The ACC champion Virginia women's swim team is sending a school record- breaking 12 athletes to the 2003 NCAA Championships. Competition will begin today and continue until Saturday at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center, home of the defending NCAA Champion Auburn Tigers.
The Cavaliers will make their presence known this weekend, with entrants in 11 of the 13 individual events and teams in four of the five relays.
The 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke are the only events without Cavalier competitors, but Virginia will have multiple swimmers in eight races. Nine of the 12 participants have qualified for three individual events: freshman Rachel Burke and Katie Gordon, sophomores Andrea Georoff and Kate Wrenshall, juniors Amy Baly and Carlie Dykehouse, and seniors Mirjana Bosvska and Cara Lane.
The Cavaliers not only have numerous competitors in this weekend's meet, but they also have several swimmers in position to threaten for championships. Georoff is seeded ninth in the 50-yard freestyle, and Bosevska and Burke are seeded in the top 10 for two events each. Freshman Brielle White, who also qualified for the 200-yard backstroke, is seeded seventh in the 100-yard backstroke, an event in which she holds Virginia's record.
The top-seeded Virginia swimmers will see plenty of familiar faces in Auburn's pool for events like the 500-yard freestyle, where seven Cavaliers will compete.
"At a meet like [ACCs or NCAAs], the main people aren't necessarily the best people in each event but those that give us a lot of depth," Bosevska said.
Virginia's field of 12 at the championships is even more impressive considering the NCAA places a cap of 18 swimmers per team that can be invited to the meet. Last year, the Cavaliers brought 10 swimmers to the NCAA Championships and finished 12th as a team. Seniors Bosevska, an 11-time All-American, and Lane, Virginia's first female NCAA champion, will have to spread their experience among the seven underclassmen that will join them this weekend. Sophomore Georoff leads the younger Cavaliers, having earned first team All-America honors at last years championships.
"Our program has gotten a lot better," Lane said. "It just shows that when, in the 400 IM [at the ACC Championships] we had five people in the top eight and a few of them are first-years."
Freshmen Cory Berg and Katie Gordon as well as sophomore Katie McWilliams will make their first trip to NCAA Championships, but have gained confidence from their prior successes this season. Their efforts this weekend, along with the seasoned veterans of Virginia women's swimming, will be solely focused on a national title.
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