- Charlottesville, Virginia
- Saturday, September 28, 2019
- Full Results
- Scores: Orange 235.5, Blue, 214.5
Take intrasquad results for whatever you think they’re worth, but swim fans got their first look at two of the top ranked recruiting classes in the nation, as the UVA Cavaliers split into Orange and Blue teams for their annual intrasquad meet.
Kate Douglass, the top-ranked recruit in the high school class of 2019, led Orange to victory with four victories. Douglass showed off her multi-discipline prowess with wins in the 300 IM (3:02.87), 50 free (22.23), 150 breast (1:33.59), and the 100 IM (53.39). It’s tough to put non-traditional events into context, but it’s worth noting that he 50 free time was only about a half second slower than her lifetime best of 21.67.
The UVA coaches are going to have a fun time putting together Douglass’ NCAA lineup, as she’s a likely a scoring threat in a bevy of events, as today’s results further indicated.
All-American and World University Games swimmer Paige Madden matched Douglass and led Blue by sweeping the distance events, as well the 150 back. She got things started with a win in the 800 free (7:54.21), then turned around and won the 150 free (1:16.29), before taking the 150 back (1:23.61) and the 300 free (2:53.15). The 800 free and 150 free came in back-to-back races.
Her events today pretty much correlated with her NCAA lineup last season, where she finished 2nd in the 500 free, 5th in the 200 free, and 10th in the 2100 back.
Other women’s event winners
- 50 Back – Caroline Gmelich – 24.42
- 50 Breast – Alexis Wenger – 28.57
- 150 Butterfly – Abby Richter – 1:26.77
- 50 Butterfly – Jessica Nava – 24.87
On the men’s side, Cooper Wozencraft (Orange) and Keefer Barnum (Blue) won two events each. Wozencraft won the 150 free (1:10.50) and the 150 back (1:16.53), while Barnum swept the breaststrokes with times of 24.81/1:26.78.
One of the big holes the Cavalier men will need to fill this year will be butterfly, as they lost both Zach Fong and Bryce Keblish to graduation, but freshman Max Edwards took the first steps toward filling that hole, taking the 50 fly in 22.31.
Jack Walker won the 300 free with a time of 2:33.35. Walker was our #3 recruit in the boys high school class of 2019, and he and fellow freshman Jack Wright (#7 recruit and 2nd behind Walker in the 300 free today) should go a long way toward helping the UVA men build around the sprint free relays.
The Cavalier men had the #3 recruiting class in the nation, and they certainly made their presence known today as a third member of the class, Sean Conway, closed out the individual events with a 49.68 in the 100 IM.
Other men’s event winners:
- 800 Free – Justin Grender – 7:29.01
- 300 IM – Casey Storch – 2:48.57
- 50 Back – Joe Clark – 21.98
- 150 Butterfly – Ted Schubert – 1:18.04
- 50 Free – Oliver Rus – 20.66
The Virginia women ranked #3 in our initial power rankings, while the men’s ranking should come out early next week. The Cavaliers continue competition next week at the Trojan Invite.
Dirty double duty by Paige in the 800 then 150 free. She had about 10 minutes rest between the 2 races….
Heard they wore tech suits in this intrasquad meet? Is that common?
Men were wearing briefs.
No problem, my mistake. Just appears that way on UVA swimdive Instagram.
I see that too… you may be right about the women… but they are all mismatched and probably old suits (not sure how much that matters in these new tech suits today but they were clearly not newly issued team suits). I wonder if they just had a fun bet going with the blue team, since that picture is only the Orange team, or if this is something you will see in every meet now with women’s teams because of the “wedgie” issue. Just wear an old “tech” suit and then dont even think twice about getting a stupid DQ for your suit. Regardless, really fast times and still some very fast times on the men’s side as well.
Looking at the medley relay splits- who swam the 27.5 breaststroke leg in the C relay and the 22.6 butterfly leg on the D relay? The 21.6 in split in the free relay has to be Douglass.
Alexis Wenger on breast for C relay, Douglass was the 22.6 flyer. And you’re correct, Douglass did the 21.6 in the free relay.
That’s gonna be a dangerous relay come championship season if they can stay healthy.
Yea they will be close to the TN women’s time
If the 300 IM is 75 each stroke, Douglass’ Sami was UNBELIEVABLY fast.
Great time, especially for this so early stage of the season, but I think it is even more valuable her 1.33.59 in the 150 breastroke.
Considering the best performances in the 200 breastroke (King 2.02.60) and 400 IM (Eastin 3.54.60), in the 150 br. Douglass swam 31.2 per 50yds, so a theoretical 2.04.8 in the 200 br, only 2,2 second slower than King’s record; whilst in the 300 IM she was around 1.00.95 per 100 yds, so a 4.03.8 in the 400 IM, thus 9,2 seconds slower than Eastin’s record.
Anyway, remarkable season’s opening for Douglass indeed.
That’s a good point and I love the statistical thinking! Going a bit further with it, the breaststroke breaks down to 1.1s per 100 while the 400IM breaks down to 2.3s per 100. Accounting for the fact that the start advantage is a higher percentage of the breaststroke time than the IM (since it’s a shorter race), I think the 9.2 seconds slower metric undervalues how impressive her IM was. I think you’re right that the breaststroke might be a more valuable swim, but they both really surprised me, considering she’s a sprint freestyler swimming these events. Can’t wait to see her progression this season… and I’m wondering what events she’ll end up swimming at NCAAs!
Believe the went 50 fly – 100 back – 50 breast – 100 free, looking at those splits
No, it was 75 per stroke.