Courtesy: UVA Athletics
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will open the new year with a pair of competitions as the UVA divers travel to the Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tenn., for the three-day Tennessee Diving Invitational and the Cavalier swimmers face Auburn in a dual meet at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center in Auburn, Ala.
The Virginia divers will open competition at the Tennessee Diving Invitational on Friday (Jan. 3). Events will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, and at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Saturday’s morning session against the Auburn Tigers will begin at 10 a.m. ET, while the night session will start at 4 p.m.
How to Follow
Links to live results are available at VirginiaSports.com.
CSCAA Rankings
Both Virginia and Auburn enter the weekend with a top 25 ranking in the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America’s latest poll. The Cavalier women rank third nationally, while the men’s team ranks 15th. Auburn ranks 14th on the women’s side and 23rd on the men’s side.
The Diving Unit
• The Cavaliers will compete in their fourth diving competition of the season.
• It’s the squad’s second trip to Tennessee after UVA competed in a dual meet with the Volunteers on Oct. 19.
• In the team’s last outing, senior Sydney Dusel (Naperville, Ill.) swept the 1m and 3m board at the Georgia Tech Diving Invitational.
• Sophomore Walker Creedon (Cary, N.C.) led the men’s team with a fourth-place finish on the platform.
The Cavalier Swimmers
• The UVA swimmers ended 2019 with the Tennessee Invitational.
• Freshman Kate Douglass (Pelham, N.Y.) had a record setting weekend which earned her ACC Swimmer of the Week honors. Douglass set two ACC records and an additional three school records over the course of the three-day meet.
• Douglass set a conference record in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard medley relay. She set a school record in the 50-yard freestyle with her leadoff swim in the 200-yard freestyle relay, the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard breaststroke.
• The men’s 400-yard freestyle relay team of senior Ryan Baker (Arlington, Va.), senior Joe Clark (Worcester Park, Great Britain), junior Cooper Wozencraft (Houston, Texas) and junior Samuel Schilling (Excelsior, Minn.) set a school record.
In the NCAA
• Two Cavaliers recorded a time that ranks in the NCAA’s top five at the Tennessee Invitational.
• Junior Paige Madden (Mobile, Ala.) recorded an NCAA leading time of 4:34.64 in the 500-yard freestyle. She also ranks fourth in the 200-yard freestyle (1:43.52), fifth in the 1650-yard freestyle (15:58.25) and fifth in the 200-yard backstroke (1:51.28).
• Douglass holds the top time nationally in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:06.19) in addition to ranking second in the 200-yard individual medley (1:52.84), fourth in the 100-yard butterfly (50.30) and tied for fourth in the 50-yard freestyle (21.53).
• The women’s 400-yard medley relay team of junior Caroline Gmelich (Rumson, N.J.), sophomore Alexis Wenger (Detroit, Mich.), Douglass and senior Morgan Hill (Olney, Md.) recorded an NCAA leading time of 3:27.58
• Additionally, the women’s 200-yard medley relay team of Gmelich, Wenger, Douglass and Hill rank second in the NCAA with a time of 1:33.91, while the women’s 400-yard freestyle relay team of Douglass, Madden, freshman Lexi Cuomo (Clifton, Va.) and Hill rank third in the NCAA with a time of 3:12.52.
Winter Nationals
• Six Cavaliers competed in a U.S. national championship over the winter break.
• Freshman Maddie Donohoe (Annandale, Va.), Douglass, Madden and freshman Ella Nelson (Nashville, Tenn.) raced at the Toyota U.S. Open Championships in Atlanta, while Dusel and Creedon competed at the USA Winter Diving National Championships in Minneapolis, Minn.
• Madden recorded two top-five finishes at the U.S. national championships, placing fourth in the 400-meter freestyle and fifth in the 200-meter freestyle.
• Douglass finished fourth in the 100-meter butterfly, setting a school record in the long course event.
• Dusel finished in the top 10 in two events at the winter diving championships, placing fifth on the 1m board and 10th on the 3m board.