The Virginia swimming and diving teams returned home to take on Virginia Tech on Saturday in the final home dual meet of the season. A record Aquatic & Fitness Center crowd of 1,307 fans packed the stands for the rivalry showdown.
Coming into the meet, the Cavalier women (4-0) remained No. 1 in the national polls and the Hokie women (2-2) were receiving votes. The Cavalier men (1-3) came in at No. 17 and the Hokie men (3-1) sat close behind at No. 19.
After dominating the pool at the 2024 World Aquatics 25m Championships, the Virginia women delivered a decisive victory over Virginia Tech with a final score of 215-85. UVA swept the diving events and won all but two races. The Virginia men fell to VT by a final tally of 102-198.
Senior Day
At the meet, Virginia held its annual Senior Day Ceremony, honoring the 14 swimmers and divers graduating: Ella Bathurst, Colin Bitz, Connor Boyle, Tim Connery, Max Iida, Abby Kapeller, Lizzy Kaye, Kate Morris, Sam O’Brien, Nick Sanders, Matthew Styczen, Peter Thompson, Reilly Tiltmann, and Gretchen Walsh.
This year’s group of seniors helped cement UVA’s growing excellence in the water, and will likely leave an unbeatable legacy. The women are the first and only group in program history to have won three consecutive NCAA Championships, with a fourth likely on the way as the Hoos will enter the meet as heavy favorites.
On the men’s side, Connor Boyle holds the team records for the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, as well as the 400 medley relay. Matthew Styczen holds the team record in the 400 IM at 3:44.95. Nick Sanders holds the team records for 6 1M dives, 6 3M dives, and 6 platform dives. For the women’s program, Lizzy Kaye holds the team records for 6 1M dives, 6 3M dives, and 6 platform dives. Gretchen Walsh holds 7 individual team records and was named the NCAA MVP in 2024.
Swimming Highlights
Freshman David King started out the men’s individual events strong with a 1st place finish in the 1,000 freestyle in a personal best (PB) time of 9:03.43. Freshman Spencer Nicholas placed 2nd in the 100 back with a PB of 45.93.
Cavaliers Matthew Heilman (53.36) and Jay Gerloff (54.48) took 3rd and 4th, respectively, in the closely contested 100 breast. The Virginia men secured top spots in the 200 fly; sophomore Hayden Bellotti took 1st with a time of 1:43.69, while Matthew Styczen was 3rd with a season-best of 1:45.79 and Colin Bitz finished close behind in 5th with a time of 1:45.99.
Connor Boyle (19.76) and Jack Madoch (19.87) took 2nd and 3rd, respectively, in the Men’s 50 free. Boyle continued with his podium finishes in the 100 free where he took 3rd place with a time of 43.60. David King took 2nd in the 500 free at 4:24.33, and freshman Dillon Wright took 4th at 4:30.21.
The Cavalier women swept the 200 free with sophomore Claire Curzan 1st at 1:43.64, Kate Morris in 2nd with a PB at 1:45.90, and Maxine Parker in 3rd with a time of 1:46.87. Katie Grimes (1:53.23) and Alex Walsh (1:53.86) took the top two spots in the Women’s 200 fly. Cavaliers Bailey Hartman (1:57.57) and Maggie Schalow (1:58.25) took 3rd and 4th, respectively, securing a dominating Virginia performance in the 200 fly. Grimes, who enrolled at Virginia for the second semester, ended up winning all three of her individual events (200 Fly, 200 IM, 200 Back).
Unsurprisingly, the UVA women left no room for questioning their speed in the 50 free. Senior Gretchen Walsh took 1st at 20.73 with Anna Moesch (22.00) and Aimee Canny (22.77) taking 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Walsh repeated her excellence in the 100 free with another commanding 1st place finish in a time of 46.12. Maxine Parker came in 2nd at 48.81, and freshman Leah Hayes (49.10) closed out the Cavalier sweep by taking 3rd. Emma Weber (2:09.63) set a decisive tone in the 200 breaststroke with a 1st place finish that earned her a season-best time. In her first collegiate meet after coming back from an injury, Alex Walsh won 1st in the 100 fly. Canny also won the 1,000 free (9:41.62).
Gretchen Walsh continued her recent record breaking ways in a relay too. She posted the fastest 50 Fly split ever during the 200 Medley Relay when she went 20.87, beating her own mark of 21.50 in the event set last January. That relay quartet of Curzan, Moesch, and the Walsh sisters finished with a pool record time of 1:31.53, just .02 shy of the NCAA and American record time.
The Cavaliers head next to the Texas Duals on Jan. 24 to face off against Texas, Arizona State, and NC State.
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