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Jim Ryan, president of the University of Virginia: So, you have broken NCAA, American and U.S. Open records. Have you won a world record yet?

Alex Walsh, UVA student-athlete: No.

Ryan: Oh, you slacker! When are you going to break a world record? 

Walsh: Oh, yeah, I know. I’m like, “What am I doing?”

Ryan: Hello, everyone. I’m Jim Ryan, president of the University of Virginia, and I’d like to welcome all of you to another episode of “Inside UVA.” This podcast is a chance for me to speak with some of the amazing people at the University and to learn more about what they do and who they are. My hope is that listeners will ultimately have a better understanding of how UVA works and a deeper appreciation of the remarkably talented and dedicated people who make UVA the institution it is. 

I’m joined today by Alex Walsh, a fourth-year student-athlete on the UVA women’s swimming and diving team. In her time at Virginia, Alex has distinguished herself as among the most decorated athletes in program history. In NCAA competition, she’s won five individual titles, eight relay titles and three team titles. She is also an American and world champion, and holds multiple NCAA, American and U.S. Open relay records. Alex represented Team USA at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and brought home a silver medal in the 200-meter individual medley. Alex is pursuing a bachelor’s in computer science and she has also found time to work as an active entrepreneur. She’s a superb student-athlete, and an engaged and inspiring role model to aspiring student-athletes. 

Today, we are incredibly fortunate to have her on the podcast. Alex, thank you for being here.

Walsh: Thank you so much for having me.

Ryan: So let’s start at the beginning. You are originally from Nashville, Tennessee, if I’m correct, but also spent part of your childhood in Connecticut. Where’s home for you?

Walsh: Kind of hard. I think I consider mostly Nashville to be my primary home, just because I was born there, went to high school there, and that’s kind of the place where, like, my swimming career took off. So I think I have a lot – I feel like I have a lot to owe the community and people in Nashville. But a lot of my family still lives in Connecticut, and I definitely try to make an effort to go there at least once a year. But yeah, I feel very fortunate because I do have two places that I consider to be home. So yeah, it’s been awesome.

Ryan: Hopefully a third: Charlottesville and UVA.

Walsh: True. And now a third.

Ryan: So how old were you when you started swimming? And at what point did you know you were phenomenally good?

Walsh: So I started to swim when – well, my mom swam, she was also an NCAA athlete. She swam for Boston College. My dad, not so much of a swimmer. But regardless, my parents wanted me to learn how to swim just for safety reasons. So they just really threw Gretchen and I into the pool. You know, for summer league, we always just swam at our local summer club. And I think we did really well there and we broke like club records and stuff like that. 

But I didn’t really realize that I had kind of like this gift or a natural taking to water until I was around 12. At that point, I had broken a national record for my age group and was elated by, you know, the success and everything and people were telling me “congratulations” and all, but I remember my mom, like distinctly, she kind of turned around to me in the back seat on the way home from the pool, and she was like, “I don’t think you realize how awesome that is.” I still remember it to this day. It’s like super clear, that memory, and I think that’s kind of when I realized that if I wanted to commit myself to the sport, then I could be really successful. So that was really cool moment that I still remember, even now. 

Ryan: So, what does your life look like from the time you’re 12 until you come to UVA? Obviously you dedicated yourself to swimming, but walk me through what that looks like.

Walsh: Yeah, so when I was 12, I was still living in Connecticut. And then soon after, I think only a year and a half later, is when my family and I moved to Nashville, Tennessee. So definitely a big change in my life and probably one of the hardest changes that I’ve had to overcome in my life, just learning to adjust to new friends, new school, new everything. 

So I think moving to Nashville, though, was instrumental in my swimming success because I started to work with two nationally renowned coaches and I had a great relationship with them. I just went for Nashville Aquatic Club, so I was training with a group of girls and guys that were wanting to be as successful as I wanted to be; they were committed. I started training harder than I’ve ever trained in my life. And I really owe, I feel like, a lot of what I’ve been able to accomplish at UVA to the team that I had in Nashville, just because I kind of learned how to be a really hard worker there. 

So yeah, I started at the junior-level international meets, and then worked my way up. And then since coming to Virginia, I’ve definitely been able to achieve my dreams with competing at the Olympics and Worlds.

Ryan: I want to get to the Olympics. But first, tell me how you decided to come to UVA. You probably had your pick of schools.

Walsh: I definitely had a really solid pick. I actually only had, like, five that I was seriously considering just because I didn’t want to – I was already like very busy just in high school and stuff. So I wanted to kind of have a small list of schools to look at and then choose from.

Ryan: You had five schools recruiting you. 

Walsh: Yeah, five schools that I like took visits to and actually went in person and got to, like, stay with the team over a weekend. 

Ryan: Just for the record, that’s five more than I had.

Walsh: That’s funny. … But I, I don’t know if you’re familiar with Ella Nelson; she’s a graduate student also on the swim team, very accomplished. She kind of put UVA on my radar because she had committed to UVA the year before I did. At that point, I think, Virginia had gotten ninth and then maybe sixth at NCAAs. So I wasn’t, I didn’t even really consider Virginia to be a school that I was going to look at until Ella – who was my best friend, still remains one of my best friends – she committed there, and I was like, “Oh, wow, I really feel like maybe I should look here.” 

I remember I took my visit to Charlottesville and something was happening in Nashville that weekend that I was missing out on, some event I don’t even remember. And I remember like being kind of upset, like I didn’t want to visit Virginia. And it was totally – I just remember I landed, Todd picked me up with some of the other recruits, and I just fell in love, like, instantly. 

What’s funny is I made some of like my best friends on that trip that I now live with, that I’ve now spent four years of undergrad with. So yeah, I just immediately clicked with the team. I just felt like I laughed harder here than I had ever laughed at any other school. That’s kind of a very distinctive thought that I had when I was trying to choose where to go. I just remember thinking to myself, “I was crying laughing with these girls. That’s what I kind of want to spend college with.” 

So once I made the decision, I never went back. I never regretted it. I still don’t regret it. I just think all the stars like aligned for me to come here.

Ryan: Yeah, that’s a great story. So, tell me what is a day in the life of UVA swimmer look like? 

Walsh: Well, it starts very early. We have practice at 7 o’clock, 6:30 on Saturdays, which is a total bummer. But we wake up early, we swim for 1½  to two hours, and then I normally head to class. Lucky for me, I only have two in-person classes, so that gives me a little bit more time to relax at home and recover in between practices. But yeah, normally in between practices, we’ll head to class, try to get a nap in, and then back here at the AFC at 3 p.m. to do another two-hour training session. That could also involve like lifting, and we do dry land, which is essentially cardio, we just call it – it’s on land, so not in the pool, so we call it dry land. Then normally I head over to JPJ with my teammates, a random assortment of my teammates, and we all get dinner there. That’s one of my favorite parts about, like, being on the team is just doing, like, getting meals together and just enjoying our time together that we have outside of the pool. I think that’s my favorite part. Yeah.

Ryan: So, you mentioned that your mom was a collegiate swimmer and your dad is not much of a swimmer. I’m a lot more like your dad. And so I’m wondering, it seems to me that all that swimming might get a little boring at times. How do you keep it from being boring and stay engaged? It just seems like it’s really hard work.

Walsh: It is hard work. And there have been times when I – you know, like, sometimes the swim team, we stay here over winter break. We stayed over spring break to keep training through championship season, and there are definitely times when we’re, like, “Wow, we are really committing all of our time to the sport.” 

But I would say the coaching staff here honestly makes it really easy to show up and have a good attitude and be excited for practice. I think Todd DeSorbo, our head coach, is so well-known for being this crazy ball of energy on the pool deck. I think he’s known all around the NCAA for being that kind of person and having that personality. But really and truly, our coaches do everything they can to try to make us excited to get in the pool, even when we’re on our eighth consecutive practice. And also, what I do love about Virginia and kind of a reason also why I came here is because we have combined teams – so our men and women, we all train together. Our groups are all both genders. So that’s really awesome. I love it because I think that guys bring a lot of energy, and it’s just a great mix of personalities to have in the pool. It’s always really interesting.

Ryan: You swim a lot of distances and a number of different strokes. Is that typical? Or are you unusual in terms of your range?

Walsh: I am pretty unusual. I think a lot of people can swim a lot of different strokes. But distances is something you don’t see very often. On a Monday, I’ll train for the 50 free, which is the shortest sprint event you can do. And then in the afternoons, I’ll train for the 400 IM, and I am – which is one of the longest and most painful events in swimming. So, I definitely have a really wide range of things that I can swim, which is, yeah, it’s neat.

Ryan: Do you have a favorite?

Walsh: I think I have favorite races. I don’t know if I have favorite strokes. My best event is the 200 IM, which is also my favorite. But I also really like – I honestly, like all the 200s of stroke, I think the 200 is a great – it’s like in between the extremes of the 400 and in the 50. So I think that’s where I thrive the most. It has enough strategy to where I find it interesting to race, but it’s also not too long, where I’m in a lot of pain at the end. So, it’s kind of a nice mixture of both.

Ryan: And do you prefer the individual races or relays? 

Walsh: I think at NCs, I think I gravitate more towards the relays. Obviously, I have really big goals in my individual events, but I’m never nervous going into a relay. I think it’s easy to feel really confident in the girls that I’m racing with on a relay, especially at Virginia, because I see all these other talented girls that are going to be competing with me and I have just 100% confidence that they’re gonna get the job done. And then that just makes me feel like I can do what I have to do. It’s nice to have the pressure dispersed among all four relay members. And just the crowd gets so much more hype for relays. It’s so fun to like, be in the middle of that.

Ryan: Yeah, I remember being there, at Tennessee, for the NCAA finals last year and it was a scene. 

Walsh: It is a scene. Yeah, I think people don’t really – I think sometimes people overlook how loud and rowdy so many fans are. Yeah.

Ryan: So, speaking of NCAAs, your team, and you personally, have had a phenomenal run over the last three years. Three consecutive NCAA titles. You just won the fifth consecutive ACC championship? 

Walsh: Yes, we did. 

Ryan: So and you have the NCAAs coming up again soon. What’s left? 

Walsh: What’s left? Yeah, I mean, NCAAs, like you said, is just two weeks away. So right now we’re kind of – the couple of weeks in between our ACC conference championship and then the NCAA championships is, it’s considered to be one of the most physically and mentally exhausting periods of time, because we’re trying to just like ramp up yardage again, to get our endurance to be able to, like, taper back down for NCAA days and swim really fast. So we’re getting to the point now where we’re just starting to rest and hone in on the details and just get really sharp for like NCAAs. And I think now is when the jitters are starting to set in. And we’re getting really excited because, yeah, like you said, we’re coming into NCAA is trying to win our fourth consecutive NCAA title, and I think only, maybe – I don’t even know how many other teams can say they’ve done that.

Ryan: I’m not sure if people appreciate just how dominant your team is. I mean, I don’t think the word “dynasty” is an exaggeration, given how your team has performed and how you have performed. I mean, it’s really remarkable. You have to be among the most dominant teams in the history of UVA sports.

Walsh: I think I honestly, yeah, I think we might be. I know that only the most NCAA consecutive titles won by a team is five. So, if we’re able to do what we want to do in two weeks, then we’ll only be one away from that. But yeah, I think, just even looking beyond the NCAA trophies that we have, the way that we’ve been able to produce multiple Olympians, produce multiple World Championship team members in such a short span of time is, I mean, it is remarkable. It’s crazy how fast a team can transition to become one of the most dominant forces in swimming, even outside the NCAA in international swimming. That’s really hard to do. 

I think that’s just a testament to our team culture, and also the commitment that we have both on the athletes’ side and the coaches’ side. It definitely it takes those two teams to work together in order to produce what we’ve been able to achieve here.

Ryan: Right. So, you’ve mentioned the Olympics. You qualified in 2020 for Tokyo, but that that was also during COVID. So, can you talk a little bit about what that whole experience was like?

Walsh: Yeah, so qualifying for the Olympics was my first-ever major international meet; I had been in other international meets, but just like 18-and-unders. Bbut this was my first really big one. And the Olympics is the biggest athletic stage in the world. So, I definitely was pushed right onto the scene pretty quickly. 

But I will say, I think having that experience definitely changed my swimming career for the better after that. It’s been three years now since then, and I would say I’ve definitely been able to see how the veterans and the professionals – like how they, what their routine is like, and what their mindset is like. So I’ve definitely learned from that.

But it was weird. I actually was just talking to someone about this the other day. Because it was COVID there was no one in the stands. So, I was like walking out onto the deck for arguably like one of the biggest races in my life – the opportunity to win an Olympic medal. And there was like, almost no one in the stands. It was definitely a really weird feeling. But I think the nerves were there, nonetheless. So it’s – I was so young, it’s just kind of weird to, like, for me to like, reminisce about it. But I definitely think going and swimming that event on the world stage, it really makes you appreciate your support. I appreciate how much work you’ve put in. But also, I was super motivated once I got back. And I think that’s kind of why I was able to do really well in the NCAA season that following year.

Ryan: And you picked up the silver medal, if I’m not mistaken.

Walsh: I did pick up a silver medal, and my teammate Kate Douglas won the bronze. That was definitely one of the most heartwarming moments for me, was just seeing each other and I just gave her a really big hug after the race was over because I just couldn’t even believe that we had done it. Because it was such a crazy year with COVID and everything. So just for us to be able to achieve those dreams that we had had since we were kids and experienced that together, it was so awesome.

Ryan: So there’s another Olympics coming up this summer, and I’m guessing you’re hoping you’ll be traveling to Paris.

Walsh: I am hoping I’m hoping that for myself, also for my sister, for my other, some of my other teammates who are looking to qualify for Paris. I think we’ll have a good group going. 

Ryan: When does that happen? And how does it work?

Walsh: So the Olympic Games, themselves, are from the middle of July to the middle of August, and the swimming portion is around the last week of July. But we have our Olympic Trials qualifying meet in Indianapolis at the end of June. 

Essentially how it works is, for every event, they’ll take the top two finishers at Olympic trials and they qualify to make the Olympic team. In the relay events, the 100 freestyle on the 200 freestyle, they’ll take top six, because they need relay swimmers. But yeah, historically, it’s just been the first- and second-place finisher. 

Ryan: At that one meet?

Walsh: At that one meet. 

Ryan: And it doesn’t matter if you have all the records and every race you’ve done in the last three years you have beaten everyone – if you have a bad day, it doesn’t matter. They just pick the two people who win at that particular meet.

Walsh: Yeah, that’s right. It’s definitely, I mean, the whole thing is a pressure cooker, like in Olympic Trials. They want it to be though, because that’s when you get the most exciting results. So it takes a lot of mental patience and mental strength to be able to kind of get through that meet and be able to qualify for the Olympics. You know, it’s just – it’s crazy. 

Ryan: So you have broken NCAA, American, and U.S. Open records. So first, can you explain the difference between American and U.S. Open records? I’ve never quite understood that. 

Walsh: Yes, I can explain it. Even I sometimes get tripped up by it. So an American record is any swim done by an American citizen in that particular event. A U.S. Open record is any swim done on U.S. soil. A U.S. Open record can be held by someone with Canadian or British citizenship. It can be anyone. An NCAA record is any record swum at an NCAA meet, like an NCAA sanctioned meet, so that could be your conference me, just even a dual meet, an NCAA championships meet, obviously – just any college race.

Ryan: And then are there world records? 

Walsh: And world records? Yes. And those are also everyone..

Ryan: OK. And have you won a world record yet?

Walsh: No.

Ryan: Oh, you slacker. When are you going to break a world record?

Walsh: Oh, yeah I know, I’m like, “What am I doing?” Yeah, I don’t have a world record yet. Hopefully. That would be pretty awesome. Those are so, yeah, those are definitely the most distinguished things, the world records are – they break, like, the swimming internet. It’s crazy. 

Ryan: Right And you mentioned earlier I think that the 200 IM is your best event. Is that your favorite event? And so, I was going to ask you, of all the records you’ve broken and the ones that you hold, what’s the most meaningful one to you? Is it in the 200 IM?

Walsh: Um, yeah, so actually, I would say the most meaningful record I’ve broken is in the 200 IM. I broke the American record my second year. It was held by this, like she was very accomplished NCAA swimmer who swam at Stanford and I always had looked up to her. So to be able to break her record meant a lot to me. I just remember that being, like, the first swim, where I really felt like my career was, like, taking off. That record had been on my radar for, like, years at that point. So that was a huge dream come true for me. 

And then actually, last year, my teammate Kate Douglas, the same girl that I raced at the Olympics, she broke it, but it was super awesome, because she went so incredibly fast. But even though she broke it, I still, I still, like, remember that record, and I just remember being really proud of myself in that moment.

Ryan: So you mentioned your sister who was on the team. What year is she?

Walsh: She is a third-year, so just one year below me. 

Ryan: And I’m assuming that your being at UVA and being on the swimming team was a draw.

Walsh: You would think that. This is a funny story that I like to tell people – she didn’t want people to think that she was following me because she’s very independent. She definitely does her own thing and wants to be Gretchen Walsh and not “Alex Walsh’s sister.” So, I remember we were sitting down at, like, the dinner table, and she was deciding what college she was gonna go to. And I hadn’t really interfered because I didn’t want to be – I didn’t want to mess with her, and I wanted to let her make her own decision. And she made a pros and cons list, and the only thing on the cons list was Alex. I was like, “Are you kidding me?” But I told her, I was like, “You’re going to have to get over it. You obviously love Virginia.” So she decided to commit here. And I definitely think that she knows it was the best decision. And we’ve loved being together anyway. So it all worked out.

Ryan: Well, and she’s had a lot of success as well. 

So outside of the pool, you and your sister are quite the entrepreneurs, if I understand correctly, and you have co-branded a swimwear line. Can you tell me a little bit about how that started, what it’s been like? How you find the time to do that on top of everything else?

Walsh: Yeah, so after the Olympics, that’s kind of when a lot of partnership and sponsorship opportunities opened up for Gretchen and I, and so we signed with this one, like, online retailer called Swim Outlet. They sell a lot of swimming apparel, but with them, we did a swimsuit collaboration, we’ve actually done two and we’re in the works of a third. Pretty much what we do is just pick out silhouettes of suits and designs that, like, patterns for the suit fabrics that we want to use, and then all of the suits that we kind of designed, they all follow like a concept, like a leading concept. Our first one was Nashville, stuff like that. 

So it’s been really fun, and you’re right, it is hard to fit it in with our already busy schedules. But I think this is something that we’re really passionate about. It’s honestly just been really fun to work on, so we make time for it. 

And yeah, being an NCAA athlete under the name, image and likeness laws, I think, honestly, it’s been a game-changer. And I just feel really fortunate to be able to work with these brands that, like, want to work with me and Gretchen, I think it’s just truly an honor.

Ryan: Yeah. So leads me to the to the last question is about your future. You’re going to be involved in swimming, obviously, beyond this spring when you graduate. When you look ahead to the next five or 10 years, what are you interested in pursuing in addition to swimming?

Walsh: Yeah, I think for the next couple years, I want to focus on swimming. I definitely want to be a professional athlete and take that route for a little bit. I am getting a degree in computer science, so I think eventually I’ll want to put that to good use. I think it makes sense that I’m really interested in – I love swimming, because it’s very, it’s a very numbers-based sport, a lot of data to consume. And so I really like dealing with data and organizing data and all that. So I hope one day to kind of take my love of numbers and the skills that I’ve gained here at UVA somewhere else. I don’t really know what that looks like yet, but I’m confident. I think it’ll all work out.

Ryan: That makes sense. I’m feeling pretty optimistic about your future. 

Walsh: Thank you.

Ryan: I said that was last question, but your mention of data reminded me of another question I wanted to ask you. Have you worked with Ken Ono?

Walsh: I have, yes. 

Ryan: OK. Can you tell people what he does? Because I think this is one of the most amazing stories connected to your team. 

Walsh: It is such an awesome – it’s such an interesting story because it’s so unique. Like, I can’t think of any other team that has someone like Dr. Ono as a resource. But yeah, pretty much Dr. Ono a couple years ago started working with swimmers on the team to just collect data about our races. So like –

Ryan: And he’s, just for people who don’t know, he’s a faculty member of the math department, right? 

Walsh: Yeah, he teaches, like, undergrad and grad math, I guess. What we do when we test with him is we wear an accelerometer around our, like, on a belt that we swim with. And so not only does he get, like, underwater footage of us swimming, but he’ll track our acceleration to pinpoint any inefficiencies that we have in our stroke. So it’s super, like, detailed and very small adjustments to make. But he tries to extrapolate those small little changes to what that would look like, what kind of drop that would look like if he made these changes in a race. 

So yeah, he’s definitely, like, made me realize – he’s obviously helped improve my stroke. But I think he’s helped me realize, like, how detail-oriented you can be with swimming and how there’s never not something to work on. It’s just been great. 

Now he has his own class that he teaches. So a lot of other swimmers are in the class and they’ve been collecting data on all of us just to kind of see, like, what stroke is the most efficient and, like, how can we just improve the sport in general? It’s really interesting.

Ryan: Yeah, it’s fascinating. Well, Alex, thanks so much for spending time with me. It was really a pleasure to speak with you and best of luck at the NCAAs. I will be there cheering for all of you.

Walsh: Yay. Perfect. Well, thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed this.

Ryan: All right, I look forward to jumping in the pool, hopefully. 

Aaryan Balu, co-producer of “Inside UVA”: “Inside UVA” is a production of WTJU 91.1. FM and the Office of the President at the University of Virginia. “Inside UVA” is produced by Jaden Evans, Aaryan Balu, Mary Garner McGehee and Matt Weber. Special thanks to Maria Jones and McGregor McCance. 

Our music is “Turning to You” from Blue Dot Sessions. You can listen and subscribe to “Inside UVA” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

We’ll be back soon with another conversation about the life of the University.