{"id":499819,"date":"2022-03-17T20:32:18","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T03:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=499819"},"modified":"2022-03-17T20:32:18","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T03:32:18","slug":"gretchen-walsh-makes-history-with-both-sister-alex-walsh-and-kate-douglass-on-incredible-sprinting-night-for-virginia-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/gretchen-walsh-makes-history-with-both-sister-alex-walsh-and-kate-douglass-on-incredible-sprinting-night-for-virginia-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Gretchen Walsh Makes History With Both Sister Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass on Incredible Sprinting Night for Virginia (VIDEO)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gretchen Walsh<\/strong> has done some amazing things in the water with her sister Alex Walsh<\/strong> over the years at high school championships and national meets.<\/p>\n

They added one more, being together for an NCAA championship relay for the first time.<\/p>\n

But it is what Gretchen and Kate Douglass<\/strong> are doing that has helped Virginia dominate the NCAA Championships.<\/p>\n

Douglass broke the NCAA and American record in the 50 freestyle twice<\/a> on Thursday, but even more stunning was that both she and Gretchen Walsh went sub-21 in the finals to go 1-2. They are the fastest and third-fastest, respectively, in the history of the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight, the ultimate goal was to go 1-2 with Gretchen. I was confident we were both going to go under 21 and that was pretty awesome,\u201d Douglass said.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t something they have just been thinking about today, but all season since they began training together for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Kate are amazing training partners. We really help each other a lot in practice. Every single day we are doing some pretty cool stuff,\u201d Gretchen Walsh said. \u201cThis morning, when she went a 20-point, I was like, \u2018I can go a 20-point, too.\u2019 When I saw my time I was thrilled. Seeing Kate lower that record is really cool. It is so cool what we are doing together. I really wanted to go 1-2 with her, and I am really glad we did that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The monumental momentum was something that started in prelims when the Cavaliers put eight in the finals. In the finals, Alex Walsh broke the NCAA and American record in the 200 IM (1:50.08). Douglass went an American record 20.87 in the 50, then did even better in the finals at 20.84 and Gretchen Walsh went 20.95.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter this prelims session we were pretty excited. It was a pretty dominant prelims session with eight final swims. We came in tonight wanting to continue that momentum. Emma (Weyant)<\/strong> started that off in the first race of the night and we kept it going. It was a really exciting night,\u201d Douglass said. \u201cAfter ACCs, I was pretty excited to swim the 50 here. Going 21.0 was exciting and I thought I might be able to go under that mark. That was awesome to see that record go down because that was a goal of mine since the start of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n