When the Virginia swimming and diving team's six straight ACC title streak began in 1999, the margin of victory over second-place Florida State was a measly 6.5 points.
Last year, the margin of victory over second-place Florida State reached its peak at an astounding 311.5 points.
"Over the last couple of years we have pulled away from everybody else," senior Michael Raab said.
Based on the performance of the last six years, there is no reason to believe that this year's ACC Championships will not be the same for the Virginia swimming and diving team.
The ACC Championships, which begin today in Atlanta, Ga., mark the chance for Virginia to move further into the record books.
"This will be, if we are able to win, the second longest ACC winning streak in ACC swimming history, only behind N.C. State's twelve championship titles, but before you get to twelve, you have to get to seven," Virginia coach Mark Bernardino said. "Seven would be a significant step because both Carolina [1993-98] and Virginia have won six in a row and have not yet been able to get to seven."
The No. 10 Cavaliers are favored in the meet as they take on the rest of the ACC. Virginia lead the ACC this year with an undefeated 5-0 conference record. The next closest ACC opponent in the College Swim Coaches Association of America rankings is North Carolina, which comes in at 20.
When asked which team matches up the best against the Cavaliers, junior swimmer Fran Crippen could not name one team.
"It is hard to say because I think that a lot of the teams are very spotty, meaning they have good swimmers in different events but they are not as deep as we are as a whole," Crippen said. "I think that if you want to look at it, it is the entire ACC versus us. They don't have one team that can beat us, but if they swim together, it will be a great meet."
Successful meets have been commonplace for Virginia swimmers over the last six years as well as this year. Senior Luke Anderson, an All-American and All-ACC swimmer, is competing in his final ACC event for the Cavaliers. Throughout his career at Virginia, Anderson has set many school and conference records, including the 50, 100 and 200-yard freestyle. In the ACC Championships, Anderson is a two-time 50-yard freestyle title winner, three-time 100-yard freestyle title winner and one-time 200-yard freestyle winner. This year, Crippen said he thinks Anderson will have his most successful season of his career.
"Luke is going to be on fire," Crippen said. "I think he is going to have a great meet."
With considerable talent in every event, Anderson will not be the only Cavalier making a splash in Atlanta.
"We have some really experienced and savvy swimmers," Bernardino said. "We also have some very good young first-year athletes on this team. Certainly Pat Mellors, Ryan Hurley and Matt Targett have proved to be very outstanding additions. Yet this is also the time that one or two unheralded first-years will break through."
Though talented, the freshmen lack the experience of swimmers like Anderson, Crippen and Raab. As an upperclassman, Raab has done his best to prepare the team and the freshmen for big events like this.
"I think that I help them mostly just by experience and leading by example in practice and bringing confidence to the team when you start to feel edgy," Raab said. "You have to remain confident and focused. I think that is my biggest strength."
With the experience of most teams put together, Virginia is hoping to move past the ACC tournament and onto the national scale, the next level of success.
"I really feel like winning the ACC's is a focus of the season, but I feel that the main focus this year is to try to improve," Raab said. "Not only do we want to make it habit to win ACC's every year, but we want to make it a tradition to be in the top 10 for the NCAA's every year."
Yet before they can think too far ahead, the Cavaliers will need to focus on the nine other teams they will compete against in the ACC Championships. Virginia fans remain hopeful that success in this event can move Virginia onto bigger stages.
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