NCAA Women’s Championships: Virginia Dominates 400 Medley Relay for Fifth Straight Year
Every single swimmer racing for the University of Virginia on the 400 medley relay Friday evening at the NCAA Women’s Championships had already finished second place or higher in an individual event at this meet. The star-studded roster of Sara Curtis, Aimee Canny, Claire Curzan and Anna Moesch was never going to be stopped as Virginia continues its march toward a record-setting sixth consecutive national title.
Less than two hours before this relay, Curzan had posted the second-fastest time ever in the 100 backstroke, but the Cavaliers’ roster construction meant Curzan would be assigned to the butterfly leg here, with Curtis swimming backstroke. Canny, meanwhile, would be racing on a medley relay at the NCAA Championships for the first time in her career. No matter: all four Virginia swimmers had top-three splits on their respective strokes.
Curtis led off in 49.47 to take a slight lead, and from there, Canny took over on the breaststroke leg with a 56.63 split. Fresh off a second-place swimmer in the 200 breast, Canny swam a time only exceeded by Florida’s Anita Bottazzo and Louisville’s Anastasia Gorbenko, but both swimmers entered the water well out of contention already.
Curzan fired off a 48.82 split on butterfly, just a bit shy of the 48.55 she swam for second place in the individual event Thursday. Then came Moesch, already with two relay wins and a title-winning performance in the 200 free, entering the water with an advantage of 2.68 seconds and extending it. A split of 45.74 helped Virginia get to the wall in 3:20.66, a time that no other school or team has ever exceeded.
This win marked Virginia’s fifth consecutive national title in the event, adding to the four the Cavaliers won when Gretchen and Alex Walsh swam on the squad. Virginia continued a streak of NCAA wins in every single 200 and 400-yard relay going back to the start of the 2022 meet, also held in Atlanta. The other women who have been part of the streak in the 400 medley include Kate Douglass, Alexis Wenger, Jasmine Nocentini and Maxine Parker, with Curzan and Moesch joining the Walsh sisters en route to the title last year.
“It’s awesome,” Curzan said. “You always hope that you’ll keep winning forever, and to actually have that dream realized with a whole different set of people is awesome. I feel very lucky because I was not the power player last year. Gretchen and Alex were a huge, huge help for the team. This year, to see all the depth come and fill their space so easily, it’s really, really cool.”
The most valuable addition to the Virginia squad this season has been Curtis, a freshman from Italy with extensive international experience under her belt. The 19-year-old has fit right in, contributing to three relay wins this week along with a runnerup finish in the 50 free. While best known for her freestyle, Curtis has the versatility to fire off stellar backstroke splits.
Her leadoff time was quicker than Bella Sims swam for second in the 100 back earlier in the night while also beating Sims head-to-head as the Michigan swimmer touched in 49.79. That strategy choice allowed Curzan to focus on butterfly, where she out-split the field by more than a second.
“I feel super lucky because I really enjoy going off a relay swing,” Curzan said. “It makes it feel like not a race. Doing two 100s back-to-back is pretty difficult, so I feel very fortunate that Sara is able to take that burden off my shoulders. I’m also really happy for her because she went a huge best time today.”
Curtis added, “It’s very exciting. We are not exhausted at all. We are just really happy. If someone else is racing or if we are racing, we just push each other really hard. It’s awesome.”
The win gave Virginia 437.5 points heading into the final day of competition, a massive 165.5-point margin over second-place Texas. The history-minded Cavaliers currently own a bigger advantage than they had at the conclusion of any of their previous title runs, with more to come Saturday. Specifically, Curzan (200 back) and Moesch (100 free) both enter as top seeds in their respective individual events. But the work on day three, with five individual A-finalists and eight more point-scoring swims from prelims, made a major impact.
“Todd was saying how today was like our moving day,” Canny said. “It was a really exciting day for us. I think a lot of them weren’t expected to score, and they all did. I’m super proud of everyone.”
The battle in this relay was for second place, and that went to Tennessee in 3:23.79. Camille Spink supplied a 45.78 anchor split for the Lady Vols to storm from fourth place into second at the finish. McKenzie Siroky, who tied for second in the 100 breaststroke Thursday, went 56.97 on breaststroke while Jillian Crooks swam backstroke and Mizuki Hirai breaststroke.
For Michigan, Letitia Sim, Brady Kendall and Stephanie Balduccini followed Sims into the pool and placed third in 3:24.44. Just behind was the NC State team of Leah Shackley, Eneli Jefimova, Erika Pelaez and Olivia Nel in 3:24.49. Jefimova, the winner of the 100 breast at this meet, went 56.69 on her split.
Texas, racing in the morning heats, claimed fifth in 3:24.64 thanks to a 46.00 anchor split from Eva Okaro. Cal, with Mary-Ambre Moluh leading off with the second-quickest backstroke split at 49.76, ended up sixth.
The fastest freestyle split belonged to Indiana’s Liberty Clark at 45.67 while quick breaststroke legs came courtesy of Florida’s Anita Bottazzo (56.10), Stanford’s Lucy Bell (56.47) and Louisville’s Anastasia Gorbenko (56.63). The Cardinal missed out on the top-eight by one hundredth on the one relay Torri Huske sat out.
Event 15 Women 400 Yard Medley Relay
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NCAA: N 3:19.58 2/21/2025 Virginia
C Curzan, A Walsh, G Walsh, A Moesch
Meet: M 3:20.20 3/21/2025 Virginia
C Curzan, A Walsh, G Walsh, A Moesch
American: A 3:19.58 2/21/2025 Virginia
C Curzan, A Walsh, G Walsh, A Moesch
US Open: O 3:19.58 2/21/2025 Virginia
C Curzan, A Walsh, G Walsh, A Moesch
Pool: P 3:20.42 2/20/2026 Virginia
S Curtis, A Canny, C Curzan, A Moesch
School Seed Finals Points
==================================================================================
1 Virginia 3:20.42 3:20.66 40
1) Curtis, Sara FR 2) r:0.42 Canny, Aimee SR
3) r:0.39 Curzan, Claire JR 4) r:0.18 Moesch, Anna SO
r:+0.69 24.02 49.47 (49.47)
1:15.83 (26.36) 1:46.10 (56.63)
2:08.41 (22.31) 2:34.92 (48.82)
2:56.67 (21.75) 3:20.66 (45.74)
2 Tennessee 3:24.58 3:23.79 34
1) Crooks, Jillian SO 2) r:0.15 Siroky, McKenzie SO
3) r:0.33 Hirai, Mizuki FR 4) r:0.23 Spink, Camille JR
r:+0.53 24.26 50.94 (50.94)
1:17.31 (26.37) 1:47.91 (56.97)
2:11.19 (23.28) 2:38.01 (50.10)
2:59.57 (21.56) 3:23.79 (45.78)
3 Michigan 3:24.08 3:24.44 32
1) Sims, Bella JR 2) r:0.31 Sim, Letitia SR
3) r:0.27 Kendall, Brady SR 4) r:0.10 Balduccini, Steanie JR
r:+0.57 24.13 49.79 (49.79)
1:16.52 (26.73) 1:47.37 (57.58)
2:10.60 (23.23) 2:37.60 (50.23)
2:59.74 (22.14) 3:24.44 (46.84)
4 NC State 3:24.65 3:24.49 30
1) Shackley, Leah SO 2) r:0.28 Jefimova, Eneli FR
3) r:0.25 Pelaez, Erika SO 4) r:0.07 Nel, Olivia SR
r:+0.65 24.38 50.47 (50.47)
1:16.76 (26.29) 1:47.16 (56.69)
2:10.83 (23.67) 2:37.84 (50.68)
2:59.96 (22.12) 3:24.49 (46.65)
5 Texas 3:26.37 3:24.64 28
1) Kern, Emma JR 2) r:0.14 Enge, Piper SO
3) r:0.32 Stoll, Campbell JR 4) r:0.14 Okaro, Eva FR
r:+0.52 24.35 51.37 (51.37)
1:17.93 (26.56) 1:48.61 (57.24)
2:11.68 (23.07) 2:38.64 (50.03)
3:00.46 (21.82) 3:24.64 (46.00)
6 California 3:25.76 3:25.09 26
1) Moluh, Mary-Ambre SO 2) r:0.35 Scott, Elle FR
3) r:0.07 Jia, Annie FR 4) r:0.19 O'Dell, Teagan FR
r:+0.64 24.18 49.76 (49.76)
1:16.82 (27.06) 1:48.28 (58.52)
2:11.60 (23.32) 2:38.04 (49.76)
3:00.32 (22.28) 3:25.09 (47.05)
7 Indiana 3:26.15 3:25.17 24
1) Grana, Miranda JR 2) r:0.19 Laegreid, Jonette SO
3) r:0.09 Shackell, Alex FR 4) r:0.18 Clark, Liberty FR
r:+0.60 24.17 50.20 (50.20)
1:17.94 (27.74) 1:49.82 (59.62)
2:12.20 (22.38) 2:39.50 (49.68)
3:01.00 (21.50) 3:25.17 (45.67)
8 Louisville 3:25.16 3:25.58 22
1) Murray, Camille SO 2) r:0.05 Gorbenko, Anastasia SO
3) r:0.11 Welch, Ella SR 4) r:0.21 Dennis, Julia SR
r:+0.66 24.55 51.76 (51.76)
1:17.98 (26.22) 1:48.39 (56.63)
2:11.57 (23.18) 2:38.78 (50.39)
3:00.80 (22.02) 3:25.58 (46.80)
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