LumaLanes Performance of the Week: Gretchen Walsh Leads Virginia to Dual Meet Win Over NC State With Second-Fastest 50 Back Split Ever, Two Individual Wins

Gretchen Walsh -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Gretchen Walsh Leads Virginia to Dual Meet Win Over NC State With Second-Fastest 50 Back Split Ever, Two Individual Wins

Performance of the Week, Sponsored by LumaLanes

The dual meet showdown between the University of Virginia and NC State University was expected to be a barnburner as the top two squads from last season’s NCAA Championships were facing off. The winner of the UVA-NC State women’s dual meet has gone on to capture the ACC title each season since 2008, and the rivalry between the two schools has only heated up since former NC State assistant coach Todd DeSorbo took over as the head coach at Virginia.

In this meet, DeSorbo’s women took down Braden Holloway’s squad with a series of very impressive performances, and leading the way was freshman Gretchen Walsh. Walsh missed the Tennessee Invitational in late November for undisclosed reasons, but she has been swimming very well since her return. Virginia ended up winning 173-122 despite swimming exhibition in the last several events of the meet. This was Virginia’s second dual meet win of the weekend following Friday’s triumph over North Carolina.

To open the meet, Walsh led off Virginia’s 200 medley relay in 23.04, which is believed to be the second-fastest 50 backstroke split ever recorded. Only Maggie Mac Neil has ever gone quicker with the 23.02 she swam at last year’s Big Ten Championships. The fastest-known leadoff split by an American was the 23.27 that NC State’s Katharine Berkoff swam last year. Virginia ended up winning the relay by almost four seconds as the group of Walsh, Alexis Wenger, Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass finished in 1:33.74, the fastest time in the nation this season, quicker than the 1:34.16 UVA swam at midseason. And the UVA foursome recorded that time while racing in practice suits, with racing suits still to come at the ACC Championships next month.

The Cavaliers were less than a second off the American record of 1:32.93 set by a UVA team featuring Wenger and Douglass at last year’s ACC Championships, and they took a measure of revenge after NC State won the showdown between the two schools at the national championships last season. NC State’s group of Katharine Berkoff, Andrea Podmanikova, Kylee Alons and Heather Maccausland finished second in 1:37.33.

A short time later, Gretchen Walsh dominated the 100 backstroke, finishing more than a second ahead of Berkoff, an Olympic Trials finalist in the 100-meter back. Berkoff. Walsh won in 50.61, making her the fifth-fastest swimmer in the nation behind Regan Smith, Rhyan White, Mac Neil and Berkoff. Berkoff ended up second here in 51.71. After the first break, Walsh returned to score a huge win in the women’s 100 free, where her final mark of 48.05 was just 0.05 off her season best of 48.00 that ranks eighth nationally.

Walsh’s older sister Alex finished first in the 200 butterfly (1:54.76) and 200 IM (1:56.35), while Kate Douglass won the 50 free (21.85) and 100 fly (51.30) after she anchored that meet-opening 200 medley relay in 1:33.74. The group of Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh, Lexi Cuomo and Douglass finished the meet by dominating the 200 freestyle relay in 1:27.75, with Douglass anchoring in 21.29.

Virginia sophomore Ella Nelson finished first in the 200 free in 1:47.15, just edging out Abbey Webb of NC State (1:47.28). Nelson later dominated the 200 breast in 2:08.94, and she was second to Walsh in the 200 IM (1:58.32). Emma Weyant won the 1000 free (9:47.00) and 500 free (4:47.18), and Wenger won the 100 breast in 59.39. NC State’s only swimming victory all day came in the 200 back, when Berkoff won in 1:53.26 to hold off UVA’s Reilly Tiltmann (1:53.94). UVA’s Lizzy Kaye was first in 1-meter diving, while teammate Maddy Grosz won the 3-meter event.

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