The Virginia men's swimming and diving team capped an impressive 2010-2011 season with a school-best performance at the Men's NCAA Championships this weekend. Represented by 10 athletes, the Cavaliers finished eighth in the nation - the highest finish in program history - at the championship meet in Minneapolis.
Virginia also amassed a school-record 200 points at the meet, and its overall finish would not have been possible without the help of standout individual and relay performances.
Senior Matt McLean captured his first-ever national title - and the fourth individual national title in Virginia men's swimming history - by winning the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:10.15 after attending the meet all four years of his college career.
"Matt's execution and patience was just spectacular," coach Mark Bernardino said. "That is something he has worked on and he did it and he is a national champion. That says it all - it's an amazing feat to accomplish."
McLean drew extra motivation for the race from the inspirational legacy left by former teammate Fran Crippen, who passed away in October.
"That was for Fran," McLean said. "It was a good race for me in a field with a lot of great guys, just really accomplished athletes. It was relatively well-executed and I was very focused on swimming my own race."
The Cavaliers have an emotional attachment to the 500, which gave the victory even more significance to the entire Virginia team.
"It was the single most outstanding swim of Matt's career and culminated with him reaching his dream and earning the title of national champion," Bernardino said. "There is no way to explain what a great feeling that gave everybody on this team. It was for Fran. We know Fran was looking down and smiling because that was one of his best events."
Instead of derailing the Cavaliers' season, Crippen's tragic death has galvanized and inspired the team in its endeavors.
"They have a very incredible bond that was forged through tragedy in the fall and a powerful force and a powerful spirit that they've had to carry all year long," Bernardino said.
The 400 medley relay and 200 freestyle teams both earned All-America status with their respective seventh- and eighth-place finishes, as well as setting ACC records in the preliminaries. The 200 freestyle relay team of senior Scot Robison, junior Peter Geissinger, sophomore Tom Barrett and junior David Karasek clocked a time of 1:18.22, while the 400 medley relay squad of sophomore Matt Murray, freshman Taylor Grey, Geissinger and Robison recorded a 3:09.42 finish.
Robison swam crucial legs in each of these relay teams - as he has done countless times during his four years at Virginia.
"There's no question that he's the single finest relay swimmer in the history of our school and probably one of the very, very best in the entire country," Bernardino said. "He just swims faster for his team than he ever does for himself."
In the finals of the 200 freestyle, McLean and Robison placed fourth and fifth, respectively, with one-two-touch times of 1:33.22 and 1:33.30. The two swimmers both earned All-America honors for the third time in their careers.
"You don't replace a Matt McLean, you don't replace a Scot Robison with one person," Bernardino said. "It usually takes a couple people to full the roles of athletes as great as those guys are. They're at the very top of the pyramid, they're the elite of the elite."
Virginia's No. 2-ranked 800 freestyle relay team of McLean, Geissinger, Karasek and Robison placed second with a time of 6:16.59, the highest finish for a relay in school history. Robison's 1:32.58 split was the fastest in the entire field, but the team could not pass Florida's winning time of 6:14.88.
Entering the final day of competition, the Cavaliers' 145 points trailed seventh-place USC by just one point, and the result of the meet depended upon the Cavaliers' performance in the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Robison, Geissinger, McLean and Barrett knew it would finish seventh in the country if it won or eighth if it lost.
"Going into it, we were in a great position," Robison said. "Being in seventh place with one event to go, we knew that either way, winning or losing to Southern Cal we would come out of it with the best finish ever."
Virginia touched at 2:51.83, just behind USC's 2:50.32 finish.
"We were swimming right next to the Southern Cal relay so it couldn't have come down to a better situation if you're a competitor and if you like those kinds of things," Robison said. "Even though we lost to them in that last relay we all really enjoyed the fact that we were put in that situation and had to perform really, really well to try to take them down."
California won the meet with 493 points. Texas was second with 470.5, and Stanford finished third with 403.
"It was really special to come out of our last meet being the best team and having the best finish ever," Robison said. "When we came in as first years we wanted to make an impact right away. We wanted to be the best class ever and leave the program better than we found it, and looking over the past four years to see how we've improved and how we'll leave the team is something that's really awesome and makes me really proud of all of the guys."
Robison's realization of the impact he and his classmates have had is echoed in the coaches' recognition of their greatness.
"I think they have the absolute right to feel as though they are the greatest team we've ever had at U.Va. in swimming," Bernardino said. "They've done what no other group at U.Va. has done before in terms of their placement at the national level. We've had a national champion, a national runner-up. Every single athlete that got on the plane and went to NCAA National Championships will come home either first-team All-American or an honorable-mention All-American and that's 10 guys strong"
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