{"id":635181,"date":"2026-01-17T13:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T20:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=635181"},"modified":"2026-01-17T13:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T20:38:10","slug":"claire-curzan-leads-virginia-women-over-virginia-tech-brendan-whitfield-stars-for-hokie-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/claire-curzan-leads-virginia-women-over-virginia-tech-brendan-whitfield-stars-for-hokie-men\/","title":{"rendered":"Claire Curzan Leads Virginia Women Over Virginia Tech; Brendan Whitfield Stars for Hokie Men"},"content":{"rendered":"

Claire Curzan Leads Virginia Women Over Virginia Tech; Brendan Whitfield Stars for Hokie Men<\/strong><\/p>\n

The University of Virginia, aiming to win a fifth consecutive national title in women’s swimming, traveled to Virginia Tech Saturday for dual-meet competition. The Virginia women won 201-87 while the Hokie men came out on top of the Cavaliers by a 157-104 margin.<\/p>\n

Claire Curzan<\/strong> remains one of the dominant swimmers in college swimming, as evidenced by her performer against the Cavaliers’ in-state rival. Curzan led off a victorious 200 medley relay team that also included\u00a0Leah Hayes<\/strong>,\u00a0Carly Novelline<\/strong> and\u00a0Madi Mintenko<\/strong>; the group’s final time was 1:36.20. Curzan also won the 100 backstroke (50.25) and 200 back (1:51.00) Saturday, and she anchored Virginia’s 200 medley relay in 21.23, teaming with Lawson Ficken<\/strong>, Novelline and Mintenko to win in 1:29.06.<\/p>\n

Anna Moesch<\/strong>, who has emerged as a national-title contender in the freestyle events this season, doubled<\/a> with wins in the 200 freestyle (1:42.77) and 50 free (21.58). Also winning two events was Hayes, who went 1:01.03 in the 100 breaststroke and 1:57.68 in the 200 IM. Two-time Olympian Katie Grimes<\/strong> finished first in the 1650 free in 15:53.20 while\u00a0Lana Pudar<\/strong> was first in the 200 butterfly (1:55.88). Emma Weber<\/strong> won the 200 breast (2:11.35) and Mintenko finished atop the 500 free (4:45.85). Sara Curtis<\/strong> was first in the 100 fly (52.53), and she recorded a 21.22 50 free relay split at the end of the meet.<\/p>\n

Virginia Tech’s\u00a0Emily Claesson<\/strong> won the 100 free (48.78) while Grace Austin\u00a0<\/strong>won 1-meter diving (272.40) and teammate\u00a0Peyton Guziec<\/strong> was first on 3-meter (288.53).<\/p>\n