It is not yet known where Sheaff is off to next. The culture of the sport is anchored in early morning practices -- getting up at 4:30 a.m. before school to fit in a couple hours of club practice. Bachman joins UVA after serving as the assistant swimming coach and women's recruiting coordinator for Indiana since 2016. The Virginia women have done it again, defending their 2021 title by winning the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming And Diving Championships by 145.5 points, and scoring a total of. Madden closed out her stellar meet with a win in the 1,650-yard freestyle in a career-best time of 15:41.86. But just a few years prior to the three-peat, no one could have predicted the heights that the Cavaliers have reached. With its third pull from the NCAA transfer portal, Virginia addressed both its lack of front-court size and its need for a floor spacer. Lots of things contribute to speed: number and timing of dolphin kicks, hip positioning in the water, the underwater stroke in the breaststroke, to name a few. Make no mistake: Hard work is at the root of her legacy. Douglass, Walsh and the Cavaliers are also the defending NCAA women's swimming champs. One, two, three steps she takes seven in all. After spending five seasons at UNCW, DeSorbo left for NC State, where he continued coaching sprint swimmers, including multiple athletes who would become Olympians. But Alex was also a big reason why Gretchen considered making a different decision. UVA became the first program in ACC history to win an NCAA title. You have permission to edit this article. Grace Nudlman. He made the most incredible, extraordinary improvements in a four-year period perhaps in the history of North American swimming.". Upon his arrival at UVA, DeSorbo began to instill culture changes. The bottom line is that DeSorbo knows how to recruit and coach some of the best swimmers in the world. Looking forward to having her on staff full time after two years as a volunteer as she adds a lot of value to our pool deck!. DeSorbo is the ultimate arbiter, and he's always adjusting. But Virginia, the two-time defending NCAA women's swimming champion, mixes in a little mad science here . Alongside the magical traditions are the micro adjustments prescribed by Dr. Ken Ono, a mathematician at UVA who is hellbent on minimizing inefficiencies in swimmers' strokes. In total, UVA has 33 individual and 19 relay ACC titles along with 12 NCAA individual titles and five NCAA relay championships. I think everybody else was [too] and thought the Aussies have it in the bag. Penny Lane. Sophomore Reilly Titlmann aided in Virginias 2023 800m freestyle relay title and will compete for another two years. "I think it created a little bit of tension between us," Alex says. Additionally, DeSorbo coached 13 athletes to the 2017 NCAA Championships where they collected over 30 All-America honors on the way to the teams highest NCAA finishes in program history. FROM STAFF REPORTS. Almost overnight, it feels like the Virginia women's swimming and diving team has become a national powerhouse. Douglass won the 200-yard medley at the 2020 ACC Championships, while Madden won three individual titles at the ACC Championships that year. "The top three schools just have a stranglehold, always have," DeSorbo says. Virginia swimming and diving head coach Todd DeSorbo announced Monday the addition of Courtney Caldwell to his staff as assistant coach. By The Rector And Visitors Of The "I've known Courtney and her family since doing a home visit with them while recruiting her in high school. Kate Douglass took bronze in the 200-meter IM, right behind UVA teammate Alex Walsh, at the Olympics. You can float,'" Glynis says. The Cavaliers finished the shorten season, due to the coronavirus, with 23 All-ACC honors from the womens team and six honors from the mens team. You can cancel at any time. When it came time to decide where they would swim collegiately, it would have been tempting to assume that the Walshes would stick together, that Gretchen would follow Alex. The University of Virginia has promoted Courtney Caldwell to assistant coach after she spent the last two seasons on staff as a volunteer assistant. "Todd loves resistance," associate head coach Blaire Bachman says. Prior to joining the UNCW staff full-time, DeSorbo served as the head swim coach for the Cape Fear Aquatic Club from2005-07,and was a graduate assistant at UNCW from 1999-2000. A centerpiece of DeSorbos 2020 recruiting class, Weyant arrived in Charlottesville last summer. 'Hoonami: UVA women swim to second consecutive national title by Scott Michaux Matt Riley/UVA Athletics Any doubts that Virginia had fully arrived as a national swimming powerhouse were swept away in March by a 'Hoonami of American records and national titles at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championships. Sometimes DeSorbo jumps in the middle to break them all down. Fresh off the national championship in March, the Olympic success is ideally timed for UVA swimming, too. Numerous records have fallen for the Cavaliers, including seven events that saw American, NCAA & US Open records set in 2022. It's sort of like analytics in football and basketball; processing the data to find stats like completed passes over expectation boggles the mind. The top-ranked Cavaliers, led by coach Todd DeSorbo and Olympians Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh, dominated the NCAA championship meet in Knoxville, Tennessee, outscoring the second-place finisher University of Texas by 127 points. The Cavaliers had 12 athletes named to CSCAA All-America Teams (10 first team and two second team). Prior to Virginia, Caldwell coached with the Porter Valley Polar Bears located in Los Angeles where she was the lead coach for their Senior group. Or racks, or towers. "So me and her train together probably twice a week, maybe," Alex says. In 2018-19, Bachman coached six athletes to the NCAA Championships with Zach Fong, Paige Madden, Emma Seiberlich and Abby Richter earning All-America honors. Virginia Cavaliers Official Athletic Site, Academics and Student-Athlete Development, Virginia Sports Radio Network - Listen Live, Prospective Student Athlete Questionnaire - Swimming & Diving. Todd DeSorbo has led Virginia to two NCAA Championships in his five years since being named head coach in 2017. Madden swam the 1,650 freestyle at the 2021 ACC meet and NCAA championships instead of a shorter backstroke distance because she knew it would score more points for UVA to have her in the mile. I dont think that the summer as a whole, including the Olympic trials as well as the Olympics, really could have gone any better for any of these four, DeSorbo said Wednesday during a group Zoom. Commitment to student-athletes and their academic success, as well as athletic . Emma Weyant, of United States, poses with her silver medal on the podium for the women's 400-meter Individual medley at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 25, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. May 01st, 2023 ACC, Coaching Changes, College, News. At the 2021 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, Douglass and Madden dominated the freestyle events. Each time she touched the wall to win a race for UVA, Douglass developed more belief in herself that she was exactly who DeSorbo said she could be. Looking forward to having her on staff full time after two years as a volunteer as she adds a lot of value to our pool deck!. WITH GOLDEN RETRIEVER energy and ears flopping out from underneath his baseball cap, DeSorbo shouts instructions to the sprint group and walks around the pool deck to individually adjust workouts. Held made history as he helped the United States win a gold medal in the relay. As a senior at UNCW, DeSorbo was named CAA Championships Swimmer of the Meet in 1999 after winning titles in the 200 backstroke, and both the 200 and 400 individual medley. Paige Madden gets ready to compete in the women's 200-meter freestyle final last Wednesday in Omaha, Nebraska, at the U.S. Olympic Trials. The Walshes share a sport and a last name, but they also share dreams. In Tokyo, she swam the second leg of a historic 4x200 freestyle relay. In his four years in Charlottesville, Busch had won the ACC Womens Swimming Coach of the Year three times and helped lead the team to three ACC championships. Sometimes, though, Alex wanders over to the sprint group for speed training, like on the January morning practice after lifting. DeSorbo began his collegiate swimming career at Kentucky before transferring to UNCW in 1998-99. Meanwhile, Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo was selected to be one of eight assistant coaches on the American team, USA Swimming announced Monday. She nailed her start from the block, paying close attention to the advice she had been given about bending her front leg just a degree or two more for a little extra boost. During her time at Virginia, she would go on to be a two-time ACC Swimmer of the year. In 2018, she transferred to USC, but her career ended due to injury the following year. There's also video thanks to some underwater cameras. The Official Athletic Site of the Virginia Cavaliers, partner of WMT Digital. They furiously splash water and shout a now familiar chant. Douglass, however, is focused and efficient. Morgan Hill won three events at the ACC Championships. She sits in a chair contemplating the mark she's leaving on a program and sport she loves, and Douglass is just as surprised as anyone else at the athlete she's become. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our, Paige Madden gets ready to compete in the women's 200-meter freestyle final last Wednesday in Omaha, Nebraska, at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Additional major personnel include: Assistant Coach Blaire Bachman; Head Coach Todd DeSorbo; Assistant Coach Andrew Sheaff; If you're interested in becoming a part of the University of Virginia Women's Swimming program these are the people you need to contact. During her first season on staff in 2021-22, the Cavaliers broke the record for most points scored at NCAAs. My family is loving Charlottesville, and weve quickly planted deep roots in the community, DeSorbo said. The Hoos, once in over their heads on the national stage, will be going for their third straight national championship this week in Knoxville. "I felt pretty defeated in that moment, because it's just hard, especially coming out of COVID," Gretchen says. Both NC State programs produced their highest finishes at the NCAA Championships this past season. Walsh, the daughter of Boston Colleges former swim team captain Glynis Walsh, enrolled as a freshman at Virginia for the 2021 season. Nine American record swims, a second-straight NCAA Championship, three Olympic medals and seven World Championship medals highlighted the 2021-22 season for DeSorbos team. He worked primarily with the Wolfpack sprinters and was a developmental specialist. The coaches, who were fully clothed, joined in. Maddens 400 free time was a personal-best 4:04.86, behind only Katie Ledecky (4:01.27). 3 & No. As her college career comes to a close, Douglass has already etched her name all over the UVA and NCAA record books. And she did become an Olympian, winning a silver medal in the 200-meter freestyle relay at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. All of ours have gotten a lot better.". The championship included more than just team members in the pool. She was a tenacious competitor and has carried that over into her coaching career. I really hated that. It's the 50 freestyle, the fastest race of the meet, and she is kicking hard. In 2017, his athletes earned seven individual ACC titles and garnered 14 All-ACC honors, helping to lead both programs to sweep their respective ACC Championships meets. The program set a combined 13 school records with the men setting seven and the women six during the season. They just performed a really high level all week. 1 & No. With her long arms and powerful underwater dolphin kicks, Gretchen often flirts with the 15-meter mark -- the line of demarcation where swimmers have to be above water or risk disqualification. Since arriving in Charlottesville in August of 2017, DeSorbo has helped the Cavaliers program reach new heights. Stoller played at Glenville State from 2017 to 2020 and served . Douglass, Madden, Walsh and Weyant peaked at the trials in Omaha and again in Tokyo, each earning Olympic medals. DeSorbo helped the womens team clinch its first conference title since 1980. At UNCW, DeSorbo assisted with all facets of the Seahawk program, including recruiting, student-athlete development and practice. Head Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Coach: $128,750: Bryan Fetzer: Meanwhile, Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo was selected to be one of eight assistant coaches on the American team, USA Swimming announced Monday.