Virginia Women Shatter NCAA Record in the 800 Free Relay, Now Hold All 5 NCAA Relay Marks

02/18/2025 09:01 PM

By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

2025 ACC MEN'S & Women’s SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 18-22, 2025
• Greensboro Aquatic Center — Greensboro, North Carolina
• Defending Champions: NC State (results)
• Full Event Schedule (pre-scratch timeline)
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results (also available on Meet Mobile as "2025 ACC Championship"
• Live Streaming
• Day 1 Live Recap

One of the perks of dominance, in swimming, is the ability for a team like Virginia to sub-optimize their conference championship lineup in order to make a point, and that’s just what they did on Tuesday evening in Greensboro at the ACC Championships.

They pulled their biggest names out of the 200 medley relay (though that relay still included Junior National Teamers and an Olympia, Emma Weber), and stuffed them all into the 800 free relay – historically Virginia’s weakest.

The result was a dismantling of the U.S. Open and NCAA Records in the 800 free relay with a 6:44.13. That broke the old mark of 6:45.91 that was set at the 2017 NCAA Championships by Stanford with a legendary relay of their own.

Virginia stacked up Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh, Aimee Canny, and Claire Curzan on Tuesday evening.

Walsh, who has been as hot as anyone has ever been in short course over the last 18 months, split 1:39.35 on the opening leg. That’s a new ACC Record and the second-fastest 200 yard freestyle in history behind only Missy Franklin‘s 1:39.10 from the 2015 NCAA Championships.

She was followed by her sister Alex (1:41.87), Aimee Canny (1:42.03), and a transfer-from-Stanford Claire Curzan (1:40.89), who is in her first season on the varsity but her second season training with the Cavaliers.

What is remarkable is that, including the leadoff leg, Virginia had the four fastest splits of the entire field. The next-fastest was from NC State freshman Erika Pelaez, who rolled a 1:42.28 on their 4th-place relay.

The old Stanford relay, which included Olympic medalists Katie Ledecky, Lia Neal, and Simone Manuel, plus individual NCAA Record breaker Ella Eastin, retains the American Record because Virginia’s Canny is from South Africa.

Splits Comparison:

Virginia’s focus has never really been on the 800 free relay. For several years in a row, they haven’t raced it at their mid-season invite, waiting until the ACC Championships to get a time on the board, and when they do race it, they rarely use their best lineup.

And yet, they have now won the 800 free relay at the ACCs every year since 2007 – a streak that long predates the current generation of the program.

But this performance is a gigantic flex, and makes Virginia the first program since Stanford in 2019 to hold all five NCAA relay records simultaneously (Cal broke their 400 free relay record on March 1 at the 2019 Pac-12 Championships). That Stanford team won three consecutive NCAA titles, and this Virginia team is barreling toward its 5th.

All-Time Top Performers, Women’s 200 Free

1. Missy Franklin, Cal – 1:39.10 (2015 NCAAs)
2. Gretchen Walsh, Virginia – 1:39.34 (2025 ACCs)
3. Mallory Comerford, Louisville – 1:39.80 (2018 NCAAs)
4. Katie Ledecky, Stanford – 1:40.36 (2017 NCAAs)
5. Simone Manuel, Stanford – 1:40.37 (2017 Pac-12s)
6. Taylor Ruck, Stanford – 1:40.37 (2019 NCAAs)
7. Allison Schmitt, NBAC – 1:40.62 (2015 American SC Championships)
8. Summer McIntosh, Sarasota Sharks – 1:40.63 (2022)
9. Siobhan Haughey, Michigan – 1:40.69 (2018 NCAA Championships)
10. Bella Sims, Sandpipers of Nevada – 1:40.78 (2022 Winter Juniors – West)

Race Video

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