Virginia Women Break NCAA And U.S. Open Record In 200 Free Relay (1:23.63)

By Yanyan Li on SwimSwam

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
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Streaming
• Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap | Day 2 Finals Recap

To kick off the second session of the 2024 ACC Championships, University of Virginia’s Jasmine Nocentini (21.55), Gretchen Walsh (19.95), Alex Walsh (20.82), and Maxine Parker (21.31) combined for a time of 1:23.63 to take down the NCAA and U.S. Open record in the 200 freestyle relay. Since Nocentini is Italian, the record cannot count as an American record.

The previous record was Virginia’s 1:23.87 from the 2023 ACC Championships, which still stands as the American record. Notably, this is the third-straight season where UVA broke the NCAA and U.S. Open record in the 200 free relay, as the team did so in 2022 as well.

Walsh’s 19.95 split is notably the first sub-20 second 50 free relay split in history for a female swimmer. She was the main reason why her team’s record was broken, as the average split of the other three swimmers (21.23) on this relay was slower than the average of the non-Gretchen Walsh swimmers (21.13) on the relay that held the previous NCAA and U.S. Open record.

Split Comparison

Virginia won this relay by over a second, with Louisville touching in second with a time of 1;25.39. Notably, this win happened even after Nocentini missed her turn leading off.

Here is the race video of the relay, courtesy of the UVA Swimming YouTube channel:

SwimSwam: Virginia Women Break NCAA And U.S. Open Record In 200 Free Relay (1:23.63)