{"id":524910,"date":"2023-03-17T17:56:09","date_gmt":"2023-03-18T00:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=524910"},"modified":"2023-03-17T19:43:48","modified_gmt":"2023-03-18T02:43:48","slug":"ncaa-womens-championships-virginia-cruises-to-victory-in-400-medley-relay-closing-in-on-relay-sweep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-womens-championships-virginia-cruises-to-victory-in-400-medley-relay-closing-in-on-relay-sweep\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Women’s Championships: Virginia Cruises To Victory in 400 Medley Relay; Closing In On Relay Sweep"},"content":{"rendered":"

NCAA Women’s Championships: Virginia Cruises To Victory in 400 Medley Relay; Closing In On Relay Sweep<\/strong><\/p>\n

The outcome of the 400-yard medley relay at the NCAA Women\u2019s Championships was hardly in doubt with the University of Virginia headlining the field. The question was the Cavaliers’ margin of victory.<\/p>\n

Behind the quartet of Gretchen Walsh<\/strong>, Alex Walsh<\/strong>, Kate Douglass<\/strong> and Aimee Canny<\/strong>, Virginia registered a winning time of 3:22.39. That performance was two seconds faster than the 3:24.66 of runnerup North Carolina State and nearly three seconds clear of third-place Texas, which clocked in at 3:25.18.<\/p>\n

With its fourth relay triumph of the meet, Virginia upped its point total to 374.5, a commanding 102 more than second-place Texas. Barring a disastrous final day, the Cavs will secure their third consecutive championship on Saturday night. More, a victory in the closing 400 freestyle relay would hand the program a sweep of the relay events.<\/p>\n

“I think for us, the relay sweep is a huge accomplishment for us,” Alex Walsh said. “I was talking to Maddie Donahoe<\/strong> yesterday, and she said the last time a team has put together this multi-year performance was the legendary Stanford team when they had [Katie<\/strong>] Ledecky<\/strong>, Lia<\/strong> Neal<\/strong>, Simone<\/strong> [Manuel<\/strong>]\u00a0and Ella Eastin<\/strong>. Thinking that we are kind of on the same level as that is pretty shocking because I think we\u2019ve all looked up to those people throughout our whole middle school and high school careers. It\u2019s pretty awesome to think about that accomplishment in the context of history.<\/p>\n

Gretchen Walsh jumpstarted the Cavs with a backstroke leadoff of 49.39 and her older sister, Alex, extended Virginia’s advantage on the breaststroke leg, as she turned in a split of 56.79. Douglass then went to work on the butterfly leg, splitting 48.94 to give Canny plenty of cushion on the freestyle anchor. Canny, a freshman, brought the Cavaliers home in 47.27.<\/p>\n

“I was thinking about it before the relay. It\u2019s like, \u2018We hold two of the NCAA records out of the 100s on this relay.\u2019 That was a cool thing for me to realize,” Gretchen Walsh said. “It doesn\u2019t matter that we didn\u2019t exactly go those times on the relay, but it\u2019s still cool to say.”<\/p>\n

Before overwhelming the field in the 400 medley relay, Virginia shined in the individual events. The session opened with Alex Walsh and Ella Nelson going one-two in the 400 individual medley<\/a>. Next up was an American record from Douglass in the 100 butterfly<\/a>, where she fended off LSU’s Maggie Mac Neil<\/strong> in a historic battle. Finally, Gretchen Walsh obliterated the American record in the 100 backstroke<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Those results have allowed Virginia to build a 374.5-point lead in the team race, 102 ahead of second-place Texas. For some comparison to last year’s title-winning effort, Virginia was up 110.5 points after Friday, and just like last year, the Cavaliers are expected to further their advantage Saturday. Texas has 272.5 points for second, followed by Stanford at 239. Louisville (191.5) and NC State (190) round out the top five.<\/p>\n