Patrick Mitchell
The majority of the regular season already has passed for the Virginia Swimming and Diving team, and now it is time to prepare for the post-season. The team's regular season comes to an end this weekend with home meets against Maryland and Duke Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
The visits by Maryland and Duke are the final regular-season meets for No. 10 Virginia (8-1 in dual meets) and represent the team's last opportunities to tune up before the men's and women's ACC Championships later in February.
"Our emphasis here is not so much on dual meets as on championships," Virginia coach Mark Bernardino said. "Our goal is be the best that we can when we get to the ACC and NCAA meets."
This weekend is a developmental period for Virginia as they change gears and get ready for the post-season.
"We are kind of in the transition mode," Bernardino said. "We are starting to do a reduction in our training volume, a little different style of strength training work and a lot more speed work in the pool."
Virginia had a wake-up call a week ago when they narrowly fell to No. 3 Florida in Gainesville. But losing to Florida certainly was not taken as a setback for the team, even though the Gators served Virginia their only defeat of the season.
Florida gave Virginia a preview of what post-season competition will be like as well as an idea of where they need the most work before the end of the month.
"We won the majority of the events -- we swam great," junior Fran Crippen said. "Even though we lost, we were saying in the locker room [that] that was the most fun we've had at a meet because we were more intense and having fun. It is great to do that because it is something to build on as a team."
Instead of being considered an impediment, the Florida loss is being taken as part of the team's training process for its final goal: to win ACC and NCAA championships.
The Cavaliers are looking to fine-tune their swimming and use this weekend's meets to make sure they are swimming their best at the right time of the season.
Crippen is one Virginia swimmer who certainly appears to be peaking at the right time. Crippen narrowly fell to Gator Olympic-gold medalist Ryan Lochte in the 500 and 1000 freestyles, losing by less than a second in both races. In the 1000, Crippen took over three seconds off his previous season-best time and shaved nearly two seconds off his season-best in the 500.
"He's had another very solid season, and now we are down to championship time, and this is when he tends to be at his very best," Bernardino said. "So, I expect him to be a real clutch performer and continue to do the great things he has done his first two seasons."
Also coming up big for the Cavaliers is senior All-American Luke Anderson. Anderson recently was named ACC co-men's swimming and diving Performer of the Week for the third consecutive week. This was his fifth time being honored this season.
In order to win the conference for the seventh consecutive time, Virginia will need to use the meets against Maryland and Duke to prepare themselves for stiffer competition, fine-tuning their successes thus far. But, for success this weekend and beyond, veterans such as Crippen and Anderson know they need to be leaders.
"As a third year, I'm a leader on the team, and I'm looking to be that for younger swimmers on the team during meets," Crippen said.
If history is any indication, Crippen will lead the younger by example -- he was the Most Valuable Swimmer of the ACC Championships last year.
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