By: Mia David

In May of 2022, the University of California- Berkeley started an ongoing investigation, and coach Teri McKeever was sent on administrative leave. McKeever is under investigation for verbal and emotional abuse and promoting a toxic culture on the University of California- Berkeley women’s swim team.

A report from the Orange County Register was published with interviews from 19 female swimmers, 1 swimmer from the men’s team, and 6 parents. The report claimed that she has been abusing swimmers for decades now.

Teri McKeever is known as the first female to be the head coach of an Olympic team in the 2012 London Olympics. She has coached the Cal team to 4 NCAA championships and has won the Pac-12 coach of the year award 9 times.

The investigation has lasted longer than anyone expected it to. The athletic director at Berkeley released a statement when the investigation started saying it should last no more than 6 months. However, the investigation has lasted almost 9 months at this point.

McKeever’s lawyer has raised the question of whether or not Dave Burden (Berkeley’s head coach for the men’s team) also acts the way McKeever is being accused of acting. He has claimed that McKeever’s coaching offended people because she is a woman, and they expect her to be more kind and motherly than a men’s coach.

According to Swim Swam News, when asked about the name-calling and bullying of swimmers, McKeever’s lawyer claimed they misunderstood what she was saying.

Over the past couple of months, multiple former swimmers and coaches have sent letters to Berkeley to support Teri McKeever. Many coaches have expressed that this is simply gender bias and that the girls targeting McKeever are looking for attention.

According to Swim Swam News, a former coach from Princeton, Susan Teeter, said, “As a women’s coach, I have seen years of immature athletes who take on the role of ‘mean girls’ and become toxic and hateful, which is what I believe we have on our hands right now.”

People have expressed that the problem is not McKeever, but it is, in fact, an administrative problem. It is unlikely that Berkeley will address an administrative issue right now. Still, they have hired a law firm to investigate McKeever. Dave Durden has been coaching the men’s team but has overtaken both teams in McKeever’s absence.

By: Mia David

A few weeks ago, the University of Virginia’s women’s swim team was ranked the top team in the nation. They have built up a strong team for the last few years and proved their speed in 2021 and 2022 when they won the NCAA championships.

The women’s team is stacked with Olympians and record-holders. However, Virginia is still one-step ahead and planning for the future. This fall, they have recruited five top-20 girls from the class of 2024—more recruits than their competitors, the University of Texas and Stanford.

Earlier this season, the Cavaliers took on the Florida Gators and shocked people with some insane times. The sophomore Gretchen Walsh was truly the star of the meet. She started the meet with a 21.91 50 fly in the medley relay, which out-splits her teammate Kate Douglas who had the fastest split in history.

Walsh wasn’t done there; she pulled out a 50.53 in the 100 fly, which became the fastest unsuited time in history. She whipped out some speedy 50 and 100 freestyles as well. Gretchen, Douglass, and their teammates Alex Walsh and Maxine Parker went a speedy 3:11.37 in the 400 free relay to finish off the meet.

On November 4th and 5th, the Cavaliers took on the second-ranked women’s team, the Texas Longhorns. Both women and men’s teams competed against each other down in Texas.

The Cavalier women won six events, according to Virginia Sports. Gretchen Walsh had a phenomenal meet, three times being the fastest in the country this season. Walsh also went the fastest time ever in 100-yard IM (the 100 IM is not an NCAA event, nor is it competed at any world championship meets, but it is sometimes added to meets as an extra fun event).

The meet was a fun showdown with music and a light show to add to the energy and excitement, according to Swim Swam News. This dual meet was unlike any other dual meet with the amount of technology and energy put into making it a fun and competitive environment.

Although the meet was exciting and full of great swims for the Cavaliers, they, unfortunately, lost to Texas with a final score of 95-91 for the women.

The team is not yet finished; they are heading to the Tennessee Invitational on November 17-19, and they still have an NCAA championship title to defend.