Virginia Sweeps Commonwealth Clash with Virginia Tech

Maddie Donohoe; Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams defeated Virginia Tech on Saturday as the Cavalier swimmers closed the two-day meet against the Hokies at the Aquatic and Fitness Center. The No. 2 Virginia women’s swimming and diving team defeated No. 15 Virginia Tech 202.5-96.5, while the No. 10 Cavalier men’s team defeated the No. 15 Hokies 161-137.

The Cavaliers won 23 events throughout the day, including sweeping both relay events. Eight different female swimmers and five male swimmers won an individual event at the competition.

The Cavaliers won 13 of 14 races on Saturday. Sophomore Kate Douglass led the team with three individual wins and one relay win, going 53.35 in the 100-yard backstroke, 48.80 in the 100-yard freestyle and 1:57.05 in the 200-yard individual medley.

Douglass was the leadoff swimmer for the 200-yard medley relay team as she and teammates freshman Alex Walsh, senior Caroline Gmelich and sophomore Lexi Cuomo finished first with a time of 1:38.85.

Sophomore Maddie Donohoe picked up a pair of wins with a time of 4:51.44 and 9:54.66 in the 500 and 1000-yard freestyle, respectively.

Junior Alexis Wenger won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:00.53 as freshman Anna Keating won the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:13.34.

Virginia also topped both butterfly events with sophomore Lexi Cuomo going 53.39 in the 100-yard butterfly and freshman Abby Harter going 1:58.95 in the 200-yard butterfly.

Walsh went 1:47.90 to win the 200-yard freestyle as senior Paige Madden won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:54.70.

The Cavaliers closed the meet with the 400-yard freestyle relay team of senior Kyla Valls, Cuomo, freshman Quinn Schaedler and Madden finishing first with a 3:21.10.

Senior Matthew Otto, junior Justin Grender and freshman Matt Brownstead paced the men’s team as all three Cavaliers won a pair of individual events.

Otto won the 1000-yard freestyle in a time of 9:16.91, before following up the performance with a time of 1:57.72 in the 200-yard breaststroke.

Grender swept the backstroke events going 47.68 in the 100-yard backstroke and 1:43.96 in the 200-yard backstroke, while Brownstead recorded a time of 19.99 in the 50-yard freestyle and a time of 43.91 in the 100-yard freestyle.

Senior Keefer Barnum swam a time of 54.33 in the 100-yard breaststroke, while sophomore Sean Conway went 1:48.10 for the top time in the 200-yard individual medley.

The Cavaliers also won both relays as Grender, Barnum, sophomore Max Edwards and Brownstead finished first in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:27.40 and Brownstead, Grender, sophomore August Lamb and sophomore Jack Wright finished first in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 2:55.55.

“I continue to be amazed at the commitment and resiliency of this team,” Virginia coach Todd DeSorbo said. “To come out and perform at a high level every day in practice and on the weekend in competition is a true testament of their commitment to excellence. With both myself and head diving coach (Drew) Livingston out this week, I have to tip my hat to the rest of the staff for stepping up in our absence. This shows how great our staff really is. And of course, the athletes just continue to thrive and showed up big against our cross-state rival. It’s always a fun and intense competition with VT and our young men and women stepped up to the challenge as they always do! I’ve come to expect this of our squads. We had eight different women and five men win events and many others contributing to the overall wins. It takes an army and we’ve got a group always willing to go to battle for each other. A couple great team wins to boost us into the next segment of our season as we near championship time.”

For Virginia Tech, Antani Ivanov won a pair of events, claiming the 500 free in 4:27.18 and the 200 fly in 1:46.12, the latter an event in which the Hokies took four of the top five spots. Blake Manoff won the 200 free and was second in both the 100 free and 100 fly, the latter to teammate Yousseff Ramadan.

Sarah Shackelford provided Virginia Tech’s only women’s win with a time of 22.91 seconds in the 50 free. She was also second in the 100 free.

— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with the schools. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.

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