The cream of the ACC's crop of swimmers and divers descended upon the Aquatic and Fitness Center this weekend, with Virginia rising to the top in the pool and on the diving board.
The Cavaliers and their two foes this weekend --North Carolina and Clemson -- collectively have won the last 22 women's ACC championships and the last 10 men's titles.
The Cavaliers proved once again they could compete with their historic conference rivals, as the No.9 men's team defeated No.20 North Carolina on Saturday and both the men's and No.12 women's squad emerged victorious against Clemson.
The Virginia men exploded off the starting blocks Saturday afternoon en route to their 198-102 victory over UNC. Following a win by Virginia's 200- medley relay team, freshman standout Fran Crippen set the tone for the weekend by recording an ACC, pool and school record 8:55:69 in the second event of the day, the 100-yard freestyle.
"These are not any conference records [Crippen] is breaking," Coach Frank Bernandino said. "These are outstanding records held by the top swimmers in the nation."
Undeterred even by a fire alarm that interrupted the meet, the Cavalier men went on to win 10 of the last 11 events to seal their victory Saturday.
Crippen was not the only record setter for Virginia on Saturday. Junior Pete Amstutz set a school record in the men's one-meter dive, while Senior Alison Sharp scored a pool and school record in the women's three-meter dive.
Despite strong performances from Sharp and Senior Mirjana Bosevska, the Cavalier women fell to No.11 UNC in their match.
Led by 2001 ACC Rookie of the Year Jessi Perruquet, Carolina outscored the Cavaliers 171-129, but coaches and players were satisfied with their performance.
"The scoreboard can't reflect how close the meet was," Bernandino said. "A total of 1.94 seconds decided ten races. This is a game of hundredths of seconds, and yesterday we weren't able to find those hundredths."
Sophomore Andrea Georoff admitted that the loss to a fierce in-conference rival was disappointing but was encouraged by the effort her teammates put forth.
"To race as well as we did, with a lot of heart, we did what we should have done," Georoff said. "We weren't down in the dumps."
The positive attitude resulted in dominance over Clemson for both Virginia squads Sunday. The Cavaliers took first place in each of the first 18 events. Led by multiple-event winners Crippen and Georoff, Virginia closed out the weekend with the same success with which it began. The men's team won 10 of 13 events against Clemson, and the women notched 11 out of 13 possible victories.
Saturday "was a huge meet for us," Crippen said. "It was very intense the whole meet, and it was hard to keep that intensity up. But good things happened today. It is a great sign for the rest of the year."
The Cavaliers traditionally compete in two dual meets in a single weekend to simulate the NCAA championship format. The difference this year, however, was the quality of these opponents.
"We stepped up the quality of competition knowing we had to be intense for two days," Bernandino said. "We were emotional and intense against Carolina and intense against Clemson. Now we have to learn to be emotional and intense for three days before NCAA's. We have completed outstanding training, and we can bring races home."
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