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16 CAVALIER CORNER 2022-23 IN REVIEW BY KRISTIN THURMAN E ntering her final season at Virginia, Kate Douglass was already one of the top student-athletes to have competed for the Cavaliers. Doug- lass not only cemented her status as one of the greatest NCAA swimmers of all time but did so in more record-setting fashion. In a vote of UVA Today readers, Douglass joined the likes of Ralph Sampson, Tony Bennett and Dawn Staley atop the "Mount Rushmore of Virginia Sports." That was beat- ing out some all-time greats such as Ryan Zimmerman and Malcolm Brogdon. Douglass's mark on the sport of swim- ming is unprecedented at the NCAA level. While she may not be at the top of the list with total NCAA championships won, she is one of the only ones that has done so in multiple different strokes and distances. Her titles have come in the 50-yard freestyle (2021 and 2022), 100-yard butterfly (2022 and 2023), 200 breaststroke (2022 and 2023) and 200 individual medley (2023). In her curtain call NCAA Championships in 2023, Douglass won all three of her indi- vidual events and four relays. It wasn't just her winning all seven events but the way she won that really sets her apart historically. Douglass set American and NCAA records in all three of her individual event wins. All told, her short course yards American- record count climbed to 19 total from 2021- 23. That number makes her second all time behind Tracy Stockwell's 27 (1977-84) and ahead of Katie Ledecky's 17 (2013-23). Douglass was favored in her three in- dividual events in the 2022 NCAA Cham- pionships, but the competition ramped up during her 2023 run. The Pelham, N.Y., native returned to one of her premier events with the 200 individual medley in 2023. After winning Olympic bronze in the event in Tokyo, she took a year off from training until returning to the event this season. Her return to the 200 individual medley at the NCAA Championships meant she was in a field with five national team swimmers, including teammate and 2020 Olympic silver medalist in the event Alex Walsh. Douglass cruised to her win with a time of 1:48.37, becoming the first woman ever to swim under 1:50 in the 200 individual medley. Each of her split times were the fastest in the field and would have stacked up near the top of each individual 200-yard stroke event. "I feel like I was pretty confident that I could do something like that in that race, because a couple of years ago I went, I think, 1:50.90 in this pool," Douglass said after the win. "I feel like I'm a much bet- ter swimmer now than I was back then, so that's kind of why I chose this race. "I just wanted to have fun and have a really good 200 IM, and I was confident I could do that. I knew that I had a race like that in me, but I was really just hoping for under 1:50. So to break it by that much is just really exciting." That was just her first individual event, and she followed it up with another im- pressive win the next night. Douglass out- touched a field that included the reigning long course meter 100 butterfly champions of the Worlds (Torri Huske), Olympic Games (Maggie MacNeil) and United States (Gabi Albiero). The excitement leading up to the event was palpable in the Tennessee Natatorium. Douglass went out fastest with a 22.48 in the first 50 yards and was almost the fast- est on the back half by 0.03 seconds. Dou- glass held off a surging MacNeil with a win in 48.46 to MacNeil's 48.51. "I knew going into the race that I was go- ing to have a good race and that the time was going to be good, but honestly, I had no idea who was going to touch first," Dou- glass said. "Anyone in that heat could have touched first. I was pretty shocked when I looked at the board, because I knew that Maggie was close to me and Torri was close, and I had a bad finish, so I was definitely shocked to see that I touched first. FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR ALL-TIME ALL-TIME GREAT GREAT Kate Douglass Left Her Mark As One Of The Greatest Swimmers In NCAA History Douglass closed out her career with 15 NCAA champion- ships and 28 All-America honors. (Photo by Matt Riley/ courtesy UVA)