The Virginia women’s swimming team has maintained a run of excellence for several years now and the program added a historic feat to its legacy Saturday night. The Hoos took home their sixth National Championship trophy, becoming the first team to ever win six straight in women’s swimming and diving.
After the departure of Gretchen Walsh, there was some speculation about how Virginia’s performance at the national level would go this year. The Hoos squashed these doubts, winning with 589 points, beating second place Stanford by 208.5 points. This is an improvement from last year, when UVA only beat Stanford by 127 points. The women won in such dominant fashion this year that even if the Cavaliers had not swam any of the relays, they still would have won.
“It’s been a little bit surreal,” Virginia coach Todd DeSorbo said in an interview. “... At the beginning of the year I knew we would be able to contend, but I definitely didn’t feel like we would be where we are now. And it’s been, it’s been awesome. ... It’s really a full team effort. We had more people score than we’ve ever had ... we’ve scored more points than we’ve ever scored before.”
The NCAA Championship Meet was held at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and took place from March 18-21. Here are some takeaways from the meet.
Cavalier Of The Meet?
Though it is hard to narrow down which of the Virginia swimmers had a particularly standout meet as there are so many names that come to mind, Claire Curzan is undoubtedly a part of that list. Between her performances in the 200 medley, 200 freestyle, 400 freestyle, and 400 medley relays, as well as the 100 and 200 backstrokes, Curzan had a total of six 1st place finishes.
Curzan had a spectacular performance in the 100 backstroke, taking first place with a time of 48.24. Not only is this the second fastest time in the history of the event, but it is also a new NCAA meet record. Curzan now sits just 0.12 seconds away from Gretchen Walsh’s NCAA and American Record of 48.10.
In the 100 fly, Curzan found a formidable opponent in Stanford’s Torri Huske, who coming into this year’s NCAA Championships had yet to secure first place in the event. Curzan held an early lead in the first 50, but she was soon overtaken by Huske. Curzan was able to regain some ground in the last 25, but it wasn’t quite enough, and Huske finally got the victory she had been vying for. Curzan was close behind in second at 48.55, just 0.06 off of Huske’s 48.49.
Curzan finished out her individual races with the 200 backstroke, putting in a new meet record of 1:46.10. Curzan went out fast to get an early lead, and her 100 split for the first half of the race would have earned her 8th place in the 100 backstroke. She fell off her pace slightly on the back half, finishing to the wall just 0.01 seconds away from her NCAA record. However, her swim that night was still the second fastest time in history.
Unwavering Virginia Dominance In Relays
The Cavaliers swept the relay events, going 5-for-5 in first place finishes.
Starting off with the 200 medley relay on day one, UVA made sure to set the tone for the meet and its intentions of securing a six-peat. Sara Curtis kicked off the event going a 22.73, the fifth fastest backstroke split in history, barely beating Torri Huske. Emma Weber followed suit in the breaststroke with a split at 26.42. Claire Curzan came in next with a butterfly split of 21.51, the fifth fastest split ever and the fastest split by someone who isn’t named Gretchen Walsh. Bryn Greendwaldt finished it off with a freestyle split of 21.01, cementing the Cavalier’s first win of the meet with a total at 1:31.67. Greenwaldt later said in an interview that up to that point she had still been struggling to master her relay start, but was seemingly unperturbed by this given the quality of her performance.
Virginia went 2-for-2 on relays that night, winning the 800 freestyle relay while setting a new meet record of 6:45.21. Aimee Canny led the team off in 1:41.68, a new personal best for her. She was followed by Madi Mintenko (1:41.43) and Bailey Hartman (1:43.07) in the middle legs, respectively. Anna Moesch closed out the event in 1:39.03, securing UVA’s victory while posting the fastest 200 freestyle relay split in history.
The Cavaliers then had a dominant win in the 200 freestyle relay on day two, beating Stanford’s second place time by over a second. Claire Curzan led the relay off strong with a split of 20.85, holding a half-second lead over Stanford. Bryn Greenwaldt dove in next and went a 21.75, which wasn’t fast enough to hold off Torri Huske, whose time of 20.58 put Stanford just ahead of UVA. Anna Moesch’s split of 20.96 managed to get the Cavaliers back into the lead, but just barely. It was Sara Curtis who brought home the victory, going a whopping 20.55 to secure a commanding win in 1:24.11. Virginia’s victory did not come unsurprisingly, as the team currently holds the NCAA, American, U.S. Open, and Championship records in the event.
On day three, the Cavaliers continued their dominance by winning the 400 medley relay by over three seconds in 3:20.66. Sara Curtis led off in 49.47, getting Virginia a narrow lead. Aimme Canny came next, splitting 56.63, followed by Claire Curzan who went 48.82 to extend the relay’s lead. Anna Moesch anchored the team in 45.74 for the win, making UVA 4-for-4 in relay victories.
Virginia closed out the meet with a flourish, winning the 400 freestyle relay with a new NCAA Record of 3:05.26. The Hoos had already secured the National Championship title before this event, but they gave it their all nonetheless. Claire Curzan led off the relay in 46.62, putting the team in 4th place. Madi Mintenko split 46.73 on the second leg to move them up to 3rd. Anna Moesch came in next, splitting 45.61 to move UVA into the lead. Sara Curtis gave a strong anchor split of 46.30, holding onto the lead and securing the new record.
Notable Individual Performances
Katie Grimes in the 1650 freestyle: Although it may not look like it from the times, the 1650 freestyle was a close race between the top three finishers. Sophomore Katie Grimes held strong in second place for the start of the event, but Cal’s Claire Weinstein took off ahead and maintained a commanding lead thereafter. Grimes still completed an impressive swim and finished in third with a season best of 15:42.65.
Anna Moesch in the 200 freestyle: Anna Moesch finished first in the 200 freestyle at 1:39.23, the second fastest performance ever in the event. Moesch held a strong lead throughout much of the race, maintaining consistently fast splits to keep her ahead. Freshman Madi Mintenko came in fifth with a time of 1:41.67.
Sara Curtis in the 50 freestyle: The 50 freestyle was a hotly contested race going into finals, as the preliminary swims showed many viable candidates for the top spot. Ultimately, it came down to Torri Huske and Sara Curtis, with Huske taking home gold at 20.66. Curtis was close behind, coming in at 20.74, the third fastest performance in history.
Aimee Canny in the 200 breaststroke: Aimee Canny took second in the 200 breaststroke, right behind Stanford’s Lucy Bell. Bell, who is the defending champion in the event, was behind Canny for much of the race, but in the final 50, she went the fastest split in the race and finished in first place at 2:02.38. Canny came in at 2:03.09, just 0.12 off of her lifetime best.
Anna Moesch and Sara Curtis in the 100 freestyle: Once again, UVA swimmers found themselves battling for the top spot with Torri Huske. Anna Moesch held closely behind Huske the entire race, but it was Huske’s first 50 that put her in a commanding lead that Moesch was unable to beat. Moesch finished 2nd in 45.54, a personal best, with Sara Curtis following in 3rd at 45.77.
Next
The Cavalier men travel to Atlanta, Georgia for their championship meet this week, which takes place March 25-28 (Wednesday-Saturday). Virginia saw six swimmers qualify for the meet with Thomas Heilman, Maximus Williamson, and David King in two events as well as Jack Aikins, Hayden Bellotti, and Spencer Nicholas in one event each. UVA qualified in four relays and Noah Powers and Matthew Heilman will be going to the meet as relay members.
The men placed 33rd in last year's NCAAs, but with their new recruits, could the Hoos move into the top 25?
Before that gets underway, the Virginia women’s team returns to Charlottesville once again National Champions, ending the 2025-26 season. UVA has won 36 National Championships across all sports. This historic six-peat accounts for 16% of those titles and the Hoos were favored in 2020 when the meet was canceled due to the pandemic. Virginia undoubtedly has cemented itself as the team of the decade.
“(Associate head coach) Tyler Fenwick actually was talking to me before the trophy ceremony,” DeSorbo said in a news release. “He was like, ‘Who would have thought in 2017 in August that we’d be sitting here winning our sixth title in a row.’ It hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m gonna have to take a couple steps back and let it sink in, but it’s pretty impressive for sure.”
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