The Virginia swimming and diving teams opened their seasons with smashing wins over West Virginia Saturday afternoon at the Aquatic & Fitness Center. The Cavalier women's team won 125.5-98.5 and the men annihilated the Mountaineers 132-89.
Both teams, which won 25 of the 26 events, built sizable early leads and swam the last four events as exhibitions.
Despite the relatively easy victories, however, Cav coach Mark Bernardino said he was not entirely pleased with the performances his teams turned in.
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"We were good in some spots, and we showed some inexperience in others," Bernardino said. "I was hoping to use this meet as a springboard, and I'm not sure we sprung. I was more pleased with the women. The men did well in spots, but swam inconsistent in others. Time will adjust that. Overall the team is capable of more than they showed today."
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The diving competition took place before the swimming, with Cavalier sophomore Alison Sharp winning both the one-meter and three-meter competitions. Junior Joe Piorkowski won both boards for the men.
Virginia started off the swimming events with two wins in the 200-yard medley relay. Senior tri-captain Megan Iffland, junior Caitlin Anderson and freshmen Cynthia Roller and Jenna Bridges led the Cavalier women to victory. Junior Chris Mousetis, sophomore Jonathan Baird, junior Matt Lee and freshman Adam Kerpelman composed the men's quartet.
The Virginia women (1-0) swept the top three spots in the 200 and 500 freestyles, 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly. Sophomore tri-captain Cara Lane finished first in the 200 free and the 100 fly.
In similarly convincing fashion, the Cav men (1-0) finished 1-2-3 in the 500 and 1,000 frees, 200 IM and 100 backstroke and breaststroke. Virginia freshman Luke Anderson took first place in both sprint events, the 50 and 100 frees.
Anderson was just one of a number of Cavalier freshmen who won events, a group that also included Amy Baly (1,000 free), Bridges (50 free), Ian Prichard (200 free), Carlie Dykehouse (100 fly) and Gary Marshall (100 breast).
"I was really impressed by the freshmen performance," said senior captain Justin Capuco, who finished second in the 100 breast. "They stepped it up, especially considering how hard we've been training."
The Cavaliers have indeed been training fanatically in October, a month the Virginia coaches call "Rock-tober." Yardage in practice increases considerably to form a strong base for the rest of the meet season.
"I saw the effects of our intense training," Bernardino said. "We've been pushing them to their physical limits, and we saw some fatigue today."
Senior captain Jamie Grimes shook off any fatigue to win the 1,000 free in 9 minutes, 8.5 seconds - a second off the pool record - an unusually fast time for so early in the season.
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