{"id":581470,"date":"2024-03-21T17:25:37","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T00:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=581470"},"modified":"2024-03-21T19:19:13","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T02:19:13","slug":"ncaa-womens-championships-gretchen-walsh-splits-20-23-as-virginia-wins-200-free-relay-builds-team-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-womens-championships-gretchen-walsh-splits-20-23-as-virginia-wins-200-free-relay-builds-team-lead\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Women’s Championships: Gretchen Walsh Splits 20.23 as Virginia Wins 200 Free Relay, Builds Team Lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

NCAA Women’s Championships: Gretchen Walsh Splits 20.23 as Virginia Wins 200 Free Relay, Builds Team Lead<\/strong><\/p>\n

The team contest took an unexpected turn at the NCAA Women’s Championships Wednesday evening as Virginia placed fourth in the 800 freestyle relay, snapping a streak of nine consecutive relay wins at the national meet that dated to 2022. The Cavaliers, aiming for a fourth consecutive team title, sat two points behind Florida in the team competition, albeit quite early in the contest. Could this perhaps be a true contest for the overall win rather than the runaway many expected?<\/p>\n

Not so fast. Virginia has quickly and effectively restored order on day two.<\/p>\n

“We talked a lot as a team at the hotel afterward,” Virginia head coach\u00a0Todd DeSorbo <\/strong>said. “They can move on pretty quickly. Personally, I have a superhero and an Achilles heel that\u2019s the same thing, and that\u2019s being able to move on from something, whether it\u2019s really, really good, I can move on to the next thing, and if it\u2019s really, really bad, I can move on. It doesn\u2019t matter. The next race is the most important one”<\/p>\n

After Florida’s Bella Sims<\/strong> took first in the 500 freestyle, the Cavaliers picked up a pair of wins as Alex Walsh<\/strong> swam the second-fastest time ever in the 200 IM and Gretchen Walsh<\/strong> broke the NCAA record in the 50 free for the fifth time this season, and now Virginia has again comfortably won a relay, blasting the field in the 200 free relay. None of those wins were surprises, but they have put Virginia 47.5 points up on the Gators entering day three.<\/p>\n

In the sprint freestyle relay, the Cavaliers swam slightly off the NCAA record of 1:23.63 they set at the ACC Championships, but the result was an admirable time of 1:24.05, taking almost a half-second off the meet record Virginia set last year when\u00a0Kate Douglass<\/strong> was on the squad.\u00a0Jasmine Nocentini<\/strong>, third in the 50 free earlier in the night, led off in 21.26 to give Virginia a six-hundredth lead on NC State’s\u00a0Katharine Berkoff<\/strong>, and then Gretchen Walsh took over.<\/p>\n

At the ACC Championships last month, the younger Walsh sister split 19.95 for the first-ever sub-20 50 free split. This time, she was just off that mark in 20.23, the third-quickest split ever but quicker than any other swimmer has ever notched. Her older sister Alex then split 21.23 before\u00a0Maxine Parker<\/strong>, also a finalist in the 50 free, came home in 21.33.<\/p>\n

As the story of this NCAA Championships is written over the coming days, perhaps the temporary setback from Wednesday will be the turning point that galvanizes the Cavaliers in another title run.<\/p>\n

“Having something go not perfect is good from time to time,” DeSorbo said. “It just provides a little more motivation and gets them a little more amped up. Not that we\u2019re going to try harder, but they\u2019re going to try harder. They do well under pressure, so I think having more pressure is a good thing.”<\/p>\n

While Virginia’s stars again dominated the race, Louisville produced a strong second-place finish with the Cardinals bringing back three swimmers who finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, in the individual 50 free. Gabi Albiero<\/strong>,\u00a0Christiana Regenauer<\/strong>,\u00a0Julia Dennis<\/strong> and Ella Welch<\/strong> combined for a time of 1:25.47, with both Regenauer and Dennis splitting 21.1s.<\/p>\n

Texas placed third in 1:26.17 with a team of\u00a0Grace Cooper<\/strong>,\u00a0Ava Longi<\/strong>,\u00a0Emma Sticklen<\/strong> and\u00a0Kelly Pash<\/strong>. Five other teams broke 1:27, with USC leading the way at 1:26.47. Further back in the pack, Michigan’s\u00a0Lindsay Flynn<\/strong> split 21.27 on the Wolverines’ fifth-place squad while Tennessee’s\u00a0Camille Spink<\/strong> (21.24) and Indiana’s Ashley Turak<\/strong> (21.28) were also among the race’s quickest performers. Florida took 10th in 1:27.23 with 500 free champion Bella Sims<\/strong> leading off in 21.94 and 200 IM runnerup I<\/strong>sabel Ivey<\/strong> splitting 21.33.<\/p>\n

In the team contest, Virginia now leads the way with 210.5 points, followed by Florida at 163 and Texas at 141. Stanford and Tennessee are tied for fourth at 104.<\/p>\n