also a mantra repeated by Coach Todd DeSorbo and his team. This Virginia squad embraces it — and it shows. This team is ultra-focused and dominant, but not just in the sense that they eviscerate their competition. DeSorbo’s bunch also truly love each other, and the team culture is pristine.
Hayes is a winner in several ways. She shatters records in the pool, plus she is an inspiration to swimming fans and all those with alopecia. She will continue to “just keep swimming” throughout a successful freshman campaign, but regardless of the result of any race, Hayes’ confidence is undeterred — and is fueled by self-love.
“When I don’t wear a cap in the water, that is me saying ‘Hey, I’m bald, and I love it,’ and this is who I am and even though I have alopecia, this is what I’m capable of doing,” Hayes said. “It doesn’t stop me. I want to show people that even if you have an autoimmune disease, a disability, anything, that you are capable of achieving your goals, that nothing is standing in your way.”
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