The Virginia men's and women's swimming and diving teams head south this weekend to take on some of the NCAA's strongest swimming programs at the Georgia Invitational.
The lineups coming from Auburn, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, Penn State and Harvard are packed with depth and talent and will meet the Cavaliers in Athens for a three-days contest that will close out Virginia's competitive year.
"This meet is the most competitive December invitational that we've been in in five years," coach Mark Bernardino said. "We know there are a lot of exceptionally great athletes that will be in this meet."
Senior Matt McLean, who earned ACC Performer of the Week honors for the second time Nov. 23, looks to be one of the meet's top competitors. In Virginia's meet against Indiana and Penn State, McLean won four individual events including the 200 freestyle (1:37.06), the 500 freestyle (4:23.28), the 1,000 freestyle and the 200 butterfly. McLean was the leading leg in Virginia's first-place men's 400 freestyle relay, finishing in a NCAA 'B' time of 2:59.70.
Other notable swimmers on the men's team this season have been senior Scot Robison -who has a collection of Performer of the Week accolades of his own - and freshman Taylor Grey\nFor the women's team, sophomore Lauren Perdue has secured a strong start to her second collegiate season, earning ACC Performer of the Week honors during the weeks of Oct. 26 and Nov. 16.
"I've been excited with my times the past few meets," Perdue said. "I'm really hoping to go into this meet with the same mindset, same attitude and just focus on how I've been training so far and use that to my advantage."
The coaches hope each member of the Virginia men's and women's teams will earn personal best times in at least one race this weekend. To reach this goal, they have been training rigorously by racing against one another and pushing each other to give their best performances.
"It's really important to race each other every single day because there are so many fast girls on our team and fast guys on our team," Perdue said. "It prepares us for this meet because we're racing really talented athletes every single day."
When the rest of the student body leaves Charlottesville for Winter Break, the rigor with which the team has been approaching their training program will only intensify. After this weekend's competition, the squads must begin preparing to face off against Tennessee Jan. 8.
"We'll be here training until Dec. 21, and then they'll have a break at home until the 30th, but they'll be expected to train while they're home," Bernardino said. "Then we'll go through three to four extraordinarily intense weeks of training in preparation for the end of the season."
For Perdue, the 200 freestyle will be a subject of focus from now until championship season arrives.
"[The 200] is a lot more different than the other race sprint events like the 50 and 100," Perdue said. "It takes a lot more strategy. I'd really like to swim a 1:46, so that's my goal for this meet."\nIf Perdue is able to conquer the 200 in this time, she will be right on track with what the coaches are constantly looking for from the Virginia men and women.
"As we set short-term and intermediate goals for our athletes, we have specific goals for each athlete in mind that they're trying to accomplish here on their way to their big goal at the end of the season," Bernardino said, "It's very, very important for us to see steady and continued improvement."
The meet is scheduled to begin today at 9:30 a.m.
Read More
Baseball’s bullpen — previous despair and future repair
By Xander Tilock | 12 hours agoThe Cavaliers' struggles can be fixed by improved roster management and reliance on consistent relief pitchers.
Virginia baseball falters, drops series to NC State
By Jacob Tisdale | 3 days agoVirginia dropped a crucial ACC series, endangering a top seed in the conference tournament.
Women’s lacrosse upset in season-ending defeat against Florida
By Matthew Ryeom | 3 days agoThe Cavaliers kept it close until the fourth quarter, where they ultimately came up short.
