TOBIN: Stellar strokes
By Ben Tobin | January 23, 2017This season, the Cavalier men have looked determined to get out of their funk, and the seniors have played a crucial role in reversing the tide.
This season, the Cavalier men have looked determined to get out of their funk, and the seniors have played a crucial role in reversing the tide.
The Virginia swimming and diving teams completed their final tuneup before the ACC championships this weekend, with swimmers participating in the Virginia Tech Invitational and divers hosting the Cavalier Diving Invitational.
The skinny on sports this weekend.
“The Skinny” on weekend matchups for women’s basketball, swim & dive, and volleyball
Virginia brought its season to a close on Saturday with a 26th place finish at the Men’s NCAA Championships. The Cavaliers scored 23 points, the sixth most among all ACC teams. The finish marked a slight improvement over last season’s NCAA meet, where Virginia finished 27th with 22 points.
This weekend, Virginia will seek to make good on past difficulties with a strong showing at the NCAA Championships in Austin, Tex.
The Virginia women’s swimming team concluded a successful season under first year coach Augie Busch with an 11th place finish—earning 123 points—at the NCAA Championships on the backs of some stellar performances by underclassmen. Over the three days of competition that stretched from Thursday until Saturday, Virginia broke four school records and earned three All-American honors as well as four honorable mention All-American accolades. It was the Cavaliers’ best finish at the meet since they placed ninth in 2010. For the second straight year, Georgia was crowned national champions.
This season, the Virginia women’s swim and dive team has been one to remember. Under first year coach Augie Busch, the Cavaliers not only won their seventh consecutive ACC title, but also shattered the record books in the process. Now, the long season which began with its first meet in October has one more stop for No. 7 Virginia — Minneapolis, Minn., for the NCAA women’s swimming and diving championships.
This past weekend, Virginia coach Augie Busch showed the conference that there was no drop-off from last season, former coach Mark Bernardino’s last.
Virginia will look to further cement itself as the conference’s top team this week, as the Cavaliers will compete in the ACC Championships in Greensboro, N.C.
The Virginia swimming and diving teams continue their season on the road this weekend against ACC opponents Duke and North Carolina. The Cavaliers were impressive last weekend in Christiansburg, Va., capturing five of the six dual-meets.
Adding to her already record-setting first-year, freshman Leah Smith was honored Tuesday by members of the Atlantic Coast Conference as the Female Swimmer of the Week for her performance against Virginia Tech, Wisconsin and Miami last weekend in Christiansburg, V.A.
After nearly two months since its last meet, the Virginia swimming and diving teams entered Christiansburg, Va. prepared for six dual-meets over a two-day meet. The final results were indicative of their strenuous winter preparations, as the teams took five of six duals.
Along with the other members of what is widely considered top-five recruiting class, Smith, Simon and Jones have taken the pool by storm.
The Virginia swim and dive team broke seven school records and three conference records as the team competed at the Ohio State Invite on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. After leading heading into the final day of competition, the No.