Last weekend, the men's and women's swimming and diving teams traveled down to North Carolina and defeated longtime rival North Carolina at their last home meet. This Sunday, Pittsburg will be coming down to Virginia and facing the teams in U.Va.'s last home meet.
"It's kind of weird," senior Fran Crippen said. "I'm excited in one sense, but in another, it's kind of sad, because it's my last home dual meet. This week I've just been thinking a lot about the past meets we've had and all the good times I've had."
Traditionally, during the last home meet, all the seniors' parents show up, and the seniors are honored for their four years of commitment to the team. For many, having their parents there for the last meet is a nice touch.
"I just know that when I look into the stands, I'll see them," senior Brielle White said. "It won't affect my concentration or my focus. It's just more fun. After the meet is over, I know I can go up to my parents, and we can go out to dinner or whatever. It's nice that they're going to see me at my last home meet."
Last home meets are always a bit odd emotionally, though. On the one hand there is a meet at Maryland next week, with ACC Tournament competition starting a week after that, so there is still much of the season left. On the other hand, for the seniors, it will be the last time they ever swim competitively at U.Va.
"It does motivate me, because I want this to be a good meet," White said. "It's going to be the last meet where people from the Charlottesville area and from U.Va. can come watch me. It's just, like, I want to go out strong."
Pittsburg, which had its last home meet last week, is looking to provide Virginia with good competition this year. The women's and men's teams are both 7-1 overall this year. The Virginia women are 4-3 overall, while the men are 7-3, although both sides have been facing a slightly tougher schedule than Pittsburg has. Additionally, Pittsburg has a meet against Virginia Tech the night before facing Virginia, while the Cavaliers, who had two meets two days in a row last week, get to rest.
"I think it's going to be a really good meet," Crippen said. "They have strengthened their team, and this is the best team we have seen them have since I've been here. We're going to have a lot of really tight races, so it's going to be exciting."
One of the advantages of this being the last home meet, though, is that the Virginia swimming teams have now had a chance to compete against the top teams in the nation. With this experience behind them, they are more than prepared to deal with anything that comes their way.
"I know we can win this meet," White said. "The coaches say they have a really good squad this year, a little bit stronger than last year. But I feel like we still have more depth, and we're going to do well at this meet. We're going to win."
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