Gretchen Walsh Swims 45.68 100 Freestyle, Fastest In-Season Time Ever

by Madeline Folsom 11

January 25th, 2025 ACC, College, News

2025 EDDIE REESE SHOWDOWN

Gretchen Walsh picks up another top 10 all-time swim in the women’s 100 freestyle, swimming 45.68 at the Eddie Reese Showdown to win the event by almost two seconds and swim the fastest in-season time ever.

Women’s 100 Free

  • NCAA Record: 44.83, Gretchen Walsh (Virginia) – 2024
  • 2025 NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 47.10

Top 8:

  1. Gretchen Walsh (UVA) – 45.68
  2. Anna Moesch (UVA) – 47.63
  3. Caroline Bentz (ASU) – 48.27
  4. Olivia Nel (NC State) – 48.45
  5. Grace Cooper (Texas) – 48.47
  6. Lily Christianson (NC State) – 48.63
  7. Ava Longi (Texas) – 49.07
  8. Erin Milligan (ASU) – 49.33

Gretchen Walsh continues to throw down improbably fast times seemingly whenever she wants. Her winning time of 45.68 is the #6 performance ever, and appears to be the fastest in-season time ever.

Teammate Anna Moesch took 2nd in 47.63, a little less than a second shy of her personal best of 46.76. ASU’s Caroline Bentz touched 3rd in the A-final with a 48.27, just off her best of 48.16. But once again, we had some fast swims in the B-final as well : Texas’ Erin Gemmell won the heat with a 48.22, while UVA’s Maxine Parker took 2nd in 48.27.

With her time today, Walsh owns five of the top 10 swims in the event.

Top 10 Performances

  1. Gretchen Walsh– 44:83 (2024 NCAA Championships)
  2. Gretchen Walsh– 45.16 (2024 ACC Championships)
  3. Simone Manuel– 45.56 (2017 NCAA Championships)
  4. Gretchen Walsh– 45.61 (2023 NCAA Championships
  5. Simone Manuel– 45.65 (2018 NCAA Championships
  6. Gretchen Walsh– 45.68 (2025 Eddie Reese Showdown)
  7. Gretchen Walsh– 45.78 (2024 NCAA Championships)
  8. Erika Brown– 45.83 (2020 SEC Championships)
  9. Kate Douglass– 45.86 (2024 ACC Championships
  10. Maggie MacNeil– 46.02 (2021 NCAA Championships)

Every other time on this list came from a conference or NCAA Championship. It appears the next fastest dual-meet time is Walsh’s own 46.12 from Virginia’s dual meet with Virginia Tech earlier this month at #14.

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SwimCoachDad
21 days ago

I’m not sure what “in-season” means anymore. Urlando breaks the 200 fly NCAA record, Crooks goes a top 4 all-time relay split and Walsh goes 6th fastest 100 frees all-time, all in dual meets or quad meets like the Eddie Reese. Obviously there is room for improvement given Walsh is the record-holder. But the lines between in-season and rested/tapered championship meets are definitely blurred.

saltie
Reply to  SwimCoachDad
21 days ago

Agreed. Swimming getting faster in season is really fun to watch, but I’m not sure it’s reasonable to expect big taper drops anymore, at least from sprinters

Mango
23 days ago

Oh my god her shoulders she is so built im gonna drown

Swimmerj
23 days ago

Gretch >

Need More Yardage
23 days ago

I guess she must have increased her yardage this year

Walsh-Madden-Grimes-Weinstein
23 days ago

The issue in the women’s 100 yard freestyle is not G. Walsh but A. Moesch and M. Parker. In order to compensate for the loss of J. Nocentini (15 points), A. Moesch and M. Parker need to pick up the slack in the women’s 100 yard freestyle.

AragonSonof Arathorn
23 days ago

not at all surprised. She has taken over as top 3 greatest swimmers in American history

hambone
Reply to  AragonSonof Arathorn
23 days ago

Whoa, pump the brakes there

ecoach
Reply to  hambone
22 days ago

In yards maybe. Might be projected into top 3. But as of now not top 3 of currently swimming American swimmers not even top 3 female swimmers currently swimming. Katie Ledecky #1 then Torri Huske, Reagan Smith and Kate Douglas are all objectively better in long (real) course.

YSwim
Reply to  ecoach
22 days ago

revisit this topic after this summers long course season!

ecoach
Reply to  YSwim
22 days ago

Long Course makes yards superstars come back to earth.
1. Turns while important aren’t as plentiful.
2. The competition is way, way tougher especially experienced competition.

I believe the breakdown of Gretchen Walsh in the 50 at the Olympics showed she was the slowest of the finalists in the actual swim portion of the race.