Swimming

Alex Walsh Passes Kate Douglass as Winningest ACC Championship Swimmer Ever with 26 Titles

February 26, 2024

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
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University of Virginia senior Alex Walsh has surpassed her former collegiate teammate Kate Douglass for the most event titles in conference history.

Douglass, who finished her college career last season, won 25 career ACC titles, and on Saturday night, Walsh won her 26th career title.

While the ACC’s public record books don’t rank all-time event winners, but according to research done by UVa’s sports information department, they were the two winningest swimmers in the conference’s history.

Under current rules, the maximum possible conference championships a swimmer can win in a four year career is 28. While Walsh is entitled to a 5th year of eligibility because of the COVID-19 waivers, most of the Cavaliers’ star swimmers have ceded that opportunity to shift their focus away from college swimming.

Walsh has been a perfect 7-for-7 in her last three ACC seasons, and has won all 16 relays in which she’s raced. The only blemishes on her resume came during her freshman season, when she won the 200 IM, was 3rd in the 200 back, and was 4th in the 100 breast.

Both swimmers got wins across a number of different events. The most noticeable difference between their runs is that Douglass more often swam the leadoff leg of free relays, while Walsh was more commonly off a rolling start.

If Walsh were to come back for a 5th year, she might set a record that would never be broken. Even if she doesn’t come back – with Stanford and Cal joining the ACC next year, the conference becomes even deeper, and going on these kind of dominant runs will become tougher.

But for now, we enjoy a Virginia team that is on as good of a run as any college team we’ve seen in the modern era. That these two could somehow overlap and not interfere with each others’ individual wins (in spite of swimming similar races) shows the incredible depth of this Virginia team.

Alex Walsh‘s Wins

	Event	Time	Leg (if a relay)
2021	800 free relay	1:43.19	2nd
2021	200 IM	1:51.53
2021	200 free relay	21.09	4th
2021	400 medley relay	51.57	Backstroke
2021	400 free relay	47.22	4th
2022	800 free relay	1:41.63	4th
2022	200 free relay	21.38	2nd
2022	200 IM	1:52.38
2022	200 free	1:42.28
2022	400 medley relay	49.59	Butterfly
2022	200 breaststroke	2:03.02
2022	400 free relay	46.72	2nd
2023	200 medley relay	26.1	Breaststroke
2023	200 free relay	21.3	4th
2023	200 free	1:41.63
2023	100 breast	57.64
2023	400 medley relay	57.45	Breaststroke
2023	200 breast	2:03.68
2023	400 free relay	47.07	4th
2024	800 free relay	1:41.23	2nd
2024	200 free relay	20.82	3rd
2024	200 IM	1:51.76
2024	200 fly	1:49.16
2024	400 medley relay	49.13	Butterfly
2024	200 breast	2:02.24
2024	400 free relay	47.05	3rd

Kate Douglass‘ Wins

	Event	Time	Leg (if a relay)
2020	200 medley relay	22.33	butterfly
2020	200 IM	1:51.36
2020	200 free relay	21.75	1st
2020	100 fly	50.83
2020	400 free relay	47.77	1st
2021	200 medley relay	20.49	freestyle
2021	200 free relay	20.95	1st
2021	200 IM	1:50.15
2021	100 fly	48.84
2021	400 medley relay	48.25	butterfly
2021	100 free	45.86
2021	400 free relay	46.35	2nd
2022	200 free relay	21.1	1st
2022	50 free	21
2022	200 medley relay	20.54	freestyle
2022	100 fly	49.86
2022	400 medley relay	46.25	freestyle
2022	100 free	46.81
2022	400 free relay	47.02	1st
2023	200 medley relay	20.49	freestyle
2023	200 free relay	20.95	1st
2023	200 IM	1:50.15
2023	100 fly	48.84
2023	400 medley relay	48.25	butterfly
2023	100 free	45.86
2023	400 free relay	46.35	2nd