Loading your audio article
COLLEGE SWIMMING AND DIVING
UVA ties record with fifth NCAA title in row
Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh and Claire Curzan set NCAA records on their way to individual titles, helping the Cavaliers cruise to their record-tying fifth straight women’s swimming and diving championship Saturday night in Federal Way, Washington.
Curzan set a mark in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1 minute, 46.82 seconds. Walsh broke her own record in the 100 freestyle with a time of 44.71 seconds. Curzan is the first swimmer to win individual NCAA titles for two different schools; she won the 200 backstroke for Stanford in 2023.
The Cavaliers finished with 544 points, easily outdistancing runner-up Stanford with 417. UVA joined Texas (1984-88) and Stanford (1992-96) as the only schools to win five championships in a row.
Five different Cavaliers won gold medals led by the six from Walsh and four from Curzan.
Walsh also set an NCAA and American record at the event in the 100 butterfly with a time of 46.97 and the 100 freestyle (44.71). Walsh and Curzan were also members of Virginia’s 200 medley relay that won in a record time of 1:31.1.
COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL
Aldrich leaves Longwood to assist UVA’s Odom
Virginia Beach native Griff Aldrich resigned after seven seasons as Longwood’s head coach to take an assistant position at Virginia under new head coach Ryan Odom, his close friend since their days as Hampden-Sydney basketball teammates in the early 1990s.
Ronnie Thomas was promoted from the assistant ranks to be the Lancers’ next head coach. A Roanoke native, he joined the team in 2020 as the director of recruiting and player development and was promoted to assistant coach the next year.
Longwood made two NCAA Tournaments under Aldrich, a Norfolk Academy graduate.
COLLEGE WRESTLING
Hokies’ Henson falls in final at 149
Virginia Tech placed 11th in the NCAA championships at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, which Penn State won.
Defending 149-pound champion Caleb Henson of the Hokies fell 1-0 in the title bout to second-seeded Ridge Lovett of Nebraska, whom he beat 1-0 in a semifinal last season.
A Henson takedown in the second period was overturned upon replay, leaving the match scoreless.
Lovett chose the “down” position to start the third period. Henson let him escape for a point but never could land the takedown he sought.
Two Hokies were in fifth-place bouts. Eddie Ventresca beat Lehigh’s Sheldon Seymour 11-4 at 125 pounds, but Connor McGonagle was pinned by Penn State’s Braeden Davis at 133.
COLLEGE SOFTBALL
9-inning victory gives HU series win
Hampton won a Coastal Athletic Association series for the first time this season, rallying past Drexel 6-5 in nine innings in Philadelphia to improve to 4-0 in extra-inning games. The Pirates won two of three in the series.
The Pirates (10-17, 3-6) trailed 5-3 entering the seventh inning, but Kylee Quinn’s hit preceded Cassidy Lee’s two-out, tying home run. In the ninth, Quinn tripled and scored on Kylie Hill’s single, forcing Drexel to fall to 2-22, 2-7.
Angelina Branch (6-6) got the victory, yielding one unearned run and six hits in 3 1/3 innings of relief of starter Leah Maduro.
North Carolina Central edged Norfolk State 2-1 in Cary, North Carolina. Jaden Davis (5-10) won a pitchers’ duel against Brierra Tyler (5-5) as both threw complete games.
The Spartans (10-14, 3-3 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) went ahead 1-0 in the second inning. Maddy Morris singled, and pinch runner Aniyah Michalak stole second base and advanced to third on Bristyl Riddick’s foul fly to the first baseman. Lauren Sheehan’s bunt single brought Michalak home.
NCCU (5-25, 2-4) pulled even when Codi Mann scored on a wild pitch in the fourth and went ahead in the sixth when Nyla Rodgers drew a bases-loaded walk.
Tyler struck out four and yielded seven hits.
No. 5 Va. Wesleyan sweeps Lynchburg
Virginia Wesleyan (15-1, 2-0 Old Dominion Athletic Conference), raked fifth in Division III, answered a challenge from Lynchburg with a 5-0, 7-6 doubleheader sweep Saturday, winning Game 2 in 11 innings.
In Game 1, Sarah Prosser was 4 for 4 with a double, three stolen bases and two RBIs. Lauren Bible yielded just one hit in 6 2/3 innings.
In Game 2, Prosser was 2 for 5 with two runs and a steal, Mackenzie Myers drove in two runs, and Julia Piotrowski scored the winning run.
_________
Campus tour/weekend wrap
WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS
Tribe takes fourth at conference meet
William & Mary placed fourth among eight teams in the Gymnastics East Conference championship meet in Philadelphia.
Penn claimed the team title with a 195.7 and was followed by Yale (194.125), Bridgeport (193.150), W&M (192.975), Cornell (192.925), Brown (192.875), West Chester (192.275) and Southern Connecticut State (191.175).
Caroline Blatchford earned first-team all-conference honors on bars by placing second with a career-high 9.85.
Hannah Burke and Melanie Faulkner garnered second-team all-league distinction on vault and beam, respectively. Burke tied for fourth on vault with a career-best 9.8, while Faulkner tied for sixth on beam by equaling her career high with a 9.8.
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
VWU extends streak
Virginia Wesleyan (5-4, 2-1 ODAC) defeated Ferrum 8-3 to extend its winning streak to three. Reese Morgenthaler led the Marlins with four goals off five shots, plus two assists.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
Tribe improves to 12-2, extends CAA streak
William & Mary (12-2) kept on rolling, beating the College of Charleston 5-2 at Mackesy Tennis Center for the Tribe’s 28th consecutive victory against Coastal Athletic Association opposition and its sixth straight overall.
Hedda Gurholt, Ine Stange, Alessandra Anghel and Mira Kernagis won in singles and doubles for W&M.
Old Dominion, which won the Sun Belt the past two seasons, improved to 6-0 in the conference this year with a 4-1 home victory over Southern Mississippi.
ODU was down to five players because of injuries, giving the Golden Eagles a quick point on line 6, but ODU’s Sofia Johnson, Lidiia Rasskouskaia and Marina Markina won, dropping just six games in a combined six sets. ODU won 6-2 and 6-0 doubles sets.
Christopher Newport, which shares the No. 17 ranking in Division III, rallied past No. 7 Washington and Lee 4-3 Sunday in the Natalie Pitts Classic in Newport News. That’s the highest-ranked foe ever beaten by the Captains.
CNU’s Raine Weis, who had lost to All-American Lauren Long in two previous dual matches, edged her 7-6, 7-5 to break a 3-3 tie as the Captains improved to 2-10 all-time against W&L.
Teammates of Pitts, a former CNU all-conference player who died unexpectedly in 2021, were in attendance.
MEN’S TENNIS
ODU goes to 3-0 in Sun Belt
ODU (10-7, 3-0 Sun Belt), ranked 59th nationally, downed Coastal Carolina 4-0 behind singles victories from Connor Van Schalkwyk, Jean-Karim Olivier de Sardan and Thomas Nelson on lines 1, 4 and 6, respectively.
That came a day after the Monarchs blanked Georgia Southern 4-0.
Like Norfolk State’s women’s team, the Spartans’ men won 6-0 over Virginia State in about as dominant as a college tennis match ever could be.
SAILING
CNU first, Hampton second in Hanbury Trophy
Regatta host Christopher Newport won the Hanbury Trophy, while Hampton was second.
HU is set to host a regatta Saturday at Strawberry Banks.
