How about winning five straight NCAA Division I championships?
That’s what Madison High School graduate and University of Virginia graduate student Anna Keating is chasing during this winter’s swimming and diving college season.
With Keating’s help since her freshman year, the Virginia women’s team has won four straight NCAA titles. A victory for the Cavaliers this season will cap Keating’s college career with the ultimate championship each winter.
In addition, another title will improve Keating’s championship streak of top titles at two different academic levels to nine in a row. At Madison, she helped the Warhawks win four straight Virginia High School League state titles.
With a job lined up, Keating had decided after finishing her undergraduate work at Virginia that she would not return for a fifth year.
She changed her mind in the subsequent weeks, a big reason being to chase that fifth NCAA team title, something only college athletes who have participated in the COVID pandemic seasons have had the opportunity to achieve.
Keating made an instant impact her freshman season for Virginia, finishing fourth in the 200 breaststroke, sixth in the 100 breast and 14th in the 200 individual medley at the 2021 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championships.
During the 2023-24 season for Virginia, Keating was a top breaststroker and IM swimmer. At the NCAA meet, she placed eighth in the breast with a personal-best mark of 2:06.89 to earn all-America status.
This past summer, Keating participated in the U.S. Olympic women’s swimming trials, but did not make the Olympic team.
While living in Vienna, Keating swam during the summertime’s Northern Virginia Swimming League for the Vienna Aquatic Club Gators.
For Madison, Keating was an all-district, all-region and all-state swimmer. She still holds the VHSL’s Class 6 girls state record in the 100 breast in 59.76.
NOTE: Including winning high-school district, region and state titles and college ACC and NCAA crowns, Keating has competed on 20 straight championship teams over eight years. The streak can end at 22 in nine years if Virginia wins conference and NCAA titles this season.
