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There’s much to celebrate in the world of UVA Swimming and Diving. Two scholarship recipients—Alex Walsh and Jack Wright—are starting the year on a very high note.
Alex Walsh (Engr ’24) was one of the country’s top two recruits when she chose to come to the University of Virginia to compete on the Women’s Swimming and Diving team. In her first two seasons as a Hoo, the team has won back-to-back NCAA championships. At the 2022 NCAA Championship meet, Walsh won the 200-yard individual medley, 200-yard fly, and 400-yard individual medley. She and her teammates also won the 400-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay and broke the NCAA, Meet, American, US Open, and Pool records in both events. The 400-yard freestyle relay team included Kate Douglass (Col ’23), Reilly Tiltmann (Col ’24), and Gretchen Walsh (Col ’25)—Alex Walsh’s younger sister.
Her first year, Walsh was named ACC Women’s Rookie of the Year. At the 2021 NCAA Championships, she won the 200-yard individual medley and anchored UVA’s first-place 800-yard free relay. That summer, she and teammates Douglass, Paige Madden (Ed ’21), and Emma Weyant (Col ’24) traveled to Tokyo to represent the United States in the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, which had been delayed by the pandemic. UVA head swimming and diving coach Todd DeSorbo was selected as an assistant coach for the American team and joined his swimmers in Japan.
“I couldn’t be more grateful that all these girls that I had swam with throughout the whole year—and Todd—were there,” Walsh said in a Wahoo Central podcast interview. “Having our own mini UVA team there helped make everything easier and a lot less stressful, and played a big part in how well we were able to do.” The UVA swimmers took home several medals, with Walsh winning silver in the 200-meter individual medley alongside Douglass, who won bronze.
“It made it so special that we were both able to medal together,” said Walsh. “Unforgettable is the word.” The Olympians Facetimed their teammates, who had organized a watch party back at home. “It was a fun moment.”
This tight-knit team culture is the reason Jack Wright (Col ’23) chose to swim for Virginia. “At dual meets, our team brings the most energy to the pool deck, which gives us a huge advantage,” he said. “We practice together for 20 plus hours each week and we’re all together nearly 24/7 outside of the pool.”
Wright has also left a trail of broken records in his wake. The national age group records he set in the 200 and 400 freestyle relay still stand, and at the 2021 NCAA Championships, he was part of the eighth-place 400-yard freestyle relay team that set a new UVA school record and earned him All-American honors.
After three seasons of navigating pandemic regulations and restrictions, Wright is ready for his senior season. “I’m really looking forward to having my best year, both in and out of the pool,” he said. “I think the groundwork that my teammates and I have laid the past three years set us up for our best season yet.” Each year, Wright has looked to his fourth-year teammates for support, and no doubt he will do the same for the undergraduates he trains and competes with in 2022-2023.
Walsh and Wright were each awarded the Gus and Becky Ramirez Swimming and Diving Scholarship for the 2022-2023 season. These two scholarships were established with a gift in 1997. The gift—like all gifts made to establish a scholarship or operations endowment—was invested by the Virginia Athletics Foundation with the University of Virginia Investment Management Company (UVIMCO) for long-term growth. The earnings generated by the investment support the scholarship, ensuring that young swimmers who aspire to perform in the pool like Walsh and Wright will have the opportunity to become future scholarship athletes.
