The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams found their stroke this weekend in victories against ACC rival Florida State and nationally ranked Penn State in a two-day double dual meet.
The No. 13 Virginia men (6-1, 3-0 ACC) defeated No. 19 Florida State (6-1, 1-1 ACC) 197-154 and crushed No. 15 Penn State (2-3, 0-0 Big Ten) 228-120. The No. 13 Virginia women (6-0, 3-0 ACC) dominated both opponents, claiming victory against Florida State (7-3, 2-1 ACC) 216-129 and No. 18 Penn State (3-2-1, 0-0 Big Ten) 201-148.
“It was great to compete with two such outstanding teams,” Virginia coach Mark Bernardino said. “Being the road team in this series is tough, but we had the advantage to be at home as it gave us a bit of an edge.”
The Cavaliers were able to take a commanding lead against both Penn State and Florida State with their strong performances in the relay races to start the meet. Friday, the women’s 200 freestyle relay consisting of freshman Lauren Smart, senior Kristen Wallace, junior Mei Christensen and sophomore Hannah Davis took first with a time of 1:32.74.
The men’s 200 freestyle relay team of senior Lee Robertson, sophomore Scot Robison, freshman Peter Geissinger and senior Tony Colella won a tight race touching at 1:22.17.
“Beginning each meet with wins in the relays really set us off,” Bernardino said.
Christensen stood out not only in the relay races but also in her individual event, the 200 backstroke, in which she set a pool record with a time of 1:56.42. This was her first collegiate record.
“It felt really good,” Christensen said. “I’ve been working towards [a record] for a while, and I’m just really excited to be able to do it so early in the year.”
Robison stood out in the meet for the men’s squad meet, claiming first in all six of his events: the 200 freestyle relay, 100 freestyle, 400 medley relay, 50 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 400 freestyle relay.
“I take pride in all of the events,” Robison said. “I swim a lot of events because they’re the shortest ones to do, but I love swimming the 50 and 100 free. I hadn’t gotten to swim the 100 fly all year, so it was nice to do something new and something fresh.”
Other event winners included junior Jen Narum taking first (4:47.40) with junior Jenna Harris following second (4:49.84) in the 500 freestyle. In the 100 breaststroke, sophomore Ellie Freeman touched first (1:02.61) with junior Katherine McDonnell following at a close second (1:02.95). Senior Megan Evo captured first in the 100 freestyle (50.74). Narum also went the distance in the 1,000 freestyle, swimming to victory with a time of 9:52.28. In the 100 fly, Virginia took the two top spots with freshman Lauren Smart taking the win (55.08) and sophomore Liz Shaw following in second (55.33).
On the men’s side, Virginia went 1-2-3 in the 200 individual medley. Junior John Azar touched first at 1:51.14, with seniors Pat Mellors (1:51.97) and Pat Reams (1:52.13) following closely in second and third. Senior Ryan Hurley took a commanding lead on his way to a victory in the 200 breaststroke (2:00.24). Sophomore Tim Hayes followed for a second-place finish (2:02.97). Mellors rounded out the individual events with a win in the 400 IM (3:57.81).
Virginia does not swim again until Dec. 4 through 6, when it hosts the U.Va. Invitational.
“We plan on these next 10 days to even increase our level of training, and we’re probably going to put our swimmers in a world of hurt,” Bernardino said. “It is going to be highly intense, very focused and very specific training to get our swimmers to a higher level.”
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