Virginia Women Win Their 2nd-Straight NCAA Swimming & Diving Title

2022 NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 16-19, 2022
• McAuley Aquatic Center, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia (Eastern Daylight Time)
• Prelims 10AM /Finals 6PM
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Championship Central
• Official Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Video (ESPN3): Swimming / Diving

The Virginia women have done it again, defending their 2021 title by winning the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming And Diving Championships by 145.5 points, and scoring a total of 551.5 points. This was an improvement from their finish last year, where they scored 491 points and beat runner-up NC State by 137 points. The win marked the largest margin of victory for a women’s meet since 2018, when Stanford beat Cal by 220 points.

The Cavaliers were led by Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass, who scored a combined total of 120 points individually and contributed to the 194 relay points scored by the Cavaliers. The two of them were also the top scorers individually out of all the swimmers at the meet, sweeping all of their individual events. Alex Walsh earned wins in the 200 IM, 400 IM, and 200 fly, and Douglass won the 50 free, 100 fly, and 200 breast. The Walsh-Douglass duo also took down a total of six American records. Douglass broke the NCAA, US Open, and American record in the 50 free and 200 breast, and the American record in the 100 fly. Alex Walsh, on the other hand, broke the NCAA, US Open, and American record in the 200 IM. They were both on the 400 medley relay, which tied the NCAA, US Open, and American record that they set earlier at the 2022 ACC Championships, and the 400 free relay, which broke the NCAA, US Open, and American Record. In addition, freshman Gretchen Walsh scored 54 points, the third most on the team, and took an individual title in the 100 free. She was also on all of Virginia’s relays aside from the 800 free relay.

Virginia had a total of 7 individual titles, 19 individual A-final finishes, and 9 individual B-final finishes. In fact, the team had at least one A-finalist in every single event except for the 200 free, and had 11 different swimmers score points. In addition, they won four out of the five contested relays, winning the 200 free relay, 400 free relay, 200 medley relay, and 400 medley relay, and placing second in the 800 free relay. This was an improvement from last year, when they only won the 800 free relay.

In total, the Cavaliers won 11 out of 18 total races contested and broke 6 out of 7 American records set at the meet.

Virginia’s Full 2022 NCAA Championship Roster

American Records Denoted in Bold.

Virginia’s title makes them the seventh women’s team to win multiple NCAA titles, and they are now tied with Florida as the team with the sixth-most titles in NCAA history.

The race for second was tight between Texas and Stanford up until the last event. Entering the last day, Stanford led Texas 276 to 257. However, the standings changed multiple times throughout the final night. Erica Sullivan and Evie Pfeifer‘s top 8 finishes in the 1650 free helped Texas regain the lead, but Regan Smith‘s win and the Cardinals’ other two A-finalists put Stanford back on top following the 200 back. Stanford retained that lead throughout the 200 breast, 200 fly and 200 free, but Texas having three divers in the platform finals finish third, fourth, and eighth while Stanford had zero finalists helped the Longhorns tremendously. Next, a ninth place finish for Texas in the 400 free relay was enough to seal the deal, as Stanford needed to win the 400 free relay to pull ahead but they finished in second instead.

Box Score, Stanford vs. Texas On Day Four

Alabama, being under head coach Margo Geer for the first time, took fourth to improve upon their finish from last year with a score of 288. Finally, NC State, the runners-up from last year, rounded out the top five with a score of 279.

ALL 2022 NCAA WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS

• 200 Medley Relay- Virginia (Gretchen Walsh, Alexis Wenger, Lexi Cuomo, Kate Douglass), 1:32.16
• 800 Free Relay- Stanford (Torri Huske, Taylor Ruck, Regan Smith, Brooke Forde), 6:48.30
• 500 Free- Lia Thomas, Penn, 4;33.24
• 2oo IM- Alex Walsh, Virginia, 1:50.08
• 50 Free- Kate Douglass, Virginia, 20.84
• 200 Free Relay- Virginia (Kate Douglass, Alex Walsh, Lexi Cuomo, Gretchen Walsh), 1:24.96
• 400 IM- Alex Walsh, Virginia, 3:57.25
• 100 Fly, Kate Douglass, Virginia, 49.04
• 200 Free- Taylor Ruck, Stanford, 1:41.12
• 100 Breast- Kaitlyn Dobler, USC, 56.93
• 100 Back- Katharine Berkoff, NC State, 48.74
• 400 Medley Relay- Virginia (Gretchen Walsh, Alexis Wenger, Alex Walsh, Kate Douglass), 3:22.34
• 1650 Free- Paige McKenna, Wisconsin, 15:40.84
• 200 Back- Regan Smith, Stanford, 1:47.76
• 100 Free- Gretchen Walsh, Virginia, 46.05
• 200 Breast- Kate Douglass, Virginia, 2:02.19
• 200 Fly- Alex Walsh, Virginia, 1:50.79
• 400 Free Relay-  Virginia (Kate Douglass, Alex Walsh, Reilly Tiltmann, Gretchen Walsh), 3:06.91

TEAM SCORES (FINAL)