Meredith and Lauren Perdue were born to swim for Virginia.
The sisters not only serve as a dynamic duo for the Cavaliers’ swimming and diving team, but they’re also carrying on a family legacy in the process.
Their father, Phil Perdue, swam for Virginia during his time at the University. The team’s coach during the elder Perdue’s career, Mark Bernardino, still leads the Virginia squad today and mentors Lauren and Meredith.
The Perdue sisters seemingly always wanted to follow in the swim strokes of their dad. Taught to love the sport at an early age, senior Meredith and junior Lauren cannot imagine another path.
“We both started when we were about eight years old,” Lauren said. “We tried other sports along the way, but we just aren’t coordinated individuals. Swimming [our whole lives], we’ve always had a passion for the water.”
Meredith was the first to decide to attend the University, but her younger sister quickly followed.
“After [Meredith] made the decision to come here to U.Va., in my heart that was where I felt like I needed to be and where I wanted to be,” Lauren said. “It just happened to work out perfectly that we got to spend three years together.”
When siblings only one year apart attend the same university and join the same team, it creates a special dynamic, which has benefited the Perdues both in and out of the pool. The two Greenville, NC natives lean on each other while residing outside their home state year-round. The sisters currently live together and also kept each other company while training in Charlottesville during the summer. Each provides the other with the perfect training partner, always offering encouragement when needed.
“They are two of the most loving sisters you could ever see,” Bernardino said. “They take care of each other, they’re special to one another, they complement each other in terms of strengths and weaknesses, [and] they give each other confidence. They’re just two really nice children who come from a really good family. They give and receive great support from one another.”
Outside the pool, little separates Lauren and Meredith. But the two couldn’t be more different academically. Meredith is a biology and religious studies major, while Lauren is an anthropology major. Otherwise, the Perdues admit, “Basically, we have everything in common.”
In addition to competing against one another, each sister offers a distinct contribution to the team. Meredith is invaluable as a versatile freestyler with range extending from the 50-yard sprint all the way up to the 500-yard middle-distance race. Lauren is more of a specialist in the sprint distances, but holds an edge in season-best times against Meredith in each of the races up to the 200 freestyle.
Lauren ranks first on the team with times of 22.75 seconds in the 50 freestyle, 48.76 seconds in the 100 freestyle and 1 minute 46.59 seconds in the 200 freestyle, despite a nagging undisclosed injury, which has hindered her performance all season. In 2011, she set school records in all three races and became the ACC’s all-time fastest in the latter two events. In 2011, she received her first ACC Swimmer of the Year honor and was also named ACC Swimmer of the Championships for the second consecutive year.
Though Lauren has been unable to match those performances this season, she is intent on performing her best at next week’s ACC Championships to send off Meredith with the fourth conference title of her career.
“I definitely view Meredith as a role model and as an older sister,” Lauren said. “I look up to her more than anyone else in my life. She’s so strong and talented, and in that aspect, I have a lot of respect and admiration.”
In the final home meet of Meredith’s career last Saturday, they both swam in the 200 freestyle relay and earned second place to wrap up Virginia’s tidy victory against NC State. Again, little separated the two sisters, as Lauren led off the relay with a 23.22-second split, followed by Meredith with a 23.71 time on the second leg. Although their time swimming together will end soon, the Perdues are savoring the opportunity to compete together at least one more time.
“ACC’s will probably be my last meet, and I’m coming down to the end of my career so basically I just want to have the best meet of my life,” Meredith said. “Probably my biggest goal is just to have fun and enjoy every day at ACC’s because it’ll be the last time there, so I don’t want to take it for granted.”