The defending ACC champion Virginia men's and women's swimming and diving teams hit the pool this weekend for their first dual meet of the season in a road matchup against Navy. Coach Mark Bernardino enters his 34th season leading two young groups - with a combined 17 new swimmers - looking to make an early impact.
"We have a new dynamic this year," Bernardino said. "We graduated eight male seniors and eight female seniors last year - without question, the most successful class in the history of U.Va. women's swimming. It's going to take a bit of time. We're going to go through some growing pains as we develop this core of first-year swimmers."
Last weekend, a handful of young members from the No. 11 women's squad received their first collegiate experiences as eight swimmers participated in the Southern Methodist Classic. Virginia placed fifth out of six teams at the event.
"Overall, I think it was a good performance," Bernardino said. "We used it as a training meet; we practiced before the meet both days and put in a small practice session before the meet. I think we did fine, and we're headed in the right direction."
Despite a pedestrian finish at the meet, the Cavaliers were encouraged by the performance of six freshmen and sophomores.
"I think we raced really well through all the hard work we've done in October," senior Kelly Flynn said. "[But] there's definitely room to improve. Right now, the most important thing is training."
For a team that fields only four seniors on both the men's and women's sides, rigorous training serves as a key factor in helping to prepare the freshman class of swimmers for its first collegiate competitions.
"Basically what I'm telling them is they have to be better than they've ever been in their careers at an earlier stage in their development," Bernardino said. "I think our training - the training intensity, the speed at which we train and the intervals on which we train - are all faster than what they've ever seen before. For almost all of our first years, that's been a significant leap forward. We're going to try to ask them to make that same significant leap forward in terms of how they race."
That training will be put to the test this weekend as the two teams compete together for the first time this year against Navy. The Midshipmen men's squad, which the Cavaliers defeated 156-136 last October, captured last year's Patriot League title and enters the 2011-12 season ranked just outside the top 25. The Navy women, meanwhile, finished second in last season's Patriot League. Virginia expects both sides of the Navy team to provide an early test.
"Competition's going to be stiff," senior David Wren said. "Navy's a good team, [and] we're really excited. We're excited to see how our freshman perform and see how our team is shaping up this year."
The team recognizes that these early season matchups may be challenging for the newcomers, but they are important stepping stones to building a good season and continuing the success that has defined the program in recent years. The Cavaliers remain confident that with continued training and strong performances, they will be able to dominate this season's competition.
"We're young, and it will take some time, but hopefully by February and March, we're a pretty darn good team," Bernardino said. "They'll develop over the course of the season, and we'll find race strategies and race techniques that best fit each personality and each physiology. But for now we're teaching them to be aggressive and race from the front"
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