Last night’s swim meet against Virginia Tech started on a high note as the men’s and women’s teams took the top spot in the 200-yard medley relay. Virginia coach Mark Bernardino said this race “set the tone” for his team, and the Cavaliers dominated from start to finish, maintaining their undefeated record thus far this season.
The Virginia women’s final score of 188-110 and the men’s score of 189-108 would not have been possible without standout individual performances by swimmers from both Cavalier teams. It was an especially good night for sophomore Elizabeth Shaw, who broke Cara Lane’s 7-year pool record in the 200 butterfly. Shaw topped Lane’s mark of 1:59.03 with a time of 1:57.54 in a one-two-three Cavalier sweep.
“She’s just very gifted, very talented, very focused and very hungry to be excellent,” Virginia coach Mark Bernardino said. “She really is quite an excellent swimmer. We’re starting to expand her scope of races.”
Shaw was named the 2007-08 ACC Freshman of the Year, and in Virginia’s first meet of the year against South Carolina, she set another pool record, also in the 200 butterfly. With such an explosive start to open the season, Shaw is certainly living up to high expectations this season.
“Both of my races felt really strong when I set the pool records,” Shaw said. “I’ve had my eye on [the 200 butterfly] for a while, so I just had a lot of girls out there who were good racers, and so we pushed each other, and I got it done.”
On the men’s side, senior Ryan Hurley found success as well. After taking a year off to train for the Olympic Trials, Hurley has returned to Virginia stronger than ever, easily putting away the competition in men’s 100 and 200 breaststroke events.
“I was happy with my races,” Hurley said. “These first couple of meets, I just worry about my times, and my times were a little better than last week, so that’s good; I’m making progress.”
There is no telling how impressive Hurley will become if this progress continues, but he will always think of himself as a member of an equally remarkable team.
“It’s like two completely different sports — swimming for yourself and swimming for the team,” Hurley said. “I couldn’t think of a better team to come back to. We have so many guys that really just always step up to the plate and are always great. It’s great to know that if I do my part, everyone else is doing their part, as well.”
Shaw and Hurley are just two team members who add to the impressive depth of the men’s and women’s teams.
“We’re deep, but we’re able to be deep because we’re really versatile,” Bernardino said.
The swimmers use this depth on a day-to-day basis, but it will be particularly important for it to develop early in the season.
“The depth we have in multiple events will be critical in the championship season,” Shaw said. “We all push each other every day. If I’m working on butterfly, someone else will be working on it with me, so we’re both going to get better.”
The meet could have unfolded differently had Virginia not started the way it did. The Cavaliers defeated the Hokies in the opening 200 medley relay — an event that Bernardino referred to as a Virginia Tech specialty. From then on, Virginia dominated across the board.
“We felt if we could come out and win a sprint race for each gender right away, that would set the tone for the meet,” Bernardino said. “We knew we were coming right back with one of our strengths — the mile.”
The squads hope to maintain their undefeated records as the men’s team travel to Tennessee Nov. 6, and both teams swim at Kentucky Nov. 7.
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