Finishing 18th overall at the NCAA championships this past weekend, the Virginia men's swimming team broke its seven-year streak of placing among the top 15 nationally.
Considering that the team captured its eighth consecutive title at the ACC Championships in February, their weak finish was particularly disappointing. For Virginia coach Mark Bernardino, one possible explanation for their poor performance is that the swimmers peaked emotionally at ACCs and could not re-focus in time to train as intensely as was necessary.
"I definitely think putting so much focus and having ACCs be so important to us this year might have something to do with this performance," senior captain Fran Crippen said. "But on the other hand, the nine of us who went are very experienced athletes and I think we should have been able to recover in the month between and have had a great NCAA meet. That just didn't happen."
While the team did not reach its goal of placing in the top 15, the Cavaliers did make quite a comeback from day one to day three. In fact, after the first day of the meet, Virginia had not scored any points.
"I am pleased with how they fought back from a very stressful and distressing day number one," Bernardino said. "I am really pleased with the courage, tenacity and toughness we had mentally to battle our way back from zero points a third of the way through the meet and still finish 18th."
The NCAA meet was Crippen's last collegiate swimming appearance. Unfortunately, he did not swim at his usual caliber and he believes his sub-par first swim at the NCAA meet got his team off on the wrong foot.
"Personally, as the leader, I think that if you can get your team one good swim, more [good] swims are going to follow," Crippen said. "It's not to say that we couldn't have turned it around, but I think I got the ball moving in the wrong direction."
Although the Cavaliers failed to have a first-team All-American for the first time in 10 years, overall four of the nine male swimmers who competed earned All-American Honors: Crippen, Stefan Hirniak, John Millen and Vanja Rogulj. This accomplishment, along with Virginia's success throughout the season, helps put perspective on one failure in a sea of successes.
"The whole team performed really well at the ACCs," Rogulj said. "I feel that there is a little to be dissatisfied with and much more to be satisfied with this whole season. Just knowing that all the first, second, third and fourth years stepped up and performed when it was crucial at ACCs, it fills my heart with confidence."
Looking ahead to next year, the team is only graduating two of the nine swimmers who went to NCAAs -- Crippen and Ethan McCoy. For the other seven, Bernardino feels that this year's meet will provide invaluable experience for them to draw upon in the future. In the end, their disappointment could ultimately help them to compete at higher levels next time.
On the whole, the outlook is positive for the future of the program, starting with next year's freshman class that both the team and Bernardino are excited about.
"It is a very good group so far," Bernardino said. "And we are still very active in the recruiting trails -- chasing down a few more recruits -- and we are talking to some very outstanding young men at this point in time."
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