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UVA Wins Both Relays on Opening Night of NCAA Swim & Dive Championships

The two-time defending champion Cavaliers won both the 200 medley and the 800 freestyle relays on day one of the NCAA Championships

Matt Newton

Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

Virginia's quest for a third-consecutive national title got off to a strong start as the Cavaliers captured both of the relay events in record-breaking fashion on the opening night of the 2023 NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships on Wednesday in Knoxville, Tennessee. 

Last month, Virginia's team of Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh, Lexi Cuomo, and Kate Douglass broke their own NCAA, U.S. Open, and American record in the 200-yard medley relay, taking the title in 1:31.73. In the first event of the NCAA Championships, they did it again, winning the title and lowering their own NCAA, U.S. Open, and American record by more than two tenths of a second, finishing in 1:31.51. Despite a solid start from Gretchen Walsh in the backstroke and Alex Walsh in the breaststroke, NC State was actually in the lead at the halfway mark of the race, but a strong butterfly leg from Lexi Cuomo (22.10) brought the Cavaliers nearly even with the Wolfpack and then Kate Douglass took care of the rest, finishing the anchor leg in 20.34 seconds, the second-fastest 50-yard relay split ever recorded, as Virginia ended up beating NC State by nearly a full second. 

The 800-yard freestyle relay, the second and final relay event of the night, was the only relay that Virginia didn't win at the NCAA Championships in 2022, as the Cavaliers finished second to Stanford, who has won four of the last five NCAA titles in the event. It was a different story this time around, as UVA finished first in 6:49.82, beating Stanford (6.50.77) by just under a second and setting a new Virginia school record and a pool record for the Allan Jones Aquatic Center. Freshman Aimee Canny swam the leadoff leg in a personal-best 1:42.34, Alex Walsh swam the fastest split in the second leg at 1:41.18, Reilly Tiltmann built on Virginia's lead with a 1:43.38, and Ella Nelson closed it out with a 1:42.92. 

Virginia secured all 80 available points from the first two relay events on the opening night of the meet and leads second-place Texas (64) by 16 points in the team standings. 

NCAA Women's Swim & Dive Championships Team Standings (through day 1)

  1. Virginia - 80
  2. Texas - 64
  3. Cal - 56
  4. Stanford - 52
  5. NC State - 44

UVA will look to build on that lead on Thursday with the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, 50-yard freestyle, 1-meter diving, and 200-yard freestyle relay. Prelims are at 10am and the finals begin at 6pm with all of the action available for streaming on ESPN+. 

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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