{"id":581674,"date":"2024-03-22T18:05:15","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T01:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=581674"},"modified":"2024-03-22T19:45:49","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T02:45:49","slug":"ncaa-womens-championships-virginia-crushes-ncaa-record-in-400-medley-relay-to-conclude-another-dominant-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ncaa-womens-championships-virginia-crushes-ncaa-record-in-400-medley-relay-to-conclude-another-dominant-night\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Women’s Championships: Virginia Crushes NCAA Record in 400 Medley Relay to Conclude Another Dominant Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

NCAA Women’s Championships: Virginia Crushes NCAA Record in 400 Medley Relay to Conclude Another Dominant Night<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moments after the conclusion of the final heat of the women’s 400 medley relay, the last race of night three at the NCAA Women’s Championships, Virginia’s entire team has surrounded the relay squad of\u00a0Gretchen Walsh<\/strong>,\u00a0Jasmine Nocentini<\/strong>,\u00a0Alex Walsh <\/strong>and\u00a0Maxine Parker<\/strong>. As DJ Khaled’s “All I Do Is Win” blared through the Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Ga., the Cavaliers rocked out along with the song.<\/p>\n

The phrasing was accurate: both Walsh sisters and Nocentini had already won titles on the evening, with Gretchen Walsh swimming the fastest time ever in the 100 butterfly while Alex Walsh (400 IM) and Nocentini (100 breaststroke) each moved to No. 2 all-time in their respective events. In 11 swimming events contested before the 400 medley relay, the Cavaliers had won seven of them.<\/p>\n

Now, Virginia’s third relay win of the meet, the Cavaliers knocked off their first NCAA relay record in this medley relay triumph, beating the field by almost four seconds while topping the previous national mark from last season, when\u00a0Kate Douglass<\/strong> was part of the squad, by eight tenths with a final mark of 3:21.01.<\/p>\n

On the leadoff leg, Gretchen Walsh was expected to take a run at breaking her second individual record of the night in the 100 back, having recorded a mark of 48.10 at last month’s ACC Championships. However, racing just two hours after her incredible 100 fly swim, Walsh looked slightly fatigued as she came into the wall at 48.26, which tied the second-fastest time ever and the NCAA meet record in the individual event.<\/p>\n

Next up, Nocentini blasted a split of 56.34, quickest of the night, to move the Cavaliers further ahead. Alex Walsh, hardly known as a sprinter, followed on the butterfly leg, returning to the stroke she previously handled in 2022 after shifting to breaststroke last season. She, too, topped the field, with her mark of 49.15 well ahead of 100 fly individual runnerup\u00a0Emma Sticklen<\/strong> of Texas (49.67).<\/p>\n

Only on the anchor leg was Virginia surpassed, as Parker split 47.26 while several competitors split 46s. But at that point, as per Virginia’s usual dominance, no one had any hope of catching up. Parker came into the wall for a new record and good enough to cement Virginia’s 51.5-point lead entering the meet’s final day.<\/p>\n

With all that said, the team competition is not over yet, not after a huge Saturday performance from the University of Texas, with seven A-final performances between the 100 fly, 100 breast and three-meter diving. That culminated in the 400 medley relay with a second-place performance. After legs by\u00a0Berit Berglund<\/strong> and Anna Elendt<\/strong>, the Longhorns sat in fifth place, but Sticklen came through with a massive fly leg, her split almost eight tenths faster than any non-Virginia butterflyer.<\/p>\n

Kelly Pash<\/strong> came home in 46.76 to put Texas into the wall in 3:24.92, adding 34 more points to the Longhorns total and allowing Texas to finish the day having outscored Virginia by 17 points, creating a little bit of drama entering the final day, certainly more than Virginia experienced in any of the previous three team-title-winning efforts.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers know the stakes heading into the final day of competition, but they are also remaining calm, knowing that they are performing at an elite level while not being able to do anything about the Longhorns’ success.<\/p>\n

“I think we\u2019re very motivated right now because we\u2019re swimming better than we were even seeded to and diving,” Gretchen Walsh said. “We had our first-ever A-finalist diver in UVA history, which was amazing. Go Lizzy<\/strong> (Kaye<\/strong>). It is hard to remember that when you see Texas is doing better, and so I think that kind of competition is something we need for our motivation going into the last day. I think it\u2019s just going to make us even better. We all are really psyched. We\u2019re ready to come out swinging in prelims. We\u2019re doing it for our team, which makes it that much more important and exciting.”<\/p>\n

Tennessee placed third in 3:25.39 with the team of\u00a0Josephine Fuller<\/strong>,\u00a0Mona McSharry<\/strong>,\u00a0Sara Stotler<\/strong> and\u00a0Camille Spink<\/strong>. Fuller’s backstroke split of 50.22 was fourth-quickest in the race while McSharry had the second-best breaststroke result behind Nocentini at 56.80. Finally, Spink finished in 46.42 to secure the top-three result.<\/p>\n

Florida, fueled by Bella Sims<\/strong> leading off in 50.02 and\u00a0Isabel Ivey<\/strong> anchoring in 46.39, took fourth in 3:25.64, just ahead of USC at 3:25.76. NC State, which featured 100 back NCAA champion\u00a0Katharine Berkoff<\/strong> leading off in 49.01, came in sixth at 3:27.12 while Duke’s quartet dropped more than two seconds from its entry time to move up from the 15th-seeded relay to seventh place overall.<\/p>\n

Virginia has scored 360.5 points, with Texas sitting second with 319 and Florida third in 267. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where these three schools do not occupy the top-three spots at the conclusion of competition Saturday. Tennessee (185) and Stanford (177) sit fourth and fifth, respectively, with both teams having out-performed expectations so far this week. USC is sixth (136), followed by Indiana (138), Louisville (136), NC State (114) and Cal (110).<\/p>\n