Virginia Women Break Third Relay Record of ACCs in 400 Medley Relay; Douglass Splits 48.25 on Butterfly

Virginia's Kate Douglass -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Virginia Women Break Third Relay Record of ACCs in 400 Medley Relay; Douglass Splits 48.25 on Butterfly

For the third time this week at the ACC Championships, the University of Virginia women have posted the fastest time in history in a relay — all with Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass taking part. This time, Virginia beat the U.S. Open and NCAA records in the 400 medley relay, posting a time of 3:21.80 to knock a half-second off the old mark of 3:22.34 that a slightly different Virginia squad set at last year’s ACC Championships and then tied one month later at the NCAA Championships.

Gretchen Walsh led off in 49.25, touching about a half-second ahead of NC State’s Katharine Berkoff (49.73), and in the process, Walsh broke the ACC meet record in the individual 100 back (previously 49.41). Alex Walsh got an early challenge from NC State’s Heather MacCausland, but the Virignia junior quickly pulled away with a 57.45 split.

After that, Douglass followed with an insane performance on the butterfly leg. After swimming the fastest time in history in the 100 fly one day before with her 48.84, she had Friday off from individual events, and she took advantage of the extra rest to swim a time of 48.25 on the butterfly leg. Finally, freshman Aimee Canny finished off the race with a 46.85 split on freestyle.

The American record in the event remains the aforementioned 3:22.34 set by Gretchen Walsh, Alexis Wenger, Alex Walsh and Douglass from last year. Canny is from South Africa, so this relay was not eligible to break the national mark.

Previously, Douglass and the Walsh sisters joined with Lexi Cuomo to break American, NCAA and U.S. Open records in the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay. Regarding individual records, Douglass broke the mark in the 100 fly while Gretchen Walsh took down Douglass’ record in the 50 free.

NC State finished second in 3:26.28 with Berkoff, MacCausland, Kylee Alons and Abby Arens. Even with finishing almost 4.5 seconds behind the Cavaliers, the Wolfpack’s time was an elite mark on the national level, with only three teams (including Virginia and NC State) having posted fastesr times at last year’s NCAA Championships.

Louisville touched third in 3:27.78, but the Cardinals were disqualified for a false start, so the third-place team was Duke. The team of Emma Shuppert, Kaelyn Gridley, Aleyna Ozkan and Sarah Foley finished in 3:31.35.

Results

Event 30  Women 400 Yard Medley Relay
==================================================================================
         MEET: # 3:22.34  2/18/2022 Virginia, University of, UVA-VA
                          G Walsh, A Wenger, A Walsh, K Douglass
         CONF: % 3:22.34  2/18/2022 Virginia, University of, UVA-VA
                          G Walsh, A Wenger, A Walsh, K Douglass
         AMER: $ 3:22.34  2/18/2022 Virginia, University of, UVA-VA
                          G Walsh, A Wenger, A Walsh, K Douglass
         USOP: & 3:22.34  2/18/2022 Virginia, University of, UVA-VA
                          G Walsh, A Wenger, A Walsh, K Douglass
         NCAA: ! 3:22.34  2/18/2022 Virginia, University of, UVA-VA
                          G Walsh, A Wenger, A Walsh, K Douglass
     GAC Pool: ^ 3:24.59  3/18/2021 North Carolina State, NCSU-
                          K Berkoff, S Hansson, K Alons, J Poole
                 3:31.38  A
                 3:33.54  B
    School                           Seed     Finals       Points 
==================================================================================
  1 UVA  'A'                      3:28.63    3:21.80#A       64  
     1) Walsh, Gretchen C SO          2) r:0.34 Walsh, Alex JR        
     3) r:0.28 Douglass, Kate SR      4) r:0.33 Canny, Aimee FR       
    r:+0.73  23.37        49.25 (49.25)
        1:15.98 (26.73)     1:46.70 (57.45)
        2:08.95 (22.25)     2:34.95 (48.25)
        2:57.09 (22.14)     3:21.80 (46.85)
  2 NC State  'A'                 3:29.55    3:26.28 A       56  
     1) Berkoff, Katharine F SR       2) r:0.22 MacCausland, Hether SR
     3) r:0.05 Alons, Kylee SR        4) r:0.25 Arens, Abby JR        
    r:+0.57  24.31        49.73 (49.73)
        1:16.40 (26.67)     1:48.00 (58.27)
        2:11.13 (23.13)     2:38.63 (50.63)
        3:01.11 (22.48)     3:26.28 (47.65)
  3 Duke  'A'                     3:33.03    3:31.35 A       54  
     1) Shuppert, Emma                2) r:0.08 Gridley, Kaelyn       
     3) r:0.14 Ozkan, Aleyna          4) r:0.09 Foley, Sally          
    r:+0.64  24.96        52.36 (52.36)
        1:19.90 (27.54)     1:51.38 (59.02)
        2:14.95 (23.57)     2:42.95 (51.57)
        3:05.81 (22.86)     3:31.35 (48.40)
  4 UNC  'A'                      3:30.84    3:32.26 B       52  
     1) Lindner, Sophie M SR          2) r:0.24 Smith, Skyler SO      
     3) r:0.11 Vannote, Ellie SR      4) r:0.34 Countie, Grace SR     
    r:+0.83  25.04        52.48 (52.48)
        1:20.09 (27.61)     1:52.12 (59.64)
        2:16.18 (24.06)     2:44.05 (51.93)
        3:06.75 (22.70)     3:32.26 (48.21)
  5 FSU  'A'                      3:34.51    3:34.02         50  
     1) Quaglieri, Tania SR           2) r:0.10 Huggins, Maddy SO     
     3) r:0.12 Jernstedt, Edith SO    4) r:0.21 Muzito, Gloria SO     
    r:+0.64  25.27        53.15 (53.15)
        1:20.78 (27.63)     1:52.95 (59.80)
        2:16.81 (23.86)     2:45.11 (52.16)
        3:08.24 (23.13)     3:34.02 (48.91)
  6 VT  'A'                       3:36.07    3:34.35         48  
     1) Atkinson, Emma R JR           2) r:0.11 Gyurinovics, Fanni FR 
     3) r:0.17 Franz, Karisa SR       4) r:0.08 Shackelford, Sarah SR 
    r:+0.79  25.50        53.58 (53.58)
        1:21.85 (28.27)   1:54.82 (1:01.24)
        2:18.65 (23.83)     2:46.73 (51.91)
        3:09.00 (22.27)     3:34.35 (47.62)
  7 Notre Dame  'A'               3:35.45    3:34.71         46  
     1) Christman, Madelyn T SO       2) r:0.14 Jew, Ellie SR         
     3) r:0.26 Gillilan, Renee FR     4) r:0.18 Gillilan, Coleen SR   
    r:+0.65  25.78        53.39 (53.39)
        1:20.75 (27.36)     1:52.44 (59.05)
        2:17.05 (24.61)     2:45.28 (52.84)
        3:08.59 (23.31)     3:34.71 (49.43)
  8 PITT  'A'                     3:39.40    3:36.54         44  
     1) Jansen, Claire FR             2) r:0.23 Detwiler, Tatum SR    
     3) r:0.14 Yendell, Sophie JR     4) r:0.18 Fuhrmann, Kate SR     
    r:+0.90  25.69        53.61 (53.61)
        1:21.43 (27.82)   1:54.34 (1:00.73)
        2:18.08 (23.74)     2:46.97 (52.63)
        3:10.37 (23.40)     3:36.54 (49.57)

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