The Virginia women’s swimming team has always exhibited an incredible wall of impossibility. Their zest for never letting swimming events take second place is thoroughly admirable.
This moment was especially visible in the 400 medley relay at the 2025 ACC Championships, where the mighty force of Virginia came together in fantastic fashion.
Claire Curzan, Alex Walsh, Gretchen Walsh, and Anna Moesch literally crushed the NCAA record in this event, with an awesome time of 3:19.58. The record under their banner was 3:21.01, made during the 2024 NCAA Championships.
Remarkably, no team had ever dipped below the 3:20 mark—until that is, the Cavaliers not only crossed it but did so with an unbelievable improvement of 1.43 seconds.
With the Cavaliers establishing themselves with total prowess in the NCAA, a mix of elite swimmers capable of excelling in all four medley relay legs began to line up for squad A.
Walsh had previously swum butterfly on the record-setting relay last season. Interestingly, none of the swimmers specializing in their respective strokes competed in their individual events at this ACC Championship; Curzan took on the 100 fly while G. Walsh tackled the 100 back.
Against the fun of an ACC Championship, both players stood at the top on their segments of the relay. The NCAA coming back in this season provided for a seamless switch for Curzan, who readily accommodated backstroke duty for Walsh’s feature in the butterfly—one that paid off with a personal-best recording of 49.35 for Walsh in the 100 backstroke.
Walsh swam backstroke on this relay previously, and this provided another opportunity for her to swim the flat-start 100 butterfly as well as the 100 backstroke at the NCAA Championships.
For this championship, she opted for the individual 100 backstroke and took on the butterfly leg, delivering a blistering 47.00—marking the fastest 100 fly split in history.
