Virginia women’s swim cemented itself as one of the greatest dynasties in sports Saturday.
Five straight championships is a feat rarely seen in modern athletics. UCLA won seven basketball championships in a row into the 1970s, and Iowa wrestling won five consecutive titles more than once, but it has been a long time since these achievements.
This weekend, the Cavaliers broke through and joined this pantheon of greatness, winning their fifth consecutive national championship.
Virginia began the finals with a statement win in the 200-meter medley relay. The team of sophomore Claire Curzan, graduate student Alex Walsh, senior Gretchen Walsh and graduate student Maxine Parker set a new American record with a time of 1:31.10. The Walsh sisters contributed two lightning-quick segments, with Alex Walsh swimming her fastest breaststroke ever in 25.62 and with Gretchen Walsh swimming the second-fastest butterfly split in NCAA history at 20.88 — one-tenth of a second behind the record she set earlier this year.
The second day of finals featured four events, beginning with the 500-meter freestyle. Freshman Katie Grimes and sophomore Cavan Gormsen represented the Cavaliers, finishing in fourth and fifth, respectively, and subsequently won All-American honors. Grimes's time of 4:34.25 was just under three seconds off the lead, while Gormsen finished at 4:34.51.
The 200 IM finals followed, and Alex Walsh finished in second with a time of 1:50.14, half a second behind Stanford junior Torri Huske. Walsh swam a fairly average race time-wise on every split, except for her excellent breaststroke leg, where she tied for first. This was enough to propel her into second place.
The sisters continued the momentum, as the next race saw Gretchen Walsh finish first in the 50-meter freestyle after just 20.49 seconds in the water. She was the only participant to finish under 21 seconds in the event, just 0.12 seconds behind her record time despite a poor dive to begin the race.
Gretchen Walsh raced again in the next event, this time in the 200 M freestyle relay. Alongside Curzan, Parker and freshman Anna Moesch, Virginia finished in 1:24.45, good enough for first place by about half a second. Walsh tied the NCAA record on her split to put the Cavaliers in first while the rest of the team held on to the lead. Virginia ended the day in first place with 225 points, 47 ahead of second-place Stanford.
The third day of the championship featured six events, beginning with a 100-meter fly and concluding with a 400-meter IM relay. The day started with a bang, as Gretchen Walsh became the first woman in history to swim the event in under 47 seconds at 46.97. Walsh is also the only woman to swim that distance in under 48 seconds, further cementing her greatness.
The 400 IM came next, where Grimes and freshman Leah Hayes would both swim, finishing fourth and fifth. Grimes initially got out to a big lead but slipped down to third during the breaststroke leg and couldn’t recover, finishing four seconds behind her best. She ended with a time of 4:01.10, while Hayes touched the wall in 4:01.62.
Alex Walsh would reenter the pool for the 100-meter breaststroke, swimming the third-ever fastest time in the event and taking home first in 56.49. This marked her fifth NCAA title in a unique event, a feat that has only been done once since the 1980s.
Next in line was the 100-meter backstroke, featuring a photo finish. Curzan would finish in 49.11, just 0.01 seconds ahead of Florida sophomore Bella Sims. Sims held the lead heading down the final stretch, but Curzan burst to the finish, just barely reaching her hand out ahead of the Gator. This would not be Curzan’s only win of the day, as she led off the 400-meter relay for the Cavaliers, followed by the Walsh sisters and Moesch.
The team soared to a victory, four seconds ahead of second-place Tennessee. After a close 200 meters to start, Gretchen Walsh entered the pool and essentially ended the race with her butterfly leg. Pulling out to a huge lead, Moesch held on and secured the victory for Virginia.
Finally, it was time for the fourth and final day. The Cavaliers donned swim caps with a golden V, but not just for Virginia. The caps also represented the roman numeral five — as in five championships. The Cavaliers proclaimed that they were not going to relinquish their title as the nation’s best.
On that fourth and final day, they completed their mission.
Curzan put together another incredible swim, this time in the 200-meter backstroke, setting a new NCAA record with a time of 1:46.82. Gretchen Walsh followed in her footsteps in the next event, claiming a new NCAA record of her own in the 100-meter freestyle in a time of 44.71. These two performances seemed to sum up the Cavaliers’ dominance over the course of the championships, stretching their lead to a practically insurmountable number.
Curzan and Walsh teamed up for the final event of the day, the 400-meter freestyle relay, along with Alex Walsh and Moesch once again. Once again, they would finish first, just 0.3 seconds behind the NCAA record set by Virginia in 2023 with a time of 3:06.01. As the event ended, the celebrations could officially begin.
The Cavaliers are champions, a statement that has remained true for five years. But now, as an incredible senior class departs, a bittersweet conclusion arrives.
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