{"id":447649,"date":"2020-09-25T17:25:08","date_gmt":"2020-09-26T00:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=447649"},"modified":"2020-09-25T18:22:22","modified_gmt":"2020-09-26T01:22:22","slug":"jack-congers-200-fly-headlines-number-of-strong-times-at-virginia-intrasquad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/jack-congers-200-fly-headlines-number-of-strong-times-at-virginia-intrasquad\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Conger’s 200 Fly Headlines Number of Strong Times at Virginia Intrasquad"},"content":{"rendered":"

The University of Virginia returned to competition on Friday afternoon as the Cavaliers and their pro group put down some solid September times after the COVID-19 summer. Conger, who is one of the post-grads swimming with coach Todd DeSorbo<\/strong>, swam a 1:41.61 in the 200 butterfly in his first official race back in six months. Conger, who is one of the favorites to make the Olympic team in both butterfly events, finished ahead of UVA undergrad\u00a0Josh Fong <\/strong>(1:49.05).<\/p>\n

The intrasquad meet also served as the debut of a strong freshmen class as\u00a0Alex Walsh<\/strong>, one of the top IM’ers in the world<\/a>, swam a 59.85 in the 100 breaststroke, not far off her best time of 58.19 from her sophomore year of high school. She later returned with a 52.19 in the 100 butterfly to finish ahead of\u00a0Caroline Gmelich\u00a0<\/strong>(53.54).<\/p>\n

The national high school record holder in the 50 freestyle,\u00a0Matt Brownstead<\/strong>, made his collegiate debut with a 19.89 in the 50 freestyle, as he was the only swimmer to break 20 seconds. Brownstead set the national record<\/a> last year with a 19.2.<\/p>\n

One of last season’s breakout stars was\u00a0Kate Douglass<\/strong>, and she opened her sophomore campaign with a 1:44.51 in the 200 freestyle, finishing behind postgrad\u00a0Catie DeLoof <\/strong>(1:43.35). Douglass also swam the 100 IM, touching at 52.48 behind\u00a0Sean Conway\u00a0<\/strong>(49.39).<\/p>\n

Conway also broke the pool record<\/a> in the 200 IM with a 1:45.83, lowering the old record set by\u00a0Pat Mellors\u00a0<\/strong>(1:46.58) in 2008.<\/p>\n

Rising senior\u00a0Paige Madden<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>won the 100 freestyle at 49.09 as the primarily distance freestyler also won the 500 freestyle at 4:39.20, which is not far off her best time of 4:32 set at the 2019 NCAAs when she was second.<\/p>\n

Keefer Barnum\u00a0<\/strong>put up a strong performance in the 200 breaststroke at 1:57.69 and was a 53.00 in the 100.<\/p>\n

Other winners from Virginia swimming and diving intrasquad:<\/p>\n