Sometimes DeSorbo jumps in the middle to break them all down. T he University of Virginia women's swimming and diving team won the program's first national championship on Saturday after finishing with 491 points in the 2021 NCAA Championship at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. In the summer of 2016, DeSorbo coached three athletes to the Rio Olympic Games, as Held qualified for the U.S.A.s 4x100m freestyle relay, Soeren Dahl qualified for Denmarks a 4x200m freestyle relay and Simonas Bilis qualified the 50m and 100m freestyle. At the time UVA dominated the ACC and was competitive nationally, but the program wasn't a threat to the big dogs in swimming. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Once all the events had finished, runners-up gained spots on the Olympic roster. Ive known Courtney and her family since doing a home visit with them while recruiting her in high school. But cutting it as close as possible gives her the best chance to win; she has seen the math and celebrated the results: 12 dolphin kicks (at least until she tapers) equals victory. He helped USA set the record for most medals at a World Championships (45) in a single sport. Quickly, before her fingers are pulled off the tile, Walsh starts walking on her hands. The Cavaliers had 12 athletes named to CSCAA All-America Teams (10 first team and two second team). In his fourth year at the helm of the program, DeSorbo guided the womens team to its first national championship and the first national title for an ACC team in the sport in NCAA history. As a senior at UNCW, DeSorbo was named CAA Championships Swimmer of the Meet in 1999 after winning titles in the 200 backstroke, and both the 200 and 400 individual medley. Her athletes helped the Cavalier women finish sixth at the NCAA Championships, the third best finish in program history, and the mens team record its best finish since 2011, placing 10th overall. "Texas, Cal, Stanford, to a little bit of a lesser degree Florida.". UVA picked up 28 All-America honors. He additionally helped the mens squad win four of five relay events at the conference championship and the teams second-straight conference title, as well as earn All-America honors in all five swims at the national meet. He made the final in the 100-meter breaststroke, finishing sixth. (Photo by Matt Riley, UVA Athletics). Or cords. But Douglass really started paying attention when her friends and fellow swimmers Maddie Donohoe and Ella Nelson committed to the school. Douglass brought a bronze home from Tokyo; Walsh secured the silver. The Wolfpack men placed fourth overall while the womens team finished seventh. Rising sophomore Aimee Canny played a crucial role in winning two of the relay titles in 2023. In Tokyo, she swam the second leg of a historic 4x200 freestyle relay. I couldnt be happier with how we all performed, Walsh said. Her swimmers set two school records over the course of the season, helping to set new standards for UVA. Held made history as he helped the United States win a gold medal in the relay. Douglass concludes her collegiate career with a whopping seven total individual NCAA titles and countless Virginia, NCAA and American records broken. UVa, which finished ninth at the meet, picked up 28 All-America honors. Thanks in large part to the play of sophomore goalie Matthew Nunes, the Cavaliers secured their second straight victory over the nations No. Her lucky number. ALEX WALSH SLOWLY exhales as she propels herself toward the bottom of the pool. Prior to the start of the NFL Draft on Thursday, the league took time to honor the three fallen Virginia players who were killed in Novembers. It shows. The fun becomes the pixie dust that binds teammates and generates confidence in what each swimmer can accomplish. ALEX AND GRETCHEN WALSH were toddlers when their mom, Glynis Walsh, a former swimmer at Boston College, pulled floaties over their arms and dropped them into a Florida swimming pool. Nine American record swims, a second-straight NCAA Championship, three Olympic medals and seven World Championship medals highlighted the 2021-22 season for DeSorbos team. Perry was named ACC Female Freshman of the Year. A day earlier and 180 miles away, Walsh dove into the University of Virginia's home pool one final time before leaving for the conference meet. After UVA was awarded the meet trophy, and Douglass was named the top performing swimmer of the meet, the Hoos jumped into the diving pool in celebration, as is customary after a championship meet victory. Of the 18 swimming events, the UVA women won 14 of them, leading to a record 1,536 points and a fourth consecutive ACC championship. Her primary responsibility was to oversee the middle distance and . The belts are attached to a tower of weights. "I feel like [my confidence] has just been improving more and more over the years," Douglass says. You bring a button to the pool deck that sounds like a foghorn. Madden represented the U.S. at the Pan American Games. Prior to becoming the head coach at Virginia, DeSorbo was the associate head coach at N.C. State for six seasons. 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NCAA, Long Beach Poly Ends Wilsons Historic 49-Year Win Streak With 1st Moore League Title. "We made our little pro-con lists at dinner, and I was the only thing on the cons list!" John Shifflett. (Photo courtesy UVA Athletics). During DeSorbos tenure, the Virginia women have won one national championship, three ACC titles, two ACC Swimmer of the Year Awards and two ACC Freshman of the Year honors. No matter how you slice it: Swimming is a grind. DeSorbos program matches the mens soccer program (1991 to 1994) and the mens tennis program (2015 to 2017) as the only programs in school history to win at least three straight national titles. Bachman is a four-time American Swimming Coaches Association Coach of Excellence honoree (2011-12-13-14). The University of Virginia has promoted Courtney Caldwell to assistant coach after she spent the last two seasons on staff as a volunteer assistant. It added up to a magical moment -- one they hope to repeat Saturday in Knoxville. Sometimes, though, Alex wanders over to the sprint group for speed training, like on the January morning practice after lifting. UVAs ascension reached new heights in March, when its womens team lapped the field at the NCAA championships, winning the first national title by an ACC swimming program. Lu grew up swimming at the same club as Wilson and Katie Ledecky and Phoebe Bacon. Gretchen throws up in practice. In 2018-19, Bachman coached six athletes to the NCAA Championships with Zach Fong, Paige Madden, Emma Seiberlich and Abby Richter earning All-America honors. Reveling in the just-completed Games and planning for the next are irresistible, but soon the focus will turn to UVAs 2021-22 season. Virginia Coaches, Athletics Director, and Staff Take Voluntary Salary Emma Weyant earned a silver medal for the United States in the womens 400-meter individual medley at the Tokyo Olympics. Douglass, a 2021 sophomore from Pelham, New York, finished just two-hundredths of a second behind Walsh, a 2021 freshman from Nashville, Tennessee, for second place. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Riley is an associate editor interested in the stories taking place outside of the pool just as much as the drama between the lane lines. The trials for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics occurred the summer after Gretchen's senior year of high school. Virginia swimming and diving coach Todd DeSorbo signs five-year extension "It's pretty fun to do the same stuff as the boys.". In 2010-11, her first season at Brenau, she became the youngest head coach in the nation. Walsh, the daughter of Boston Colleges former swim team captain Glynis Walsh, enrolled as a freshman at Virginia for the 2021 season. So Gretchen has to know when it's time to pop up. But Virginia, the two-time defending NCAA women's swimming champion, mixes in a little mad science here . Under his leadership, Ky-lee Perry had an outstanding rookie season in which she was crowned champion in the 50 freestyle in school record pace of 21.88 and qualified for NCAAs in the 50 and 100 freestyle. The Wolfpack men placed fourth overall while the womens team finished seventh. You can cancel at any time. He set school records in both the 200 and 400 individualmedley,and made the All-ECAC team in 1999 by winning the 400 individual at the Eastern Championships. Her parents, who had attended college in Virginia, thought UVA might be a good fit for her. The final night concluded with the 400-yard freestyle relay. Riding that wave of confidence through 2022, Douglass has continued to impress. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader). "I get a little dj vu," she says. The Assistant Coach of the University of Virginia Women's Swimming program is Wes Foltz. There was a problem saving your notification. At NC State, DeSorbo worked primarily with the Wolfpack sprinters and was a developmental specialist. At the NCAA Championships, the Cavalier women placed ninth earning All-American honors in 14 events as the men finished 29th after earning All-America honors in seven events. Commitment to student-athletes and their academic success, as well as athletic . Virginias women have won back-to-back NCAA Championships (2021 & 2022) and the men have finished in the Top-10 in three-straight. Hollie Bonewit-Cron - Head Coach of Men's and Women's Swimming and Given the circumstances we had to go through this past year, I think it was a really good way to end our season.. She started at 36 inches this morning and has decided to go up for her final two sets. Virginia accomplished the feat thanks to a dominating effort at the NCAA womens swimming and diving championships, where the Cavaliers won six national titles in individual and relay events, the most ever by an ACC program. Former Cavalier Leah Smith was third in 4:06.27. Virginia completed its most recent title defense with a total of 541.5 points, defeating second-place Texas by 127 points. She signed them up for swim lessons when Alex was 6 and Gretchen was 4. Virginia has set 16 womens school records and 14 mens school records, improving many of those in each of DeSorbos five years. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, Independent Contractor (Newspaper Carrier), Pauly D from 'Jersey Shore' to DJ in Richmond, 4 VCU students arrested protesting second anti-abortion event, VEC lays off 157 workers, raising new questions about long-term funding, Meet the 2023 All-Metro girls basketball team, led by Manchester's Mia Woolfolk, John Hinckley Jr. will not be playing a concert at Bandito's Burrito Lounge, Stanley's hoagie bar opens in former Robin Inn spot in the Fan, The first Wawa in North Carolina will open on the Outer Banks, VA Education Association: Youngkin administration misappropriating lab school money, Youngkin says he won't embark on presidential campaign 'this year', KavaClub, Richmond's first kava bar, to offer psychoactive plant drinks, Road rage shooting wounds man in Chesterfield, VCU hoops notes: John Marshall coach praises local trio. Im so proud of this group, head coach Todd DeSorbo said. DeSorbo holds two accounting degrees from UNCW, earning a bachelors degree in 1999 and a masters degree in 2000. This is national championship No. If a swimmer pulls the weight a little too high on the tower for his liking, DeSorbo adds more. In his first season with the Cavaliers, the womens team reclaimed the ACC title, while the mens program finished third at the conference championships. He oversaw the programs recruiting, training and day-to-day operations. He didn't expect swimming to be his athletes' only priority -- especially since many of them came to UVA for academics -- but he did want it to be more of a priority. "In the past year, I've started to be able to do that," Douglass says. "He was telling me all these things, and they seemed such simple fixes, and even though they're habits that you have to establish, they're not hard habits.". One by one, they each dove in. To cap an incredible year, she became a world champion in the 200-meter IM and the 200-meter breaststroke at the 2022 FINA Short Course World Championships. Virginia also won its third womens ACC Championship in four years, and league-record 17th overall. "Our staff does a good job of making it about as fun as it can be," DeSorbo says.