Virginia sweeps North Carolina in Friday dual

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The No. 18/1 Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams swept NR/24 North Carolina on Friday afternoon at the Aquatic and Fitness Center.

UVA’s women improved to 5-0 in duals with a 168-126 win over UNC, while the men moved to 2-3 with a 171-124 win over the Tar Heels. The Cavaliers won 23 events overall, with the men picking up 12 wins and the women finishing with 11.

Junior Ella Nelson highlighted the day for UVA with a UVA pool record in the 400-yard IM.

Women’s Results

• Virginia’s Kate Douglass, Alexis Wenger, Gretchen Walsh and Reilly Tiltmann, respectively, won the 400-yard medley relay in 3:31.90.
• Alex Walsh won the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle events. Walsh took the 200 free in 1:46.64 and swam a season-best 48.59 to win the 100 free.
• Gretchen Walsh cruised to a win in the 50 free in 22.03 and completed her individual event sweep with a win in the 100-yard butterfly (52.43).
• Kate Douglass swept the breaststroke events, going 59.48 to win the 100 and 2:05.67 to win the 200.
• Carter Bristow had her first dual meet win with a 4:57.55 in the 500-yard freestyle.
• Maddie Donohoe won the 1000-yard freestyle in 10:16.65.
• Abby Harter won the 200-yard butterfly in 1:58.11.
• Nelson set a UVA pool record with a 4:03.95 to win the 400-yard IM to close out the individual events.

Men’s Results

• UVA took the top two spots in the 400-yard medley relay to open the dual. Justin Grender, Noah Nichols, Max Edwards and Matt King, respectively, finished first in 3:10.01 and Matt Brownstead, Scooter Iida, Josh Fong and August Lamb were second in 3:12.46.
• Brownstead and King took the 50-yard free and 100-yard freestyle, respectively.
• Noah Nichols swept the breaststroke events, with a 53.22 in the 100-yard breaststroke and 1:57.58 in the 200. Scooter Iida finished second to Nichols in both the 100 and 200.
• Jack Wright won the 200-yard freestyle (1:36.56) and 500-yard freestyle (4:31.20).
• Max Edwards clocked in first in the 100-yard butterfly (48.21) and Josh Fong won the 200-yard butterfly (1:46.90).
• Justin Grender swept the 100 and 200-yard backstroke for the second consecutive dual meet.
• Casey Storch closed out the men’s individual events with a win in the 400-yard IM in 3:46.60.

Diving

• Nicholas Sanders scored a season-best and the top score of the season for UVA on the 1-meter with a 309.23. Sanders also had a season-best and NCAA Zone A qualifying score on the 3-meter with a 329.63.
• Walker Creedon led UVA with a 336.90 on the 3-meter board.
• Charlotte Bowen led the UVA women on the 3-meter with a season-best score of 308.92 and posted a season-best 281.93 on the 1-meter to finish third in both events.
• Jennifer Bell was fourth on the 3-meter with a season-high 296.25.
• Lizzy Kaye scored a 270.98 to place fourth on the 1-meter.

Coach Todd DeSorbo

“It was a great start to our weekend, where we are recognizing our fourth years in their last home dual meet of their careers. The day started off great with some really awesome relays, usually relays set the tone for the rest of the meet. I usually know if the relays are good then the rest of the meet will be good and that held true today. Definitely saw a lot of fight and excitement in our team. They were happy to be home competing in front of a good crowd with a lot of family and alumni back in town supporting the team. It was a great atmosphere and great environment. The team swam really well. The goal was to come back from our meet last weekend at VT and just be better. I think we were better today. Really pleased with how we swam and how our diver’s dove. It was a great start to the weekend against a great rival in UNC, in the conference.”

“Really want to shout out to our fourth years in their last weekend of home dual meets. Really special time for them having been here and contributed, supported and put a lot into this program the last four years. So, excited for them and excited for them to compete again tomorrow and continue for the rest of the season.”

“Looking forward to tomorrow, an even bigger challenge with NC State in town. A great friend of mine, Braden, their head coach, so excited to welcome them back to town and I know NC State will battle hard and give us a great challenge. Certainly, we look forward to that as we prepare for the postseason that is coming up really quickly.”

Up next

Virginia hosts NC State in its final dual meet of the season on Saturday. Diving begins at 10 a.m. and swimming begins at 2 p.m.