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ATLANTA, GEORGIA - MARCH 18: NCAA signage is seen during the Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championship held at Georgia Tech Aquatic Center on March 18, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
Todd Kirkland via Getty Images
No. 1 Virginia kicked off the NCAA Championships with the second fastest time in history in the 800-yd freestyle relay.
Aimee Canny, Madi Mintenko, Bailey Hartman, and Anna Moesch dropped 0.13 off of their seed time from the ACC championships to stop the clock in 6:45.21, winning the NCAA title.
Moesch anchored the Cavalier women in 1:39.03, the fastest 200-yd freestyle split in the history of the sport. The sophomore is emerging as Virginia’s next superstar.
They now own the second and third fastest times in the history of the sport, behind only Virginia’s team from a year ago.
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The most shocking part about this team’s success is that three out of the four legs were swapped out, including Claire Curzan and both Walsh sisters.
The Hoos were slightly out of reach of their own 6:44.13 where Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh, Canny, and Curzan set the NCAA record. Gretchen Walsh led off in a blistering 1:39.34 a year ago to put Virginia in position to break the fastest time in history.
Indiana freshman Liberty Clark led off the Hoosiers relay with a 1:39.70, making her the third fastest performer of all time in the 200-yd freestyle. Clark bested Moesch’s best time in the 200-yd free by two hundredths of a second, setting up for a great race later in the week.
Virginia secured the win in 200 medley relay, beating Louisville by 0.58 seconds after losing the event at the ACC championships. Sara Curtis, Emma Weber, Claire Curzan, and Bryn Greenwaldt dropped a quarter of a second off of Virginia's season best to go 1:31.67.
Curtis posted the fifth fastest split of all time in her leadoff 50-yd backstroke while Claire Curzan swam the fourth fasteset 50-yd butterfly split in NCAA history.
The team from Louisville tied for second with Stanford in 1:32.35. Louisville added nine hundredths of a second to their seed time whereas Stanford dropped six tenths of a second to jump up into the top two. Tennessee, who won the SEC title in February, placed fourth in 1:32.66.
One of the biggest takeaways from the 200 medley relay was California’s disqualification. The Golden Bears were DQed due to an early takeoff by their freestyler after placing fifth in the event. This will create an added challenge for Cal to climb back into the top five by the end of the week.
The Hoos have already jumped out to an early lead, totaling 100 points on night one, eleven points ahead of the second place Texas Longhorns.
Jillian Cox stands alone a top of the distance ranks
Texas’ Jillian Cox has repeated as NCAA champion in the 1,650-yd freestyle. The distance star is now two-for-two as national champion in the mile.
The Texas sophomore once again put on an endurance clinic, chasing down Cal's Claire Weinstein in the final 600 yards and finishing 4.26 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Cox swam a 15:32.26, which was an improvement from her winning time a year ago by over a second.
Cox is also the number one overall seed in the 500-yd freestyle later on in the week. She will go for the distance sweep after placing first in both of her events in 2025.
Weinstein, who placed second, broke Cal's school record in 15:36.52.
Virginia picked up 20 points in the 1,650-yd freestyle, adding to the perfect 80 scored in the two relays.
Thursday Event Schedule
Preliminaries: 10:00 am ET, Finals 6:00 pm ET Live results
100-yard butterfly
400-yard individual medley
200-yard freestyle
100-yard breaststroke
200-yard freestyle relay
One-meter diving
Thursday’s competition can be streamed on ESPN+.
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