They are both the same size, 6'2". They are practically the same weight, 185 and 170 pounds, respectively. They both have been numerously decorated in their swimming careers. However, Virginia junior Fran Crippen and Florida junior Ryan Lochte finished close in another category one of them had not hoped to, placement.
At Friday's meet in Gainesville, Crippen finished second to the Olympic qualifier in both the 500 and 1000 freestyles by less than a second.
To a non-swimmer, a second seems like nothing -- a miniscule fragment of time -- but to swimmers, a second can mean the difference between being the first to reach the wall and being second.
"In our sport," Virginia coach Mark Bernardino said, "a stop watch is sometimes more important than a win or a loss, and we had good results on the stop watch."
That one second on the stopwatch is an excellent indication of Crippen's ability to compete with the nation's, or world's, elite swimmers. Crippen got out to an early lead on Lochte in both events but was unable to close out the win.
"He led for over 90 percent of both races and lost two extremely close races to Lochte," Bernardino said. "I think Fran stepped up. He raced him aggressively and hard. He took control in both those races, but he just wasn't able to stand on the wall first at the end of those races."
Crippen said he believes that not finishing first can teach him a valuable lesson.
"He showed me in both my races what I'm doing wrong and how I can get better," Crippen said. "I think you learn more from losing than you do from winning. Had I won, I don't think I would have learned as much as I did."
In the 500 freestyle, Crippen swam a time of 4:23.76 and took nearly two seconds off his best time of the season. In the 1000 freestyle, Crippen shaved over three seconds off his previous season-best time, clocking in at 9:00.41.
Though Crippen could not finish out Friday's swim with a win, Lochte has proven that he can. He represented the United States on the men's swimming team in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Lochte earned a gold medal in the 4X200 freestyle relay and a silver in the 200 medley. During his career at Florida, Lochte has earned several accolades, including 2002-03 SEC Male Swimmer of the Year and SEC Freshman of the Year.
"He's obviously a great swimmer," Crippen said. "Right now I think there is no better swimmer in the country, when you're talking about versatility."
Crippen has been recognized as well for his swimming performances in his three years at the University. The All-American and 2004 ACC Men's Swimmer of the Year said he hopes to turn his previous success into even further achievements.
"We have meets this weekend," Crippen said, "but we are really focusing on the ACC tournament. We are hoping to do well in the ACCs and qualify 12-15 swimmers for the NCAA tournament. If we do that, we will be improving on what we did last year."
Hopefully for Virginia fans, coming in close second will satisfy neither Crippen nor the Cavaliers in their quest for postseason success.
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