Virginia breaks NCAA record in 400 freestyle relay (3:05.84) to punctuate three laps

2023 NCAA WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Virginia Quartet kate douglas, Alex Walch, Maxine ParkerAnd Gretchen Walsh cut nearly a full second off NCAA, US and US Open records in the 400 freestyle relay with a 3:05.84 on Saturday night, punctuating the team’s hat-trick with a sweep of relay.

The Cavaliers lowered their previous record of 3:06.83 from last month’s ACC Championships. They went with a roster change for the NCAA championships, replacing Lexi Cuomo for Parker with a few other tweaks to the order.

Douglass started with a 46.37 gap in his last collegiate race. Gretchen Walsh took over anchor duties (45.85) instead of taking the lead while older sister Alex moved from anchor in the second leg.

After winning the individual 100 freestyle earlier in the evening (45.61), Gretchen Walsh managed the only under-46 split in the field of 400 freestyle stints to cap his encounter. Parker posted a 47.04 after posting the best result of Virginia’s three B finalists in the 100 freestyle (10th place, 47.72) a few events earlier.

Comparison of splits

The NCAA relay record was second of the week for Virginia after breaking the 200 medley relay mark to open the competition.

400 YARDS FREESTYLE RELAY — TIMED FINALS

• NCAA record: 3:06.83, Virginia (G. Walsh, K. Douglass, L. Cuomo, A. Walsh) — 2023
• Meeting record: 3:06.91, Virginia (K. Douglass, A. Walsh, R. Tiltmann, G. Walsh) – 2022
• American record: 3:06.83, Virginia (G. Walsh, K. Douglass, L. Cuomo, A. Walsh) — 2023
• US Open record: 3:06.83, Virginia (G. Walsh, K. Douglass, L. Cuomo, A. Walsh) – 2023
• 2022 Champion: Virginia (K. Douglass, A. Walsh, R. Tiltmann, G. Walsh) – 3:06.91

Top 8:

1. Virginia (K. Douglass, A. Walsh, M. Parker, G. Walsh) – 3:05.84 (NCAA and American Record)
2. Stanford (T. Huske, T. Ruck, A. Tang, C. Curzan) – 3:08.54
3. Louisville (G. Albiero, C. Regenauer, J. Dennis, E. Welch) – 3:09.57
4. NC State — 3:10.51
5. Ohio State – 3:10.52
6. Indiana—3:12.39
7. Texas—3:12.59
8. Florida — 3:12.62

Stanford finished second, touching 1.03 seconds ahead of third-placed Louisville. Torri Huske started in 46.59, just off the 46.46 she clocked in the individual final to finish second. Following, Taylor Ruck swam 46.74, a great NCAA final run for her. Amy Tang divided 48.36, and Claire Curzan anchored at 46.85; a big split for her too.

Louisville added 0.65 seconds to ACC, but they still had plenty of room to spare as they finished nearly a second ahead of NC State. Gabi Albiero posted 47.38, then they got three 47-half intervals from the rest of their stint: Christiana Regenauer swam 47.24, Julia Dennis went 47.49, and Ella Welch brought them home in 47.46.

Indiana finished sixth in round three, capping a strong championship for them. Aside from Virginia and Stanford, they were the only top-8 team to drop their top seed.

Notably, Alabama and LSU were disqualified.

FULL FINAL RANKING

1. Virginia – 541.5
2. Texas- 414.5
3. Stanford-333
4. Louisville – 288
5. NC Status – 263
6. Ohio State – 223
7. Indiana – 219
8. Tennessee- 214
9. Florida – 179
10. UNC-Chapel Hill – 152
11. California – 137
12. USC-125
13. LSU-112
14. Alabama-111
15. Wisconsin- 100
16. Georgia – 90.5
17. Minnesota- 53
18. Arizona- 52
19. Kentucky- 49
20. Virginia Tech – 46
21. Duke – 42
22. Miami (FL) – 36
23. Michigan- 33
24. Purdue- 32
25. Texas A&M – 26
26. South Carolina – 25
27. Arizona State – 19
28. Northwest/Arkansas – 18
29. (tie)
30. Auburn- 14
31. Hawaii – 11.5
32. Florida State – 11
33. Miami (Ohio) – 9
34. UCLA-8
35. Penn – 7
36. Akron/Nevada – 5
37. (tie)
38. CRF-4
39. Georgia Tech/Utah – 2
40. (tie)