Alex Walsh, Kate Douglass Shine in Virginia Intrasquad Meet

Alex Walsh -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Alex Walsh, Kate Douglass Shine in Virginia Intrasquad Meet

The University of Virginia swim teams, including the women’s group that has won NCAA team titles the last two years, competed for the first time this season in a home intrasquad meet in Charlottesville, Va., and it was no surprise to see Virginia’s star swimmers, Alex Walsh, Kate Douglass and Gretchen Walsh, performing well already. The Walsh sisters along with U.S. national champion Jack Aikins and freshman freestyler Claire Tuggle led the Orange Team to a 282-224 win over the Blue Team.

Alex Walsh, the 200 IM world champion this year, won three individual events at the intrasquad, the 300 IM (3:01.83), 150 butterfly (1:22.46) and 150 breaststroke (1:34.61). She beat Douglass by less than a half-second in the 150 fly, but Douglass turned the tables with a 52.73-to-53.73 win over Walsh in the 100 IM. Douglass also won the 50 free in 21.43, just a half-second off the American and NCAA record of 20.84 she set at last year’s NCAA Championships, and she won the 50 fly in 23.05. Douglass also split 20.86 anchoring a mixed 200 medley relay at the start of the meet.

The younger Walsh sister, Gretchen, won the 50 back in 23.69, although she was even faster (23.39) leading off the Second-Years’ winning mixed 200 medley relay at the start of the meet. Walsh was also victorious in the 150 freestyle (1:15.91), while Tuggle’s first meet with the college team resulted in the 600 free (5:47.84) and 300 free (2:47.51). Other women’s winners included Jaycee Yegher (50 breast, 27.86), Reilly Tiltmann (150 back, 1:23.65) and Jenn Bell (3-meter diving, 288.75).

On the men’s side, Aikins swam a time of 19.73 in the 50 free to edge out Matt King (19.83) and Matt Brownstead (20.20), and he won the 100 IM in 49.22. Noah Nichols was a double winner in the 50 breast (24.27) and 150 breast (1:24.77), and Max Edwards took first place in the 50 back (21.78) and 50 fly (21.49). King, the winner at U.S. Nationals this year in the 100-meter free, swam a mark of 1:09.11 to win the 150 free, and also earning wins were Jack Wright (600 free, 5:24.27), Max Iida (300 IM, 2:51.63), Kamal Muhammad (150 fly, 1:17.72), Will Cole (150 back, 1:15.58), Tanner Hering (300 free, 2:35.14) and Oliver Mills (3-meter diving, 307.50).

At the beginning of the meet, the Second-Years won the mixed 200 medley relay in 1:30.56 with Gretchen Walsh, Daniel Worth, Tim Connery and Tiltmann, and the final event of the meet saw the Orange team of Brownstead, August Lamb and the Walsh sisters claim the win in the mixed 200 free relay in 1:22.71.

Full results from Virginia’s intrasquad meet are available here.

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