NCAA Women’s Championships: Gretchen Walsh Splits 20.23 as Virginia Wins 200 Free Relay, Builds Team Lead

maxine parker,gretchen walsh,alex walsh,jasmine nocentini,virginia

Virginia's Maxine Parker, Gretchen Walsh, Jasmine Nocentini & Alex Walsh -- Photo Courtesy: Todd Walsh/University of Georgia

NCAA Women’s Championships: Gretchen Walsh Splits 20.23 as Virginia Wins 200 Free Relay, Builds Team Lead

The team contest took an unexpected turn at the NCAA Women’s Championships Wednesday evening as Virginia placed fourth in the 800 freestyle relay, snapping a streak of nine consecutive relay wins at the national meet that dated to 2022. The Cavaliers, aiming for a fourth consecutive team title, sat two points behind Florida in the team competition, albeit quite early in the contest. Could this perhaps be a true contest for the overall win rather than the runaway many expected?

Not so fast. Virginia has quickly and effectively restored order on day two.

“We talked a lot as a team at the hotel afterward,” Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “They can move on pretty quickly. Personally, I have a superhero and an Achilles heel that’s the same thing, and that’s being able to move on from something, whether it’s really, really good, I can move on to the next thing, and if it’s really, really bad, I can move on. It doesn’t matter. The next race is the most important one”

After Florida’s Bella Sims took first in the 500 freestyle, the Cavaliers picked up a pair of wins as Alex Walsh swam the second-fastest time ever in the 200 IM and Gretchen Walsh broke the NCAA record in the 50 free for the fifth time this season, and now Virginia has again comfortably won a relay, blasting the field in the 200 free relay. None of those wins were surprises, but they have put Virginia 47.5 points up on the Gators entering day three.

In the sprint freestyle relay, the Cavaliers swam slightly off the NCAA record of 1:23.63 they set at the ACC Championships, but the result was an admirable time of 1:24.05, taking almost a half-second off the meet record Virginia set last year when Kate Douglass was on the squad. Jasmine Nocentini, third in the 50 free earlier in the night, led off in 21.26 to give Virginia a six-hundredth lead on NC State’s Katharine Berkoff, and then Gretchen Walsh took over.

At the ACC Championships last month, the younger Walsh sister split 19.95 for the first-ever sub-20 50 free split. This time, she was just off that mark in 20.23, the third-quickest split ever but quicker than any other swimmer has ever notched. Her older sister Alex then split 21.23 before Maxine Parker, also a finalist in the 50 free, came home in 21.33.

As the story of this NCAA Championships is written over the coming days, perhaps the temporary setback from Wednesday will be the turning point that galvanizes the Cavaliers in another title run.

“Having something go not perfect is good from time to time,” DeSorbo said. “It just provides a little more motivation and gets them a little more amped up. Not that we’re going to try harder, but they’re going to try harder. They do well under pressure, so I think having more pressure is a good thing.”

While Virginia’s stars again dominated the race, Louisville produced a strong second-place finish with the Cardinals bringing back three swimmers who finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, in the individual 50 free. Gabi Albiero, Christiana Regenauer, Julia Dennis and Ella Welch combined for a time of 1:25.47, with both Regenauer and Dennis splitting 21.1s.

Texas placed third in 1:26.17 with a team of Grace Cooper, Ava Longi, Emma Sticklen and Kelly Pash. Five other teams broke 1:27, with USC leading the way at 1:26.47. Further back in the pack, Michigan’s Lindsay Flynn split 21.27 on the Wolverines’ fifth-place squad while Tennessee’s Camille Spink (21.24) and Indiana’s Ashley Turak (21.28) were also among the race’s quickest performers. Florida took 10th in 1:27.23 with 500 free champion Bella Sims leading off in 21.94 and 200 IM runnerup Isabel Ivey splitting 21.33.

In the team contest, Virginia now leads the way with 210.5 points, followed by Florida at 163 and Texas at 141. Stanford and Tennessee are tied for fourth at 104.

Event 7  Women 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
==================================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:23.63  2/21/2024 Virginia
                          J Nocentini, G Walsh, A Walsh, M Parker
         Meet: M 1:24.51  3/16/2023 Virginia
                          K Douglass, G Walsh, A Cuomo, M Parker
     American: A 1:23.87  2/15/2023 Virginia
                          K Douglass, G Walsh, A Cuomo, A Walsh
      US Open: O 1:23.63  2/21/2024 Virginia
                          J Nocentini, G Walsh, A Walsh, M Parker
         Pool: P 1:26.31  12/2/2016 California
                          Weitzel, Bilquist, Hull, Osman
    School                                 Seed     Finals Points 
==================================================================================
  1 Virginia                            1:23.63    1:24.05M  40  
     1) Nocentini, Jasmine SR         2) r:0.25 Walsh, Gretchen JR    
     3) r:0.35 Walsh, Alex SR         4) r:0.22 Parker, Maxine SR     
    r:+0.61  10.17        21.26 (21.26)
           30.93 (9.67)       41.49 (20.23)
          51.66 (10.17)     1:02.72 (21.23)
        1:12.88 (10.16)     1:24.05 (21.33)
  2 Louisville                          1:25.39    1:25.47P  34  
     1) Albiero, Gabi SR              2) r:0.23 Regenauer, Chriiana 5Y
     3) r:0.11 Dennis, Julia SO       4) r:0.05 Welch, Ella SO        
    r:+0.62  10.48        21.77 (21.77)
           31.76 (9.99)       42.88 (21.11)
           52.66 (9.78)     1:04.05 (21.17)
         1:13.94 (9.89)     1:25.47 (21.42)
  3 Texas                               1:26.31    1:26.17P  32  
     1) Cooper, Grace SR              2) r:0.18 Longi, Ava SR         
     3) r:0.24 Sticklen, Emma SR      4) r:0.22 Pash, Kelly 5Y        
    r:+0.64  10.57        21.92 (21.92)
          31.92 (10.00)       43.23 (21.31)
          53.26 (10.03)     1:04.58 (21.35)
        1:14.86 (10.28)     1:26.17 (21.59)
  4 USC                                 1:27.07    1:26.47   30  
     1) Famous, Caroline SR           2) r:0.18 Abraham, Minna FR     
     3) r:0.25 Delgado, Anicka SR     4) r:0.22 Buinaia, Vasilissa 5Y 
    r:+0.69  10.58        21.71 (21.71)
          31.95 (10.24)       43.30 (21.59)
          53.50 (10.20)     1:04.92 (21.62)
        1:14.97 (10.05)     1:26.47 (21.55)
  5 Michigan                            1:26.75    1:26.55   28  
     1) Kendall, Brady SO             2) r:0.24 Flynn, Lindsay JR     
     3) r:0.26 Balduccini, Steanie FR 4) r:0.13 Newman, Claire SR     
    r:+0.65  10.51        21.82 (21.82)
           31.76 (9.94)       43.09 (21.27)
          53.47 (10.38)     1:04.89 (21.80)
        1:15.00 (10.11)     1:26.55 (21.66)
  6 Tennessee                           1:26.87    1:26.65   26  
     1) McSharry, Mona SR             2) r:0.16 Spink, Camille FR     
     3) r:0.15 Rumley, Jasmine SR     4) r:0.03 Myers, Amber JR       
    r:+0.68  10.50        21.99 (21.99)
          31.99 (10.00)       43.23 (21.24)
          53.51 (10.28)     1:05.09 (21.86)
        1:15.10 (10.01)     1:26.65 (21.56)
  7 NC State                            1:26.24    1:26.75   24  
     1) Berkoff, Katharine 5Y         2) r:0.33 Arens, Abby SR        
     3) r:0.22 Donald, Meghan SO      4) r:0.02 Sheehan, Miriam FR    
    r:+0.70  10.35        21.32 (21.32)
          31.49 (10.17)       42.86 (21.54)
          53.24 (10.38)     1:04.84 (21.98)
        1:15.12 (10.28)     1:26.75 (21.91)
  8 Indiana                             1:26.66    1:26.84   22  
     1) Peplowski, Anna JR            2) r:0.08 Turak, Ashley 5Y      
     3) r:0.31 McKenna, Kacey JR      4) r:0.24 Paegle, Kristina SO   
    r:+0.70  10.61        21.91 (21.91)
          31.93 (10.02)       43.19 (21.28)
          53.79 (10.60)     1:05.47 (22.28)
        1:15.60 (10.13)     1:26.84 (21.37)

Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 7                      
 
  1. Virginia                        210.5   2. Florida                           163
  3. Texas                             141   4. Stanford                          105
  5. Tennessee                         104   6. Louisville                         99
  7. Southern California                94   8. Indiana                            87
  9. Michigan                         80.5  10. Georgia                            75
 11. Ohio St                            61  12. California                         59
 13. NC State                           50  14. Wisconsin                          40
 15. UNC                                34  16. Duke                               33
 17. Texas A&M                          26  18. Utah                               14
 19. Minnesota                          13  20. Auburn                             12
 20. Alabama                            12  22. Arizona St                         11
 23. Rutgers                             6  23. Virginia Tech                       6
 23. Lsu                                 6  26. Northwestern                        4
 27. Kansas                              3  28. Akron                               1

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