Greatness is a term that gets thrown around a lot in sports. When searching for “the greatest of all-time,” fans look at three things: dominance, consistency, and sustainability.

On Saturday night in Federal Way, Washington, the University of Virginia women’s swimming and diving team won its fifth straight NCAA title. When head coach Todd DeSorbo started in the fall of 2017, the Cavaliers had never been higher than fifth. Nearly a decade later, they joined a list of two other schools that have won five straight NCAA titles, joining Hall of Fame coach Richard Quick’s Texas (1984 - 1988) and Stanford (1992 - 1996) teams.

DeSorbo joins an elite list of coaches to win five career titles - Quick leads the way with 12 at two different schools, recently retired Jack Bauerle has seven with Georgia, and hall of fame coach David Marsh has five with Auburn. If there’s a Mt. Rushmore of coaches in Division I women’s swimming and diving, perhaps DeSorbo completed it.

“Obviously we had a pretty big goal coming in,” DeSorbo told the media on Saturday night. “I always try to phrase it with them, ‘Let’s try to beat our seed times’ or ‘Can we get to 500 points?’ That kind of thing. Overall, it was a successful meet. It’s never going to be perfect. It wasn’t perfect. No team is perfect at this competition. Really pleased with how the entire week went. A lot of great surprises, a lot of fun swims. It’s been a long week, but it’s been fun.

Dominance

When looking for the greatest NCAA women’s swimmer of all-time in Division I, Virginia has a case to make for three of them, and they’ve played a big role in why this team has been so dominant.

Kate Douglass started this dynasty in her freshman season in the fall of 2019, winning seven of a possible nine individual titles in three seasons from 2021 - 2023.

Alex Walsh became just the second swimmer to win an individual title in five different events - winning the 100 breaststroke on Friday night after winning the 200 and 400 IM three times from 2022 - 2024, the 200 butterfly in 2022, and the 200 breaststroke in 2024, joining Florida’s Tracy Caulkins in that club.

Alex Walsh has been on all five of the national title teams at Virginia, closing out her fifth year of eligibility with nine individual titles as she also has her name on all five NCAA relay records.

The number five has been on the minds of this Virginia team. Instead of the usual navy blue caps with the Virginia logo, the team donned a black cap with a simple gold V on Saturday night, signifying the roman numeral V for five as the team closed out its fifth straight title, the idea of senior Gretchen Walsh.

“The Walshes have just meant so much to our program and to me,” DeSorbo said. “We’ve had a great connection… Just to have athletes who perform at that level who are good people and you just want to be around, they’re really amazing. They do elevate people around them, not just because they’re fast.”

Gretchen Walsh made a case to be known as the greatest NCAA swimmer of all-time. In her four year career, she won nine of a possible 12 individual titles, having last lost to LSU’s Maggie Mac Neil in the 50 freestyle in 2023.

Currently, Walsh holds NCAA records in four different events - 50 and 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke.

In the 100 butterfly, Walsh swam 46.97 on Friday night, (no other woman has swum inside 48). That time would have scored at the NCAA men’s meet back in 2007. In the 50 freestyle, Walsh has split under 20 seconds on relays, and took the flat start record down to 20.37. In the 100 freestyle, Walsh is the only to ever swim inside 45 seconds, which she did on Saturday night at 44.71.

Coming off a world record last summer in the 100m butterfly got a lot of people excited over what Walsh could do in her final season in short course yards.

“(The summer) got me really excited about (this) NCAA season because this is my last chance,” Walsh told World Aquatics back in November. “I’m really excited to break some barriers, hopefully, this year. I have a lot of goals and I think coming off such a successful summer allowed me to not be scared to make some of those impossible goals.”

The 100 butterfly was the event where Walsh really left her mark. No matter which statistic one uses to exemplify the greatness of that 46.97, the more superlatives get thrown her way. Ten years ago at the 2015 championships, Louisville’s Kelsi Worrell became the first to go 49. In 2021, Mac Neil was the first to go 48. Now in 2025, the record stands at 46 and looks to stay that way for a long, long time.

The Walshes have finished their eligibility for Virginia, having transformed the school into a powerhouse and a destination for the world’s best swimmers.

Consistency

When looking at the wide scope of things, what this Virginia team has accomplished in a six-year period is unprecedented. Virginia was seeded to win the 2020 meet which never occurred due to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Barring any sort of speculation over what could have happened that weekend in 2020, this Virginia team has been the team to beat for six straight years - no team has ever won six straight at the women’s Division I meet.

After Quick won five straight with Texas from 1984 - 1988, he took the job at Stanford, and ended Texas’ streak in the process despite a valiant effort from new Longhorn head coach Mark Schubert. When Quick had another five year streak from 1992 - 1996 with Stanford, it was Schubert who ended that streak in 1997, this time at the helm of the University of Southern California, as the Trojans won by 11 points over the Cardinal.

As time marches on, the history books may not remember that 2020 Virginia team that never got to compete, but this six-year run is definitely going to be remembered for a long time. Since 2020, the team has set all five NCAA records in the relay events, sweeping all of them in 2023, and winning four of the five in 2024 and 2025.

Whenever a Virginia relay stepped up behind the blocks, it was rare to see them get beat.

The Walsh sisters have played a big role in those relays, but the supporting cast stepped up as well.

World champion Claire Curzan won the 100 and 200 backstroke in 2025, setting the NCAA record in the latter. Freshman Anna Moesch was on three of the four winning relay teams, and fellow freshmen Leah Hayes and Katie Grimes made championship finals to pile on the points for the team that scored 544, its most since 2022.

Sustainability

The recruiting that DeSorbo and his staff has done have played a huge part in why this team has not lost as has team chemistry. It’s one thing to gather a group of talented swimmers into one place, it’s another to get them to buy into each other for the greater good.

When Kate Douglass won the 200m breaststroke in Paris, teammates Maxine Parker and Ella Nelson were there to embrace her after the medal ceremony. When Paige Madden walked the deck after her bronze in the 800m freestyle, they were there waving a Virginia flag, having flown out to France to watch their teammates.

The aforementioned Moesch, Hayes, and Grimes, who have represented the United States internationally, have three years of eligibility remaining.

Next year, the team will be getting Madi Mintenko, a national junior team member and a proven competitor at the international level. Olympians Claire Curzan, Aimee Canny and Emma Weber are set to return to the team next year, along with championship finalists Tess Howley and Cavan Gormsen.

Looking to 2026, the team has the target on its back, but for now, the team can reflect on what it just accomplished and its place in history, and the fact that this isn’t the end for them.

“Obviously, I think the future will be very different,” DeSorbo said. “Next year will be the first time in five years we’re without a Walsh or a Douglass. It will be a different dynamic for our program. New challenges bring more excitement and more fun, so I’m looking forward to that. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we’d be in the position we are. It’ll be hard to beat, but it’s a great feeling for sure.”