SwimSwam Walsh Sisters Lead Virginia To Fifth Straight Women’s NCAA Title

Virginia Makes It Five Straight: The Virginia Cavaliers made history on Saturday, becoming just the third women's program to win five consecutive NCAA Division I Championship titles.

Also: All of the highlights from NCAAs, Kaylee McKeown opens the season with some dynamite swims in Sydney, and the MIT women and Dension men claim NCAA Division III titles.

Virginia Completes Five-Peat With Dominant Women's NCAA Title Victory

The drive for five was alive in 2025 for the Virginia women, as the Cavaliers stormed to their fifth straight NCAA title in Federal Way.

Led by the star sister duo of Gretchen and Alex Walsh, along with sophomore Claire Curzan, Virginia finished with 544 points to comfortably top runner-up Stanford (417) by 127.

The victory made the Cavaliers just the third team in NCAA history to win five consecutive women's D1 swim & dive titles, joining Texas (1984-88) and Stanford (1992-96).

Gretchen Walsh was the top performer at the meet, scoring the maximum 60 points after sweeping the women's 50 free (20.49), 100 free (44.71) and 100 fly (46.97), setting new NCAA, U.S. Open and American Records in the two latter.

In the 100 free, Walsh clocked 44.71 to lower her previous record of 44.83 set at last year's NCAAs, and in the 100 fly, Walsh broke her record of 47.35 in the prelims, producing a time of 47.21, and then got all the way down to 46.97 in the final, making more history as the first woman under 47 seconds.

The graduating senior was already the only woman sub-48, and now owns the eight fastest performances ever, with the second-fastest swimmer of all-time, Kate Douglass, 1.49 seconds back in 48.46.

Alex Walsh won the 100 breast in a personal best of 56.49, marking the fifth different individual event in which she's won an NCAA title, having also won the 200 breast, 200 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM. Walsh also placed 2nd in the 200 IM and 200 fly.

Curzan, making her NCAA Championship debut for Virginia after swimming with Stanford at the 2023 meet, swept the backstroke events, setting a new all-time record in the 200 back of 1:46.82, breaking her previous record of 1:46.87 set earlier this season.

Florida sophomore Bella Sims touched 2nd in 1:47.11, moving her past Regan Smith (1:47.16) for #2 all-time in the event.

In the 100 back, Curzan (49.11) edged out Sims (49.12) for the title, making Curzan the fourth-fastest performer in history. Sims ranks #3 all-time after clocking 48.97 at the SEC Championships in February.

Curzan was also the runner-up to G. Walsh in the 50 free, setting a lifetime best of 21.11 to rank #10 all-time, giving her 57 individual points to rank 2nd in the meet behind Walsh's 60.

The Cavaliers also won all four relays of five relays, including the 200 free relay, where G. Walsh led off in 20.37 to tie her NCAA, U.S. Open and American Record set at last year's national championships.

UVA set a new all-time record in the 200 medley relay (1:31.10), a new championship record in the 400 medley relay (3:20.20), and posted respective times of 1:24.45 and 3:06.01 in their winning 200 and 400 free relay.

In the 200 medley relay, Curzan (23.17), A. Walsh (25.62), G. Walsh (20.88) and Maxine Parker (21.43) combined to knock more than four-tenths off the previous NCAA, U.S. Open and American Record of 1:31.51, set by Virginia in 2023, with G. Walsh's fly split marking the second-fastest ever and out-splitting all but two freestylers in the event.

Virginia's Winning Relays

• 200 free relay – G. Walsh, Curzan, Parker, Moesch – 1:24.45
• 400 free relay – Curzan, Moesch, A. Walsh, G. Walsh – 3:06.01
• 200 medley relay – Curzan, A. Walsh, G. Walsh, Parker – 1:31.10 *NCAA, U.S. Open, American Record*
• 400 medley relay – Curzan, A. Walsh, G. Walsh, Moesch – 3:20.20

In the 800 free relay, Stanford rolled to a dominant victory, as Caroline Bricker (1:41.73), Aurora Roghair (1:41.89), Lillie Nordmann (1:41.16) and Kayla Wilson (1:42.20) combined for a time of 6:46.98 to top runner-up Virginia (6:51.29) by more than four seconds.

Other Individual Standouts

• Stanford's Torri Huske tied with A. Walsh for 3rd in the meet with 54 individual points, winning the 200 IM (1:49.67) and finishing as the runner-up in the 100 free (46.01) and 100 fly (48.90). Huske set new bests in both the 200 IM and 100 free, ranking #3 and #5 all-time, respectively.
• Another Cardinal, sophomore Caroline Bricker, had a phenomenal meet for Stanford, winning the 400 IM in dominant fashion in a time of 3:57.36, and she was also 3rd in the 200 fly (1:51.55) and 5th in the 200 IM (1:52.01) to score 50 points. She set lifetime bests across the board, and now ranks #7 all-time in the 400 IM and #15 in the 200 IM.
• Texas fifth-year Emma Sticklen made it a three-peat in the 200 fly, winning the event for the third straight year in a time of 1:49.11 to knock five one-hundredths off the NCAA Record held by Alex Walsh (1:49.16).
• Texas sophomore Jillian Cox was a dominant force in the distance freestyle events, winning the 500 free (4:31.58) and 1650 free (15:33.54) comfortably, finishing just outside her lifetime bests in both.
• Stanford's Aurora Roghair was the runner-up to Cox in both distance events, and was named the Elite 90 Award winner for having the highest GPA among all competitors at the meet.
• Stanford junior Lucy Bell won the 200 breast in a lifetime best of 2:04.28, ranking her #11 all-time in the event.
• Indiana senior Anna Peplowski won a razor-thin battle in the 200 free, clocking 1:40.50 to edge out USC's Minna Abraham (1:40.56) and Michigan's Stephanie Balduccini (1:40.89) as all three set new personal bests to rank 8th, 9th and 15th all-time, respectively.
• Miami (FL)'s Chiara Pellacani won the 1-meter diving event (354.65), Texas' Alejandra Estudillo claimed the 3-meter title (389.40), and Indiana's Skyler Liu was victorious on platform (382.15).

Final Team Standings – Top 10

1. Virginia – 544
2. Stanford – 417
3. Texas – 394
4. Indiana – 312
5. Tennessee – 298
6. Florida – 232
7. Louisville – 209.5
8. California – 202.5
9. Michigan – 196
10. NC State – 164

See the full NCAA Championship box score here.

Todd DeSorbo, Gretchen Walsh Named CSCAA Women's Coach & Swimmer of the Year

After their dominant performance in the pool, it was no surprise to see Virginia claim swimming honors as the CSCAA announced their annual awards following the conclusion of the Women's NCAA Championships.

For the fifth straight year, Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo was named CSCAA Women's Coach of the Year, while Cavalier senior Gretchen Walsh was named Women's Swimmer of the Year for the second straight time after sweeping her individual events and playing a key role on four winning relays.

Texas' Matt Scoggin was named Women's Diving Coach of the Year for the sixth time in his career, and his 12th time earning the award overall after also winning six times on the men's side.

Miami (FL)'s Chiara Pellacani won Women's Diver of the Year honors for the first time after winning the 1-meter event and finishing as the runner-up on 3-meter.

Read more here.

MIT Women, Denison Men Claim NCAA Division III Titles

The MIT women won their first national title in program history on Saturday, claiming the Division III NCAA title at the Greensboro Aquatic Center after scoring 497 points to edge out runner-up NYU (470).

Leading the way for the MIT women was senior Kate Augustyn, who swept the 100 back (53.41) and 200 back (1:55.85), while the Engineers also got a win from Sydney Smith in the 100 fly (53.96) and won four of the five relays, including setting new D3 Records in the 200 free (1:30.00) and 200 medley (1:39.51).

Augustyn set a new D3 record in the 100 back of 53.29 at the NEWMAC Championships in February.

Read more on MIT's title here.

In the men's meet, Denison won their first title since 2019 and sixth overall, accumulating 463.5 to comfortably best runner-up Emory (323.5).

Denison walked away with the team title despite winning no events throughout the meet, with relays playing a key role for the team as all five of them finished in the top five, highlighted by runner-up finishes in the 400 and 800 free relays.

The Big Red's top scorer was Patrick Daly, who was 2nd in the 200 breast and 200 IM and placed 7th in the 100 breast.

Read more on Denison's title here.

In addition to MIT's two relays, the meet saw a number of other new Division III records:

• Men's 100 free – Max Cory (Bates), 42.88
• Men's 100 fly – Cooper Costello (Chicago), 45.97
• Men's 200 fly – Justin Finkel (Connecticut College), 1:42.64
• Women's 50 free – Kaley McIntyre (NYU), 22.15
• Women's 100 free – Kaley McIntyre (NYU), 48.53
• Women's 1650 free – Natalie Garre (Bowdoin), 16:17.84
• Women's 400 IM – Sophie Verkleeren (Williams), 4:11.23
• Women's 800 free relay – NYU, 7:13.02

McKeown Fires Off Trio of Blazing Backstroke Swims In Sydney

Five-time Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown had a phenomenal performance in her first meet of 2025, posting some of the fastest times in history in the women's backstroke events at the New South Wales State Open Championships in Sydney.

McKeown produced the 4th-fastest swim ever in the 50 back (27.06), rocketed to #1 in the world in the 100 back (57.73) to come within four-tenths of her best time, and in the 200 back, her time of 2:04.57 marked the 19th-fastest swim ever as she took over #1 in the world by two seconds.

Brittany Castelluzzo impressed on the final day of racing on Sunday, winning the women's 200 fly in a lifetime best of 2:07.37 to rank #4 in the world before winning the 200 free 30 minutes later in 1:58.87.

You can find full meet coverage below:

• Day 1 Recap
• Day 2 Recap
• Day 3 Recap

QUICK HITS

• Seth Donnelly, a swim coach from Goshen, Indiana, died on March 12 at the age of 38.
• Coaching legend Eddie Reese filed an objection letter to the House v. NCAA settlement, writing that under the current terms, there will be "less than 50" men's Division I programs within five years.
• Several top names have entered the NCAA transfer portal on the men's side, including U.S. Olympians Aaron Shackell and Luke Whitlock.
• Japan has announced a 34-swimmer roster for the 2025 World Championships.
• Korean teenager Kim Youngbeom posted a blistering time of 47.96 in the men's 100 free prelims at the Korean Championships in Gimcheon, and followed up by clocking 47.98 in the final. The 18-year-old becomes the second Korean swimmer to break 48 seconds and is now the seventh-fastest Asian in history.
• Returning from his four-year suspension, Sun Yang was in the water at the Chinese National Spring Championships in Qingdao, posting a time of 3:47.94 to finish as the runner-up behind Liu Peixin (3:46.80). Other highlights from the meet include Wan Letian moving to #4 all-time in the women's 50 back (27.09) and Liu Yaxin becoming the third-fastest Chinese swimmer ever in the women's 200 free (1:54.96).
• The White House has frozen approximately $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania over Lia Thomas participating in the 2021-22 NCAA season.
• The Men's NCAA Championships kick off this week in Federal Way, mirroring the women's schedule from last week with the first session scheduled for Wednesday night. Check out the SwimSwam Preview Index here, and be sure to submit your Pick 'em entries to the contest before the meet starts here.

Quest For 5 is Complete: Virginia Women Win 5th-Straight NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship

DeSorbo Named CSCAA Women’s DI Coach For 5th Straight Year, G. Walsh Named Swimmer Of The Year

NCAA and American Records Fall As Gretchen Walsh Swims To 46.97 In 100 Butterfly

Denison Claims Program’s 6th NCAA DIII Men’s Swimming and Diving Championship Title

MIT Women Become Fifth Team to Win NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Title

Kaylee McKeown Rockets To #1 In The World With 57.73 100 Back At NSW Championships