Girls’s School Efficiency of the Yr: Gretchen Walsh Goes Out With a Bang
One closing time, Gretchen Walsh is the clear alternative for the 12 months’s superior efficiency amongst school swimmers. The College of Virginia star concluded her run in NCAA competitors this March as she led the Cavaliers to a fifth consecutive nationwide crown. For the second consecutive 12 months, Walsh gained all three of her particular person races to complete her profession with six such titles. Walsh additionally helped Virginia win a whopping 16 nationwide titles on relays.
Her finale season noticed Walsh turn into the third-fastest swimmer ever within the 200 freestyle, an occasion she hardly races, and Virginia established the quickest instances ever in each medley relays together with the 800 free relay. Individually, Walsh matched or exceeded her greatest instances in all three of her principal occasions on the NCAA Championships. After lacking her nationwide report within the 50 free by 0.12, she got here again to tie the mark of 20.37 main off Virginia’s 200 free relay. On the ultimate day, Walsh clipped her personal report within the 100 free whereas profitable by greater than a second.
However the high general effort got here within the 100 fly as Walsh established a mark certain to final for generations. She turned the primary swimmer ever beneath 47, going out in 21.61 and coming again within the wall in 25.36 for a closing time of 46.97. That swim marked the third time Walsh had set American, U.S. Open and NCAA data in simply that school season; she had beforehand gone 47.21 in prelims and 47.35 on the midseason Tennessee Invitational.
“I used to be undoubtedly over the moon. I wished to swim it the identical method I did this morning and hope my physique would let me go quicker, and it did,” Walsh stated. “I’ve been fascinated about 46 all season lengthy and to lastly say I used to be able to doing it’s fairly darn cool. I’m very proud.”
Upon touching the wall, Walsh knew she had gained the race comfortably over longtime rival Torri Huske, however the scoreboard inside King County Aquatic Heart had gone out, leaving Walsh and everybody in attendance at nighttime as to her time. Walsh shrugged and laughed earlier than celebrating when the board lastly revealed the historic nature of her swim.
Walsh completed her school profession with historical past’s top-eight performances within the 100 fly. She redefined the boundaries of what was doable throughout her closing two years. The all-time report within the occasion was 48.89 when Walsh first arrived at UVA. In March 2023, former teammate Kate Douglass swam a time of 48.43, which already appeared like an enormous bounce. Not for Walsh, as she would rapidly decrease that mark throughout her junior season, topping out at 47.42 on the NCAA Championships. However even that was not insurmountable, with one other half-second to come back in 2025.
Honorable Point out
Whereas Walsh was the clear alternative for the highest spot amongst feminine school swimmers this 12 months, we should additionally observe just a few different standouts. One was Claire Curzan, a teammate of Walsh’s at Virginia who achieved the quickest time ever within the 200 again on the NCAA Championships, going 1:46.82 to carry off Bella Sims. Within the 200 fly, Texas’ Emma Sticklen achieved an NCAA report of 1:49.11 to beat out Alex Walsh, Gretchen’s older sister, for a 3rd consecutive nationwide title. Lastly, Huske achieved her first particular person NCAA title with a powerful time of 1:49.67 within the 200 IM, changing into the third-fastest swimmer ever within the course of.
