In Case You Missed It: 2022 ACC Women’s Championships Digest

2022 ACC SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Tuesday, February 15th to Saturday, February 19th Prelims 10:00am | Finals 6:00 pm (Tuesday 11:00am/4:30pm)
• Where: McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta Georgia (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champions
  • Women: University of Virginia (17x) (results)
  • Men: University of Louisville (1x) (results)
• Championship Central: Here
• Detailed Timeline: Here
• Psych Sheets: Here
• Live Results
• Full Results
• Live Recaps:
  • Tuesday Finals 
  • Wednesday Prelims 
  • Wednesday Finals 
  • Thursday Prelims 
  • Thursday Finals 
  • Friday Prelims
  • Friday Finals 
  • Saturday Prelims
  • Saturday Finals 

Hey, we get it. Life gets busy, and not everyone has the time or devotion to do a deep dive on every single conference meet. So, we’re here to provide with you bite-sized overviews of the major conference meets from last week.

This year was unusual in that the ACC men and women competed together, instead of over two separate weeks, but we’ll break down the mens’ and women’s meets separately.

Unsurprisingly, the big storyline on the women’s side was that the UVA women captured their third-straight ACC title, and while they did it with a number of record-breaking swims, the NC State women had a heckuva meet to keep it close until the final few events.

The Cavalier women won every swimming event over the first three days of competition, swimming the fastest times ever in the 200 free relay and the 200 medley relay on Wednesday and Thursday.

Kate Douglass and Gretchen Walsh finished 1-2 in the 50 free with times of 21.00 and 21.04, the 2nd- and 6th-fastest performances of all-time.

NC State hung tough through those first days, taking 2nd in all three relays, and sitting only 100 points back heading into Friday. Then they pounced Friday evening, winning each of the three individual events. Katharine Berkoff broke the ACC record with a 49.41 in the 100 back and moved to #3 all-time. Next, Sophie Hansson reclaimed her ACC record in the 100 breast after UVA’s Alexis Wenger broke it in the morning. Hansson won her 4th ACC title in that event, and help bring the Wolfpack within 30 points of the Cavaliers.

UVA promptly responded by absolutely obliterating the U.S. Open Record in the 400 medley relay, skipping 3:23 completely and lowering the all-time mark from 3:24.58 to 3:22.34.

The meet wasn’t over, though, and NC State clawed back on Saturday, including a gutsy swim by backstroke star Katharine Berkoff, who cracked 47 in the 100 free and came within a hair of beating Douglass and Walsh in that event. But the Cavaliers put it away in the 200 breast, where Alex Walsh snapped Hansson’s three-year winning streak in the event with a time of 2:03.02, the 3rd-fastest performance ever. UVA then closed out the meet with a conference record in the 400 free relay.

While UVA and NC State dominated the headlines, it’s clear the conference as a whole is getting deeper. The Louisville Cardinals don’t have quite the same star power they did a few years ago, but they took 3rd in three of the five relays, and Liberty Williams‘ win in the 1650 was the only swimming victory that didn’t go to UVA or NC State. Duke’s Sarah Foley had an impressive week too, taking 2nd to Alex Walsh in both the 200 IM and the 200 free, and her teammate, freshman Margo Omeara won the 1m and platform diving events.

Still, Virgina and NC State are clearly the cream of the ACC crop right now. UVA has to be considered the favorites to win NCAAs right now, but a strong NC State team that took 2nd at NCAAs should push them next month, even with other teams reloading this year.

Event Winners

• 1m diving – Margo Omeara (Duke) – 354.75
• 800 free relay – UVA – 6:53.37
• 200 free relay – UVA – 1:24.47
• 500 free – Emma Weyant (UVA) – 4:37.23
• 200 IM – Alex Walsh (UVA) – 1:52.38
• 50 free – Kate Douglass (UVA) – 21.00
• 200 medley relay – UVA – 1:31.81
• 400 IM – Ella Nelson (UVA) – 4:02.11
• 100 fly – Kate Douglass (UVA) – 49.86
• 200 free – Alex Walsh (UVA) – 1:42.28
• 3m diving – Mia Vallee (Miami) – 412.15
• 200 fly – Abby Arens (NC State) – 1:54.11
• 100 back – Katharine Berkoff (NC State) – 49.41
• 100 breast – Sophie Hansson (NC State) – 56.72
• 400 medley relay – UVA – 3:22.34
• 1650 free – Liberty Williams (Louisville) – 15:43.21
• 200 back – Reilly Tiltmann (UVA) – 1:50.49
• 100 free – Kate Douglass (UVA)- 46.81
• 200 breast – Alex Walsh (UVA) – 2:03.02
• Platform diving – Margo Omeara (Duke) – 324.95
• 400 free relay – UVA – 3:08.22

Final Scores

1. UVA – 1418.5
2. NC State – 1347
3. Louisville – 1136.5
4. UNC – 760
5. Duke – 709
6. Notre Dame – 651
7. Virginia Tech – 636
8. Florida State – 549
9. Miami (FL) – 411
10. Georgia Tech – 407
11. Pitt – 328
12. Boston College – 178