It’s hard to say who had the biggest smiles on their faces Saturday night in Atlanta as the University of Virginia women’s swimming and diving team – led by junior Kate Douglass and sophomore Alex Walsh – dominated the field en route to its second consecutive NCAA championship.
Were the swimmers, who set multiple records, sporting the widest grins? Head coach Todd DeSorbo and his staff? Or perhaps all the Hoos fans who were in the stands at the McAuley Aquatic Center?
There was certainly plenty of reason to rejoice.
UVA won four of the five relays and seven individual events to finish with 551.5 points, easily outdistancing the University of Texas (406) and Stanford University (399.5). In the process, the Hoos set five American records and three school records.
Douglass closed out a stellar NCAA meet with her third American record in three individual events. The Pelham, New York native – a bronze medalist at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the 200 individual medley – won the 200-yard breaststroke in a record-setting 2 minutes, 2.19 seconds. She swept her three events and set records in all three.
Walsh, a silver medalist in Tokyo and her younger sister, Gretchen – who hail from Nashville – were also dominant. Alex Walsh won the 200-yard butterfly on Saturday night, finishing in a UVA-record time (1:50.79), while Gretchen Walsh won her first individual NCAA title with a UVA- and pool-record time of 49.05 in the 100-yard freestyle.
The Walshes, Douglass and Reilly Tiltmann capped off the championship with an American and NCAA record in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:06.91).
As for those smiles? We’ll let UVA Today readers be the judge.
