Virginia sets two school records, finishes 10th at NCAA Championships

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The Virginia men’s swimming & diving team set two more school records to close out the 2022 NCAA Championships on Saturday night at McAuley Aquatic Center.

The Cavaliers finished 10th overall with 154.5 points, the second-best finish for an ACC team behind NC State’s third-place finish. Virginia had school records broken eight times during the NCAA Championships. Virginia has finished in the top-10 the last three NCAA Championships. The only other time it has had three top-10 finishes in a row was 2009-11.

Saturday was a day of records for the Cavaliers as UVA saw two individual records fall in the prelims, then the same records were topped in the finals.

Senior Justin Grender made the first school record with his 1:39.49 swim in the 200-yard backstroke to qualify eighth. Grender finished eighth overall, his best individual finish at NCAAs, with a time of 1:40.72 in finals.

Freshman Jack Aikins won the consolation final of the 200 back, taking the UVA record from Grender with a time of 1:39.26 to finish ninth.

Sophomores Matt Brownstead and Matt King traded the 100-yard freestyle UVA record. Brownstead improved on King’s record of 41.48 from prelims with a 41.22 in the finals to finish fourth overall. King also bested his time from prelims with a 41.34 to place seventh.

UVA’s relay group for Brownstead, King, Aikins and freshman Connor Boyle, respectively, closed out the night with a fourth-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Cavaliers matched their best relay finish since 2012’s fourth place 800 free relay at the NCAA Championships. UVA finished in 2:46.80, the second-fastest time in school history.

In Prelims

• Sophomore Noah Nichols just missed the finals, finishing 19th in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:53.01.
• Senior Casey Storch was 26th in the 200 breast in a personal-best time and fifth-fastest time in UVA history, 1:53.71.
• Junior Josh Fong was 24th in the 200-yard butterfly in 1:42.70.
• Senior Walker Creedon finished 40th on the platform with a score of 269.45.