Cavaliers Now

UVA Swim Shatters Another Record, Extends Lead at ACC Championships

Matt Newton

Virginia Athletic

After three days of competition, the five-time reigning ACC Champion Virginia women's swim & dive team held a 60.5-point lead over Stanford, the newcomer to the ACC but also the predecessor dynasty in collegiate swimming. That's not a small lead, but not nearly as comfortably large as the Cavaliers are typically leading by with two days left at the ACC Championships.

Well, after Friday's events, which included individual ACC titles for Alex Walsh and Gretchen Walsh plus an American-record shattering win for the Hoos in the 400 medley relay, Virginia's lead has now ballooned to nearly 200 points, leaving very little doubt as to the inevitability of UVA's six-peat at the ACC Championships heading into Saturday's final day of competition at Greensboro Aquatic Center.

Alex Walsh made some history to open Friday's finals, cruising to a successful title defense in the 200 butterfly. Her time of 1:50.43 didn't threaten her own NCAA record time of 1:49.16, but was still nearly two full seconds ahead of Stanford's Carolina Bricker (1:52.37). With that win, Walsh has 11 individual ACC titles in her career, tying her with NC State's Sue Walsh (no relation) for most individual titles in the history of the ACC. Including relays, Walsh has 30 ACC titles overall, most in ACC history.

Fellow UVA swimmers Tess Howley and Katie Grimes placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the A-Final for the 200-butterfly. Howley finished fourth in this event for the second year in a row. Additionally, Carly Novelline and Bailey Hartman finished 1-2 in the B-Final of the 200 fly.

Then it was Gretchen's turn, as the younger Walsh broke NC State's eight-year streak of ACC titles in the 100 backstroke. Walsh owns the NCAA record in the backstroke due to her medley relay leg back at the 2024 ACC Championships, but this was the first time she's won the ACC title in the backstroke, swimming a 48.95, while the rest of the field was on the other side of the 50-second mark.

The only women's event that Virginia didn't win on Friday was the 100 breaststroke, as Duke's Kaelyn Gridley (58.23) just barely out-touched UVA's Emma Weber (58.27) by four one-hundredths of a second to win the title. Gridley, Weber, and UNC's Skyler Smith all tied for third place in this event at ACC's last year and this year, they made up the top three spots on the podium.

Finally, Virginia got back to its record-shattering ways by destroying its own record in the 400 medley relay. UVA's team of Claire Curzan (49.35 backstroke), Alex Walsh (57.05 breaststroke), Gretchen Walsh (47.00 butterfly, which was the fastest fly split ever recorded), and Anne Moesch (46.18 freestyle) lowered Virginia's previous American and NCAA record of 3:21.01 by almost a second a half and beating the rest of the field by more than seven seconds. Watch the video below for a visual of what a seven-second lead looks like.

With those wins, Virginia now has 1040.5 points and leads second-place Stanford by 188.5 points in the team standings heading into the final day of competition.

2025 ACC Women's Swimming & Diving Championships Standings After Day 4

  1. Virginia – 1040.5
  2. Stanford – 852
  3. Louisville – 682
  4. California – 637
  5. North Carolina – 544.5
  6. NC State – 530
  7. Florida State – 350
  8. Pittsburgh – 348
  9. Miami – 338
  10. Duke – 271
  11. Virginia Tech – 241.5
  12. Notre Dame – 207
  13. Southern Methodist – 140.5
  14. Georgia Tech – 111
  15. Boston College – 79

On the men's side, Virginia posted its first podium finish of the meet as freshman David King took third in the 100 backstroke despite being the seventh seed in the final. His time of 45.11 was the second-fastest in UVA history. The Virginia men are currently in eighth place with 419 points, trailing seventh-place Virginia Tech in the fight for a point in the Commonwealth Clash by 64 points going into the final day.

2025 ACC Men's Swimming & Diving Championships Standings After Day 4

  1. California – 885.5
  2. Stanford – 822
  3. North Carolina – 741
  4. NC State – 676
  5. Louisville – 647.5
  6. Florida State – 516.5
  7. Virginia Tech – 483
  8. Virginia – 419
  9. Pittsburgh – 382.5
  10. Georgia Tech – 349
  11. Southern Methodist – 323
  12. Duke – 135
  13. Boston College – 90
  14. Miami – 84
  15. Notre Dame – 45

The 2025 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships will conclude on Saturday with the 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, women's platform diving and the 400 free relay. Prelims begin at 9:30am and the finals will start at 5:30pm. All of the events are streamed on ACC Network Extra.

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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.