University of Virginia senior Gretchen Walsh and alumna Kate Douglass won silver medals in the 4×100-meter relay Saturday, the first day of the Olympic swimming competition at the Paris La Defense Arena.
Walsh swam the lead leg of the relay, clocking 52.98 seconds, with Douglass following with a split of 52.55. Torri Huske, a graduate of Northern Virginia’s Yorktown High who competes for Stanford, and Simone Manuel swam the final two legs, with Manuel out-touching the Chinese team to secure the silver in an American-record time of 3 minutes, 30.20 seconds. Australia took the gold.
Douglass swam the anchor leg in the preliminaries. She won the 100 freestyle at the U.S. trials in June, but chose to drop it as an individual event in Paris.
It was the first Olympic medal for Walsh, a first-time Olympian. It is the second Olympic medal for Douglass, who won bronze in the 200 individual medley three years ago in Tokyo.
It was Walsh’s second record of the evening session. She posted an Olympic-record 55.38 in the semifinals of the 100 butterfly and owns the three fastest times in the event’s history.
In the other women’s final of the day, UVA alum Paige Madden placed sixth in the 400 free at 4:02.26. Madden was seeded sixth in the final after swimming a 4:03.34 in the morning preliminaries.
UVA juniors Emma Weber and Aimee Canny will be in action Sunday in the preliminaries. Weber will swim in the 100 breaststroke and Canny in the 200 free.
Crouse, U.S. field hockey team drop opener: Argentina, ranked second in the world, defeated the 13th-ranked United States field hockey team 4-1 at Paris’ Yves-du-Manoir Stadium in the first pool-play game for both.
Defender Leah Crouse, a former standout for Cox High, Duke and Maryland, made her first Olympic appearance for the U.S., which outshot Argentina 12-8. Crouse did not compile any statistics.
“We created far more chances than we have during my tenure, but failed to convert and were then punished for errors we made,” U.S. coach David Passmore said.
Rocio Sanchez scored three minutes into the second period, and Agustina Gorzelany scored on a penalty corner for a 2-0 lead.
The Americans scored three minutes into the third quarter as Ashley Sessa converted off passes from Megan Valzonis and Maddie Zimmer.
Argentina took command on goals by Julieta Jankunas late in the third quarter and Zoe Diaz early in the fourth.
The U.S. will play No. 7 Spain at 7:15 a.m. Monday in their second pool game.
