Throughout the entire 2025-2026 season, the Virginia women’s swimming team stepped up as a group to continue the Cavaliers’ dynasty of success and show that their victories are not stopping anytime soon. At the NCAA Championships meet, UVA became the first team in history to win six consecutive titles. From silencing doubts to rigorous training, the Hoos put everything they had into making it one of their best seasons yet.
Swimming Superstars
Going into the season, there were many in the swimming community who held doubts about what the women’s team could accomplish without the swimmers who had previously dominated at the NCAA Championships. Gone were Alex and Gretchen Walsh. No more Kate Douglass. But UVA’s performance in Georgia, and at every meet this year, proved those doubts wrong. The women had an astounding victory at NCAAs, one that stood in stark contrast even to the previous wins.
Virginia scored 589 points, the most in program history. In the end, 16 of 18 swimmers contributed points for the team and earned either first- or second-team All-American recognition.
Cavalier coach Todd Desorbo said that he was more impressed by the manner in which the women won, rather than just the victory itself.
“We scored more points [as a team] than we ever have,” DeSorbo said. “We had more individuals score than we’ve ever had score at the meet. We had 16 individuals score. Prior to that, the most we’d ever had was 13.”
The past few years, the team’s victory could be accredited heavily to a few swimmers, namely the Walsh sisters or Douglass. But this year it was very much a team effort, something that made the win even better for DeSorbo and the team.
“And so that is really special because at the beginning of the year, everybody was like ‘Well, they don’t have the Walshes or Kate Douglass anymore,’” DeSorbo said. “So they think that we’re going to come back to Earth a little bit, that we don’t have the superstars, but we might’ve had more superstars this year.”
Sophomore Claire Curzan, who put together a stellar meet, held a similar belief, saying that the win “was just such a serious balance of credit.” She credited the win not only to the entire team, but also to their close sense of community.
“I think a lot of it just has to do with our camaraderie and how close we are as a team, and I think that we would not have been able to do what we did if we didn't just have so much love for each other and push each other so hard be the very best every single day,” Curzan said.
Working Their Way To Victory
The women’s 1st place finish at the championship meet was something the Hoos were working for every day of the season, a goal they set for themselves the first day of practice. Curzan noted that immediately the women “had the idea of 600 points in our mind, and so we were definitely striving to do that.”
Senior Associate Head Coach Tyler Fenwick described the season as a “transition year,” as the team looked for more swimmers to step up and “take the reins of the program.” Fenwick said that this goal of a greater team effort was accomplished phenomenally.
Among the highlights of that team effort were 12 first-team All-Americans: Aimee Canny, Sara Curtis, Curzan, Cavan Gormsen, Bryn Greenwaldt, Katie Grimes, Bailey Hartman, Leah Hayes, Tess Howley, Madi Mintenko, Anna Moesch, and Emma Weber. Among those swimmers, eight took home first place finishes at the title meet. In individual races, Curzan won the 100 and 200 back and Moesh won the 200 free. Since the season closed, Canny and Curtis have set new records in their home countries of South Africa and Italy, respectively.
“It was really across the board, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Fenwick said. “It was really every woman on our team who internalized that role and they were absolutely spectacular. Everyone raised their level of training, their racing, their sacrifice, and to go down to NCAAs in March and win by 200 points was our biggest victory margin we’ve had so far, and they were absolutely sensational. I couldn’t be more proud.”
Awards & Accolades
DeSorbo was named the ACC Swimming Coach of the Year for the women’s team. This is his seventh consecutive year winning this award. He also received the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Women’s Division I Swim Coach of the Year honor for the sixth straight time.
Sophomore Claire Curzan was named as a finalist for the 2026 Honda Sport Award for Swimming and Diving. This is her second time being named as a finalist for the honor. The two other swimmers named alongside Curzan were Stanford’s Torri Huske and Lucy Bell.
Claire Curzan, Anna Moesch, Katie Grimes, and Zoe Skirboll were named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District team. To be eligible for this award, they must be at least a sophomore who has maintained a 3.5 GPA or higher.
Anna Moesch and Madi Mintenko were selected to represent the U.S. at the AP Race London International 2026, which will take place May 23-25.
What Comes Next?
With the school year almost at an end, all eyes are on the next season for the Hoos. Can the Cavaliers win seven in a row? As fresh swimmers arrive in Charlottesville this fall, Curzan hopes to utilize what she learned this season to guide them and the team to greater heights.
“I learned a lot more about myself just when it comes to leadership and everything like that,” Curzan said. “And so I think I'm going to take that into the next two years of my college and hopefully ... build up everyone else around me.”
As for their goals, Fenwick says it remains the same.
“We're gonna compete for National Championships, it’s what we do every season,” Fenwick said. “We’ve already started preparing ... we’re already focused on 2027 and what we can do in Austin, Texas.”
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