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.
Less than two hours earlier, 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, a quicker time than Bella Sims swam for second in the 100 back earlier in the night, and she also beat Sims head-to-head as the Michigan swimmer touched in 49.79. 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 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 battle here 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
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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)
