The last time the Virginia swimmers and divers exited the pool after a meet against NC State three weekends ago, coach Augie Busch said he could not have been more pleased with his team. The women's victory demonstrated their dominating potential, he said, while the men showed real steps toward improvement, even in their defeat.
The meet served as a morale booster, letting everyone know that this season’s Virginia team — despite the loss of five of its top male swimmers for the semester — is greatly improved from a year ago during Busch's first season at the helm.
Though the NC State meet was a positive stepping stone, the Cavaliers have loftier expectations for themselves than impressing at a November dual meet. Beginning this weekend, Busch can lay down the first firm progress his teams need as they prepare for March’s NCAA championships.
Virginia will travel south this weekend to compete in the Georgia Fall Invitational, which will serve as the swimmers’ first chance at making NCAA times. The No. 9 Cavalier women (2-1) will compete against No. 2 Georgia (7-0), No. 5 California (3-1), No. 6 Auburn (6-0-1), No. 15 Penn State (8-1) and Florida State (1-2) while the Virginia men (1-3) will compete against those team’s male counterparts — No. 1 California (3-0), No. 4 Georgia (5-1), No. 13 Auburn (3-2), No. 18 Penn State (5-2) and No. 20 Florida State (1-2).
“I’m really pumped,” sophomore Leah Smith said. “Just based on what we’ve been doing in practice, I know we’re definitely going to go lights out.”
But unlike for the dual meets Virginia has already competed in this season, Busch’s primary focus will not necessarily be on placing ahead of the present competition.
Instead, Virginia is looking to take advantage of the opportunity to qualify as many swimmers as possible for the NCAA meet. The Cavaliers have been resting the past several weeks in preparation for this weekend before Busch goes back to increasing his trademark dry-land training.
“We’re putting suits on so we would expect to see some season best [times],” Busch said. “We certainly want those people who have NCAA’s realistically in their sights to get some cuts out of the way.”
Among those with great opportunities to earn a spot in NCAAs are several key female swimmers, namely junior Courtney Bartholomew and sophomore Leah Smith.
Bartholomew won two individual events against NC State — the 100 and 200-yard backstroke — en route to tying the Aquatic Fitness Center record on the former and breaking it on the latter.
Meanwhile, Smith — despite an early season shoulder injury — has continued to perform strongly. The Pittsburgh native, who was recently honored with a Golden Goggle award for her performance at the Pan Pacific Championships in August, picked up event wins in the 200, 500 and 1,000-yard freestyle against the Wolfpack.
“Going into it last year, I didn’t know what to expect because I was just meeting the coaches for the first time,” Smith said. “Now that I have a year under my belt, I would say the year is going much more smoothly. I have no doubts about what we’re going to accomplish this year.”
On the men’s side, junior Yannick Kaeser is the obvious NCAA hopeful. After setting the program record with a time of 1:53.71 on the 200-yard breaststroke while also stealing in the second ever fastest time in the 100-yard event in 2014, the All-American has picked up right where he left off a year ago.
Through two dual meets and one tri-meet, Kaeser has won every 100- and 200-yard breaststroke event in which he has competed.
“He’s a guy that I believe is one of the top breaststrokers in the country,” Busch said. “I’m looking forward to him showing exactly that this weekend.”
Busch is not the only team member excited for this weekend, with each swimmer intimately aware that this is their first and likely last chance to secure an NCAA bid before the ACC championship meet in the spring.
“This is what you’ve been working for since the beginning of the year,” Smith said.
Despite the excitement surrounding the season, Busch said he still knows his teams must produce. Last season, the Cavaliers did not have the same opportunity to qualify swimmers for NCAAs so early in the season. After both teams ended last year disappointed in their championship-meet finishes, the coach will have them ready to compete come Friday.
“Regardless of where this falls in the other teams’ priority order, it’s a huge priority for us,” Busch said. “We need to show up and just race them really tough. We know we’re up against great competition, and I think our men and women are really up for it.”
The meet will take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Georgia.
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