Coming into Saturday's meet against Georgia Tech, the Cavaliers expected a meet where older swimmers would be allowed to garner practice in tertiary events and which would give the younger swimmers a chance to compete.
This is exactly what the team gained when the men's and women's swimming and diving teams posted solid wins to remain undefeated in the ACC. The Cavalier men took down the Yellow Jackets 136-95, while the women gained a victory at 125-109.
The Cavaliers took a strong lead early in the meet which allowed them to start subbing swimmers into secondary and tertiary events. Freshman and sophomore swimmers were able to get some strong competition experience under their belts.
"I think the freshmen and sophomores have really stepped up this season the way that they need to," Virginia junior Ryan Hurley said. "We rely on them a lot this year. They're a majority of our team, so it's great to see them putting up some great times."
Even after a rough week of practice, the teams came into the meet focused on getting the win and swimming strongly regardless of the lack of rest. Many swimmers stepped up in ways that were beyond expectations.
For the second consecutive week, Cavalier senior Greg Imboden performed extremely well. In this weekend's meet, he took a victory in the 50 freestyle event with a time of 21.22.
Also gaining wins on the men's side were senior John Millen in the 200 free (1:39.37), junior Pat Mellors in the 400 I.M. (3:57.27), and junior Stefan Hirniak in the 500 free (4:33.63). Additionally, freshmen who picked up wins included Darren Ankosko in the 1000 freestyle (9:18.94) and Dan McMahon in the 200 butterfly (1:51.69).
The 400 medley relay was won by the team consisting of junior Bryan Stahl, junior Vanja Rogulj, Hirniak and Imboden (3:21.41). Exhibition wins were recorded by Rogulj in the 200 breaststroke (2:01.85) and the 400 free relay team of freshman Richard Hutton, freshman Zach Hayden, Imboden and Millen (3:04.19).
In the women's meet, Virginia recorded a win in seven of the first 11 events and exhibitioned the final two events. Junior Jess Lewis gained two wins in the 50 free (23.89) and the 100 free (51.45). Single wins were picked up by freshman Jenn Narum in the 1000 free (10:01.39), senior Katy Bland in the 200 free (1:51.39), senior Erin Corgan in the 400 I.M. (4:21.39) and junior Stephanie Glover in the 200 backstroke (2:05.30).
In the 400 medley relay, the team of freshman Mei Christensen, freshman Katherine McDonnell, Bland and Glover won in 3:50.41. In the 400 freestyle relay, the nearly all freshman team of Colleen Law, Caroline Davis, Jenna Harris and junior Amber Bialis took the exhibition victory at 3:34.16. Also taking an exhibition win was McDonnell in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:20.51.
"We swam well," Virginia coach Greg Bernardino said. "In many phases of the first half of the meet, we swam better than we anticipated we would do, so I'm very happy with the results, and I think they are most happy they can go into this focused, with a good high level of intensity ... and jump off to a good early lead and allow us to make the changes in the lineup that we were hoping to make."
The Cavalier men return to action Nov. 17 against Tennessee, and the women's team swims next in the Princeton Invitational Dec. 1-3.
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