Once again, the Virginia swimming and diving program looks poised to dominate the ACC and post another winning season. In their opening meet last weekend at the AFC, a quad-meet with Clemson, Virginia Tech and Penn State, the Cavalier powerhouse gave its fans an enticing season preview: a 3-0 win for the men and a 2-1 win for the women.
"I think we swam a little bit better than I was even hopping for, especially our first-year class," Virginia coach Mark Bernardino said. "We thought we had a pretty talented and pretty good group of first-year athletes of both genders, male and female, but they exceeded the coaching staff's expectations with their performances."
Virginia is a fairly young team this year, and the freshman and sophomore year classes will be counted on to step up and fill in holes and score team points. These kinds of expectations are particularly demanding on the freshmen, but last weekend's efforts prove that they are tackling the challenge head on.
"Most of them have been under the gun with respect to their training and how much they are doing," Bernardino said. "The weightlifting program and the academic workloads are much different for most of these kids than it is in high school. And, the level of rest and sleep that they get in college is also very different. So, overall, I was really pleased."
That is not to say that the upperclassmen did not contribute to last weekend's wins or will not make significant contributions this season. In fact, senior John Millen's stand out performance earned him the ACC Swimmer of the Week honor. Millen won three individual events -- the 1000-yard freestyle (9:19.30), the 200-yard free (1:39.31) and the 500-yard free (4:28.04). His 200 freestyle time is the fastest in the ACC so far this season while his 500 free and 1000 free times rank second in the conference.
"It's a nice honor," Millen said. "It's a first for me, and after swimming with other great distance swimmers over the years, it is really nice to get this during my time here."
On the women's side, junior Stephanie Glover not only won the 100 butterfly (56.17) but also was a leg of the first place 400-yard free relay (3:27.17). The points she earned helped the women defeat ACC foes Clemson and Virginia Tech.
"We obviously would have liked to beat Penn State," Glover said. "And if we had a couple more things go our way, we might have been able to do it. Regardless, I think it was a really good start to the season for us -- a lot of first years swam really fast and the outlook is good for the season. I know the coaches were happy, and if the coaches are happy, then we are happy."
Virginia is scheduled to host their next dual meet Saturday when they take on Georgia Tech at the AFC.
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