UVA sets American record on Day 1 of ACC Swimming and Diving Championships

Caroline Gmelich, Alexis Wenger, Alexa Cuomo and Kate Douglass combined for an American and NCAA record to win the 200-yard medley relay on Day 1 of the 2021 Women’s Swimming and Diving ACC Championships Wednesday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

UVA’s 200-yard medley relay clocked in with a time of 1:32.93, the fastest in history in the event.

The previous American record was set by Stanford in 2018.

Gmelich led off the relay in the backstroke, followed by Wenger swimming breaststroke, Cuomo on butterfly and Douglass anchoring the freestyle leg.

The Cavaliers swept the two relay events on the first evening of competition, also winning the 800-yard freestyle relay in a UVA and ACC meet record time.

Kyla Valls, Alex Walsh, Paige Madden and Ella Nelson finished four seconds ahead of the field with an ACC meet record and UVA record time of 6:54.13 to take the ACC title.

Virginia leads the meet with a score of 165 through the first day. Notre Dame and Duke are tied for second with 144, NC State is fourth (142) and Virginia Tech (137) rounds out the top five.

“This is a night where I am pretty speechless with what our women accomplished,” UVA coach Todd DeSorbo said. “Our divers got the day started off great with Jocelyn Porter leading the way with a 6th place finish and the women fed on that energy the rest of the night. Our quartet on the 200 medley relay was just unreal. We knew they could challenge the American record. It was a goal they had last year headed into NCAA’s but obviously lost that opportunity to COVID. They decided they weren’t going to miss the opportunity again.

“Our second quartet of women kept the momentum rolling, even from the emotion of the team setting an NCAA record, to stay composed and set a UVA and ACC Meet record in the 800 relay. Our women have won that relay 14 years in a row, it’s a point of pride for our ladies and they enjoy that relay. Excited for the rest of the meet!”