2024 ACC SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, February 20 to Saturday, February 24, 2023
- Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, North Carolina
- Defending Champions: NC State men / Virginia women
- Full Event Schedule
- Championship Central
- Live Results
- Live Streaming
- Day 1 Finals Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap | Day 2 Finals Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Recap | Day 3 Finals Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Recap | Day 4 Finals Recap
- Day 5 Prelims Recap | Day 5 Finals Recap
The Virginia women won their fifth-straight and 20th overall ACC title this weekend, and swept all the relay events to boot. They scored a total of 1637.5 points, which is the highest point total in ACC swimming championship history. They set the previous women’s record just last year, where they topped the field with a total of 1536 points. The overall record belonged to the NC State men, who posted 1615 points to win in 2023. Virginia won this year’s meet by 492.5 points over the second-place Louisville Cardinals.
The Cavalier women were on fire this week, winning every swimming event besides the 100 backstroke. They also posted a new NCAA record in six different events: the 50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, 100 back, 200 fly, and 200 free relay. Gretchen Walsh played a huge part in that, claiming four of the five individual records and splitting 19.95 on the record-breaking 200 free relay. Alex Walsh was the other individual record breaker, taking down Ella Eastin’s NCAA record in the 200 fly from 2018.
In terms of scoring, the Walsh sisters led the team with 96 individual points each. They both claimed victory in three individual events, earning the maximum number of points possible. Cavan Gormsen scored 89.5 points via her two individual wins and a 4th place finish.
Event Wins
- 200 Medley Relay: Reilly Tiltmann, Jasmine Nocentini, Carly Novelline, Maxine Parker — 1:33.84
- 800 Freestyle Relay: Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh, Aimee Canny, Ella Nelson — 6:46.28 (ACC Record)
- 200 Freestyle Relay: Jasmine Nocentini, Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh, Maxine Parker — 1:23.63 (NCAA, US Open Record)
- 500 Freestyle: Cavan Gormsen — 4:38.43
- 200 IM: Alex Walsh — 1:51.76
- 50 Free: Gretchen Walsh — 20.57 (NCAA, US Open, American Record)
- 400 IM: Ella Nelson — 4:03.80
- 100 Butterfly: Gretchen Walsh — 48.25 (NCAA, US Open, American Record)
- 200 Freestyle: Aimee Canny — 1:43.10
- 200 Butterfly: Alex Walsh — 1:49.16 (NCAA Record)
- 100 Breaststroke: Jasmine Nocentini — 57.01
- 400 Medley Relay: Gretchen Walsh, Jasmine Nocentini, Alex Walsh, Maxine Parker — 3:22.49 *(48.10 backstroke lead-off from G. Walsh is an NCAA, US Open, & American Record)
- 1650 Freestyle: Cavan Gormsen — 16:07.50
- 200 Backstroke: Reilly Tiltmann — 1:50.64
- 100 Freestyle: Gretchen Walsh — 45.16 (NCAA, US Open, American Record)
- 200 Breaststroke: Alex Walsh — 2:02.24 (ACC Meet Record)
- 400 Freestyle Relay: Jasmine Nocentini, Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh, Maxine Parker — 3:07.34
Virginia’s highest performers weren’t the only swimmers that stood out, as several athletes added to the record-breaking point score throughout the meet.
Individual Scorers
- Alex Walsh — 96 points
- Gretchen Walsh — 96 points
- Cavan Gormsen — 89.5 points
- Jasmine Nocentini — 88 points
- Ella Nelson — 88 points
- Aimee Canny — 84 points
- Reilly Tiltmann — 83 points
- Maxine Parker — 73 points
- Tess Howley — 72 points
- Anna Keating — 68 points
- Ella Bathurst — 64 points
- Emma Weber — 62 points
- Abigail Harter — 61 points
- Carly Novelline — 60 points
- Sophia Knapp — 52 points
- Madelyn Donohoe — 48 points
- Zoe Skirboll — 37 points
- Margaret Schalow — 32 points
While this fifth-straight ACC title is a huge milestone, they will now have their sights set on winning their fourth-straight NCAA championship next month. Last year, they won the NCAA title with 541.5 points, with Texas scoring 414.5 points to be their closest challenger.
Final Team Scores
- Virginia — 1637.5 points
- Louisville — 1145 points
- NC State — 1106 points
- North Carolina — 786.5 points
- Duke — 779.5 points
- Virginia Tech — 632.5 points
- Florida State — 531 points
- Notre Dame — 493 points
- Georgia Tech — 450 points
- Pittsburgh — 407 points
- Miami — 391 points
You forgot to list Cavan Gormsen’s 1650 win
So some not so quick math (at least for me) 17 swimmers, 3 divers and relays can max out at, oddly enough, 2024 total points if they go 1-2-3-4 in every event and win all relays. To score 1637.5 of that total is a remarkable display of dominance. Wow.
**Highest point total ever at ACCs, women -or- men
Now about the men…
The cavalry is coming.
Are they getting a new men’s coach?
UVa coaching is unique and has struck gold. Their method now is to improve and standardize, improve and standardize. When other teams are still trying to figure out the winning formula, UVa will continue to pull away. I predict it will be difficult to break this years championship point tally but it will be easy to eclipse 2023’s 1537 point tally, starting with next year’s team.
They’ve got an awesome 2024 class coming in, but no one is scoring as many points with Cal and Stanford joining the ACC.
But seriously, why isn’t it working for the men’s team?
Why isn’t it working for the men’s team? Is the UVA coaching optimized for women?
dominance⚔️
I enjoyed watching Virginia success,however, it will be impossible to maintain this level of dominance after Gretchen graduates. Enjoy it while it lasts.
If A Walsh and Nocentini (both their first years were 2020-21 so they should be eligible for a COVID year) use their fifth years, they could be *better* next year with the No. 1 recruiting class + Curzan on the squad.
The issue they’re going to have moving forward is who they bring to championship meets. They left some good swimmers back in Charlottesville this past week.
I believe Nocentini is not eligible for another year (SwimSwam staff can hopefully confirm or deny this) and the interview Alex gave to AVD and the other commentator after her 2 Breast win led me to believe she could be leaning toward coming back for a 5th year. She said she will decide before NCs and post it on social media. She confirmed that she is already planning to continue living and training in Charlottesville next year.
It’s funny, people said the exact same thing last year when Douglass said she wasn’t coming back for a 5th year.
I don’t think anyone was saying that other than trolls.
until another superstar gets recruited. UVA has the ability.
and isn’t Leah Hayes on the roster? Plus Claire Curzan? Virginia isn’t going anywhere with those two. It may be closer than before but they will be at the top.