NCAA Women’s Championships: Virginia Crushes NCAA Record in 400 Medley Relay to Conclude Another Dominant Night

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

Virginia's Jasmine Nocentini, Maxine Parker, Alex Walsh & Gretchen Walsh -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

NCAA Women’s Championships: Virginia Crushes NCAA Record in 400 Medley Relay to Conclude Another Dominant Night

Moments after the conclusion of the final heat of the women’s 400 medley relay, the last race of night three at the NCAA Women’s Championships, Virginia’s entire team has surrounded the relay squad of Gretchen Walsh, Jasmine Nocentini, Alex Walsh and Maxine Parker. As DJ Khaled’s “All I Do Is Win” blared through the Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Ga., the Cavaliers rocked out along with the song.

The phrasing was accurate: both Walsh sisters and Nocentini had already won titles on the evening, with Gretchen Walsh swimming the fastest time ever in the 100 butterfly while Alex Walsh (400 IM) and Nocentini (100 breaststroke) each moved to No. 2 all-time in their respective events. In 11 swimming events contested before the 400 medley relay, the Cavaliers had won seven of them.

Now, Virginia’s third relay win of the meet, the Cavaliers knocked off their first NCAA relay record in this medley relay triumph, beating the field by almost four seconds while topping the previous national mark from last season, when Kate Douglass was part of the squad, by eight tenths with a final mark of 3:21.01.

On the leadoff leg, Gretchen Walsh was expected to take a run at breaking her second individual record of the night in the 100 back, having recorded a mark of 48.10 at last month’s ACC Championships. However, racing just two hours after her incredible 100 fly swim, Walsh looked slightly fatigued as she came into the wall at 48.26, which tied the second-fastest time ever and the NCAA meet record in the individual event.

Next up, Nocentini blasted a split of 56.34, quickest of the night, to move the Cavaliers further ahead. Alex Walsh, hardly known as a sprinter, followed on the butterfly leg, returning to the stroke she previously handled in 2022 after shifting to breaststroke last season. She, too, topped the field, with her mark of 49.15 well ahead of 100 fly individual runnerup Emma Sticklen of Texas (49.67).

Only on the anchor leg was Virginia surpassed, as Parker split 47.26 while several competitors split 46s. But at that point, as per Virginia’s usual dominance, no one had any hope of catching up. Parker came into the wall for a new record and good enough to cement Virginia’s 51.5-point lead entering the meet’s final day.

With all that said, the team competition is not over yet, not after a huge Saturday performance from the University of Texas, with seven A-final performances between the 100 fly, 100 breast and three-meter diving. That culminated in the 400 medley relay with a second-place performance. After legs by Berit Berglund and Anna Elendt, the Longhorns sat in fifth place, but Sticklen came through with a massive fly leg, her split almost eight tenths faster than any non-Virginia butterflyer.

Kelly Pash came home in 46.76 to put Texas into the wall in 3:24.92, adding 34 more points to the Longhorns total and allowing Texas to finish the day having outscored Virginia by 17 points, creating a little bit of drama entering the final day, certainly more than Virginia experienced in any of the previous three team-title-winning efforts.

The Cavaliers know the stakes heading into the final day of competition, but they are also remaining calm, knowing that they are performing at an elite level while not being able to do anything about the Longhorns’ success.

“I think we’re very motivated right now because we’re swimming better than we were even seeded to and diving,” Gretchen Walsh said. “We had our first-ever A-finalist diver in UVA history, which was amazing. Go Lizzy (Kaye). It is hard to remember that when you see Texas is doing better, and so I think that kind of competition is something we need for our motivation going into the last day. I think it’s just going to make us even better. We all are really psyched. We’re ready to come out swinging in prelims. We’re doing it for our team, which makes it that much more important and exciting.”

Tennessee placed third in 3:25.39 with the team of Josephine Fuller, Mona McSharry, Sara Stotler and Camille Spink. Fuller’s backstroke split of 50.22 was fourth-quickest in the race while McSharry had the second-best breaststroke result behind Nocentini at 56.80. Finally, Spink finished in 46.42 to secure the top-three result.

Florida, fueled by Bella Sims leading off in 50.02 and Isabel Ivey anchoring in 46.39, took fourth in 3:25.64, just ahead of USC at 3:25.76. NC State, which featured 100 back NCAA champion Katharine Berkoff leading off in 49.01, came in sixth at 3:27.12 while Duke’s quartet dropped more than two seconds from its entry time to move up from the 15th-seeded relay to seventh place overall.

Virginia has scored 360.5 points, with Texas sitting second with 319 and Florida third in 267. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where these three schools do not occupy the top-three spots at the conclusion of competition Saturday. Tennessee (185) and Stanford (177) sit fourth and fifth, respectively, with both teams having out-performed expectations so far this week. USC is sixth (136), followed by Indiana (138), Louisville (136), NC State (114) and Cal (110).

Event 14  Women 400 Yard Medley Relay
==================================================================================
         NCAA: N 3:21.80  2/17/2023 Virginia
                          G Walsh, A Walsh, K Douglass, A Canny
         Meet: M 3:22.34  3/18/2022 Virginia
                          G Walsh, A Wenger, A Walsh, K Douglass
     American: A 3:22.34  2/18/2022 Virginia - Also 3/18/22
                          G Walsh, A Wenger, A Walsh, K Douglass
      US Open: O 3:22.34  2/18/2022 Virginia - Also 3/18/22
                          G Walsh, A Wenger, A Walsh, K Douglass
         Pool: P 3:27.84  12/5/2014 Virginia
                          Bartholomew, Simon, Williamson, Thomas
    School                                 Seed     Finals Points 
==================================================================================
  1 Virginia                            3:22.49    3:21.01N  40  
     1) Walsh, Gretchen JR            2) r:0.13 Nocentini, Jasmine SR 
     3) r:0.28 Walsh, Alex SR         4) r:0.13 Parker, Maxine SR     
    r:+0.67  23.06        48.26 (48.26)
        1:14.53 (26.27)     1:44.60 (56.34)
        2:07.27 (22.67)     2:33.75 (49.15)
        2:56.07 (22.32)     3:21.01 (47.26)
  2 Texas                               3:25.25    3:24.92P  34  
     1) Berglund, Berit FR            2) r:0.15 Elendt, Anna SR       
     3) r:0.24 Sticklen, Emma SR      4) r:-0.01 Pash, Kelly 5Y       
    r:+0.58  24.80        51.51 (51.51)
        1:17.71 (26.20)     1:48.49 (56.98)
        2:11.09 (22.60)     2:38.16 (49.67)
        3:00.25 (22.09)     3:24.92 (46.76)
  3 Tennessee                           3:24.92    3:25.39P  32  
     1) Fuller, Josephine JR          2) r:0.25 McSharry, Mona SR     
     3) r:0.11 Stotler, Sara JR       4) r:0.14 Spink, Camille FR     
    r:+0.68  24.19        50.22 (50.22)
        1:16.70 (26.48)     1:47.02 (56.80)
        2:10.63 (23.61)     2:38.97 (51.95)
        3:00.84 (21.87)     3:25.39 (46.42)
  4 Florida                             3:25.16    3:25.64P  30  
     1) Sims, Bella FR                2) r:0.09 Mayne, Molly FR       
     3) r:-0.01 Peoples, Olivia JR    4) r:0.01 Ivey, Isabel 5Y       
    r:+0.59  24.24        50.02 (50.02)
        1:17.09 (27.07)     1:48.77 (58.75)
        2:11.61 (22.84)     2:39.25 (50.48)
        3:01.27 (22.02)     3:25.64 (46.39)
  5 USC                                 3:26.90    3:25.76P  28  
     1) Famous, Caroline SR           2) r:0.27 Dobler, Kaitlyn SR    
     3) r:0.08 Delgado, Anicka SR     4) r:0.20 Abraham, Minna FR     
    r:+0.69  24.97        51.03 (51.03)
        1:17.46 (26.43)     1:48.11 (57.08)
        2:11.22 (23.11)     2:38.84 (50.73)
        3:01.08 (22.24)     3:25.76 (46.92)
  6 NC State                            3:28.23    3:27.12P  26  
     1) Berkoff, Katharine 5Y         2) r:0.24 Arens, Abby SR        
     3) r:0.30 Noble, Kennedy SO      4) r:0.33 Crush, Annabel JR     
    r:+0.59  23.87        49.01 (49.01)
        1:16.08 (27.07)     1:47.36 (58.35)
        2:11.48 (24.12)     2:39.07 (51.71)
        3:01.85 (22.78)     3:27.12 (48.05)
  7 Duke                                3:31.04    3:28.71   24  
     1) Pfaff, Ali FR                 2) r:0.31 Gridley, Kaelyn SO    
     3) r:0.19 Ozkan, Aleyna SR       4) r:0.20 Foley, Sarah SR       
    r:+0.71  24.87        51.77 (51.77)
        1:18.81 (27.04)     1:49.78 (58.01)
        2:13.10 (23.32)     2:40.92 (51.14)
        3:03.53 (22.61)     3:28.71 (47.79)
  8 California                          3:28.05    3:28.91   22  
     1) Stadden, Isabelle SR          2) r:0.07 Henry, Alicia JR      
     3) r:0.45 Kragh, Mia JR          4) r:0.40 Riley, Eloise 5Y      
    r:+0.64  24.34        50.75 (50.75)
        1:17.83 (27.08)     1:49.36 (58.61)
        2:12.98 (23.62)     2:40.89 (51.53)
        3:03.49 (22.60)     3:28.91 (48.02)

Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 14                     
 
  1. Virginia                        360.5   2. Texas                             319
  3. Florida                           267   4. Tennessee                         185
  5. Stanford                          177   6. Southern California               157
  7. Indiana                           138   8. Louisville                        136
  9. NC State                          114  10. California                        110
 11. Ohio St                           104  12. Michigan                        102.5
 13. Georgia                            83  14. Texas A&M                          79
 15. UNC                                76  16. Wisconsin                          58
 17. Duke                               57  18. Auburn                             49
 19. Minnesota                          27  20. UCLA                               26
 21. Lsu                                19  21. Purdue                             19
 21. Utah                               19  21. Alabama                            19
 25. Siu                                12  26. Arizona St                         11
 27. Northwestern                        8  28. Kansas                              6
 28. Notre Dame                          6  28. Virginia Tech                       6
 28. Rutgers                             6  28. Miami (Ohio)                        6
 33. Cincinnati                          4  33. Florida St                          4
 35. Houston                             3  35. Miami (Fl)                          3
 37. Akron                               2  38. Arkansas                            1

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