Highlight Hoos: Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass | UVA Swimming

With the 2021-2022 Virginia athletics season formally accomplished, we enter the faculty sports activities offseason optimistic for issues to come back for the Cavaliers subsequent season. However with the autumn seasons nonetheless a few months away, we have now time to have a look again at a number of the unimaginable athletic accomplishments achieved by UVA pupil athletes through the 2021-2022 sports activities 12 months in a collection known as Spotlight Hoos.

Up to now, we have coated Diana Ordóñez (Virginia girls’s soccer), Mia Barnett (Virginia cross nation and observe & area), Leo Afonso (Virginia males’s soccer), Brooklyn Borum (Virginia volleyball), and Amber Ezechiels (Virginia area hockey). 

At the moment, we check out the final 12 months of spectacular accomplishments of the Virginia swimming dynamic duo of Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass, representing each UVA and Group USA. 

Olympic Trials – June 2021

Touring again to simply over a 12 months in the past, this was a second each Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh catapulted themselves to the nationwide highlight. Because the reigning 2021 NCAA nationwide champions, the 2 Wahoo swimmers set their sights on the Tokyo Olympics.

Each swimmers participated within the 200-meter particular person medley on the Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska. After strong performances within the heats and semifinals on June fifteenth, Douglass and Walsh had been in good positions for the ultimate race, the place the highest two swimmers earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic staff.

The ultimate occasion was a nail-biter to say the least. After the primary 50 meters, Alex Walsh was in fourth place and Kate Douglass was in second. Walsh used a powerful backstroke and breaststroke leg to take the lead at 150 meters, whereas Douglass had fallen to 3rd place. Within the remaining 50 meters, Douglass used a powerful freestyle to catch up. Walsh completed first with a time of two:09.30, and Douglass completed two hundredths of a second behind her for second place. She edged out Madisyn Cox by two hundredths of a second as effectively, displaying how an infinitesimal margin can imply the distinction between pleasure and heartbreak in swimming. Walsh and Douglass had been in, Cox was out.

Whereas each Douglass and Walsh certified for the Olympic Trials in different occasions, they weren’t within the prime two finishers of these races, which meant their one shot at an Olympic medal in Tokyo can be within the 200 IM.

Tokyo Olympics – July 2021

Douglass and Walsh had grow to be Olympians for the primary time, however their work wasn’t executed but. The 200 IM race had the same construction with heats, semifinals, after which the ultimate race with the highest eight swimmers. Kate Douglass was seeded first heading into the finals, and Alex Walsh was seeded third.

The 200 IM as soon as once more proved to be a thriller, with swimmers altering locations all through the race and no clear winner till they touched the wall. Walsh and Douglass caught with the pack within the first 50 meters, after which Alex Walsh made her transfer through the backstroke and breaststroke, as she did within the trials. Within the freestyle lap, 4 swimmers had been neck and neck for the three medals. Walsh and Japan’s Yui Ohashi battled it out in lanes three and two, respectively, with Ohashi taking the victory by .13 seconds and Walsh taking second. Kate Douglass used a powerful end to beat Nice Britain’s Abbie Wooden by .09, securing the bronze medal. The UVA teammates embraced within the pool after securing the silver and bronze medals and cementing their names in USA Swimming historical past.

NCAA common season – November 2021 – January 2022

Again on the collegiate degree, each swimmers confirmed why they had been Olympians. With matching Olympic rings tattoos, Douglass and Walsh dominated the common season. Within the six meets Douglass and Walsh swam in, Walsh gained or was a part of 18 profitable occasions, and Douglass gained or was a part of 20 profitable occasions. Whereas a number of of those races are counted twice as Douglass and Walsh dominated in relays, a number of these had been particular person victories which helped propel the ladies’s swim staff to a dominant common season.

fifteenth FINA Quick Course World Championships – December 2021

Kate Douglass attended the 2021 FINA Quick Course World Championships in Abu Dhabi and had a profitable efficiency with two gold medals, two silver medals, and a bronze medal. She took dwelling gold within the 200-meter freestyle relay and 400-meter freestyle relay. After swimming within the heats, she additionally earned silver medals within the girls’s 200-meter medley relay and the combined 200-meter medley relay. Lastly, Douglass gained bronze within the 200-meter particular person medley.

ACC Championships – February 2022

Virginia gained its third-straight ACC Championship in February and its two greatest stars shined vibrant firstly of the postseason.

Alex Walsh gained three particular person occasions: the 200-yard particular person medley, the 200-yard freestyle, and the 200-yard breaststroke. She set UVA and ACC information with the 200 breast in addition to a UVA file on the 200 free. Walsh additionally was a part of the profitable 400 medley relay, 400 freestyle relay, and 800 freestyle relay. Virginia’s 400-yard medley relay staff broke an NCAA, US Open (quickest time within the U.S), and American (quickest time by an American) file. All of those accomplishments led to Walsh being named the ACC Girls’s Most Worthwhile Swimmer within the meet.

Kate Douglass earned Girls’s Swimmer of the 12 months honors within the ACC for her efficiency through the common season, however she additionally excelled on the ACC championships. She gained particular person titles within the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, and 100 butterfly and likewise gained 4 relays. She was a part of the record-breaking 400 medley relay with Walsh, and she or he additionally contributed to the NCAA, US, Open, and American file time within the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay. Lastly, Douglass additionally was victorious within the 400 free relay.

Girls’s NCAA Championships – March 2022

Walsh and Douglass had been the driving pressure behind Virginia’s second consecutive nationwide championship. They each gained three particular person occasions and joined forces to win three relays, after which Douglass earned a relay win within the 200 medley relay and Walsh got here in second within the 800 free relay.

Within the 400 medley relay and the 400 free relay that included each Douglass and Walsh, Virginia set NCAA, US Open, and American information. The 400 medley relay file truly tied the file from the ACC Championships, made by the very same group. Additionally they gained the 200 free relay collectively.

Douglass set NCAA, US Open, and American information in each the 50 freestyle and 200 breaststroke on the nationwide championships, and she or he set an American file within the 100 fly. Within the seven complete occasions she participated in, she gained all seven and broke a file in 5 of them. Much more impressively, she set American information in three occasions that had been every completely different strokes and completely different distances, a feat by no means earlier than completed on the NCAA Championships. 

Walsh took dwelling the person title for the 200 IM, the 400 IM, and the 200 fly in her completed meet, together with an NCAA, US Open, and American file within the 200 IM. She gained six out of the seven occasions she participated in.

Honda Sport Award – April 2022

The Honda Sport Award is given to the highest feminine athlete in 12 completely different sports activities, after which the winner is eligible to win the Collegiate Lady Athlete of the 12 months award. Each Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh had been named among the many 4 finalists for the award, together with Katharine Berkoff and Tarrin Gilliland. Douglass ended up profitable the award, giving her the title of the perfect feminine collegiate swimmer.

U.S. Worldwide Group Trials – April 2022

The Phillips 66 Worldwide Group Trials came about on the finish of April in Greensboro, North Carolina, and was the choice meet for the 2022 FINA World Championships. Alex Walsh competed in three occasions and Kate Douglass competed in 4, after selecting to skip two occasions she might have swam as a result of meet scheduling.

Alex Walsh set a US Open file with a time of two:07.84 within the 200 IM and gained gold, guaranteeing her a spot on the FINA World Championship staff. She additionally got here in fifth within the 100 breaststroke and sixth within the 200 freestyle.

Kate Douglass positioned second within the 200 breaststroke to earn her roster spot, and likewise completed fourth within the 100 butterfly and fifth within the 50 freestyle, displaying how versatile of a swimmer she might be but once more.

nineteenth FINA World Championships – June 2022

A couple of weeks in the past, Douglass and Walsh completed competing for Group USA in Budapest, Hungary for the FINA World Championships, the largest swim meet in non-Olympic years. 

Douglass earned a bronze medal within the 200 breaststroke, ending behind USA teammate Lilly King and Australia’s Jenna Strauch. She additionally added a bronze medal within the 400 freestyle relay together with teammates Torri Huske, Erika Brown, and Claire Curzan. She swam within the heats of the 400 combined freestyle relay which finally gained a bronze medal, so she will be able to add that to her medal haul as effectively.

Walsh set a private finest in her signature race of the 200 IM with a time of two:07.13, and took dwelling the gold medal on the World Championships. She additionally swam within the heats for the 800 freestyle relay and the 400 medley relay which each ended up profitable gold, so Walsh walked away with three gold medals from the meet.

Present U.S. Data – Alex Walsh

Lengthy course (25 m)

• US Open 200 IM (2:07.84) at 2022 US Worldwide Group Trials

Quick course (25 yd)

• American and US Open 200 IM (1:50.08) at 2022 NCAA Championships
• American and US Open 200 freestyle relay (1:24.47) at 2022 ACC Championships
• American and US Open 400 freestyle relay (3:06.91) at 2022 NCAA Championships
• American and US Open 400 medley relay (3:22.34) at 2022 ACC Championships and 2022 NCAA Championships

Present U.S Data – Kate Douglass

Quick course (25 yd)

• American and US Open 50 freestyle (20.84) at 2022 NCAA Championships
• American and US Open 200 breaststroke (2:02.19) at 2022 NCAA Championships
• American 100 fly (49.04) at 2022 NCAA Championships
• American and US Open 200 freestyle relay (1:24.47) at 2022 ACC Championships
• American and US Open 400 freestyle relay (3:06.91) at 2022 NCAA Championships
• American and US Open 200 medley relay (1:31.81) at 2022 ACC Championships
• American and US Open 400 medley relay (3:22.34) at 2022 ACC Championships and 2022 NCAA Championships

It’s been an unimaginable 12 months for each of those swimmers, however the potential of what’s to come back is extraordinarily thrilling. At 20 years outdated, each Douglass and Walsh have remaining collegiate eligibility in addition to years of worldwide swimming forward of them, so we will definitely be watching to see what they will accomplish within the subsequent 12 months and past.

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