The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams have not had a meet in several weeks, but that doesn’t mean they have been resting — quite the opposite, in fact. The teams have been preparing at a high-intensity level for the U.Va. Invitational, which will be held at the Aquatic and Fitness Center today through Saturday.
Virginia will take on swimmers from West Chester and Yale in the three-day meet beginning today at 11 a.m. Though the visiting teams do not hold as competitive of a reputation as the Cavaliers, the practices leading up to the meet have been the hardest the Virginia teams have seen all season.
“Given our training regimen, there is no excuse for any athlete not to be in peak physical shape,” coach Mark Bernardino stated in an e-mail. “We have continued a very rigorous schedule of training since our last meets. We have tried to sharpen our speed skills to a larger degree.”
Senior Ryan Hurley is hoping that the intense practices will be effective in terms of bolstering his team’s spot ahead of the pack.
“For me, personally, it’s always good to put in a couple days of hard work in order to get that little something extra that others might not have,” Hurley said.
Junior Mei Christensen and sophomore Scot Robison hope to meet standards they set for themselves at meets earlier this season. Stellar performances at the Cavaliers’ meet against Penn State and Florida State in mid-November earned Robison and Christensen ACC Performer of the Week titles. Christensen was also selected as the National Swimmer of the Week Nov. 19 for her strong performances, including a pool record in the 200 backstroke.
“After the PSU and FSU meet, the whole team knew it was time to get to work and put in some hard practices,” Hurley said. “We knew we didn’t have a meet for another three weeks, which was sort of a change in mindset after having so many meets in a row. It was good to get back to straight training — now everyone’s mind is clear, and we’re ready to race hard again.”
Racing as hard as possible is key for the Cavaliers during the U.Va. Invitational because of the meet’s format.
With three consecutive days of competition, the meet will give the teams a preview of the layout they will see at championships in the spring. It is especially important for the 17 freshmen swimmers to get an early glimpse of the contests they will have to prepare themselves for in February and March.
“It is great for the first-years to see and experience the championship format,” Bernardino stated. “The meet will be run exactly as a NCAA Championship meet is conducted. The first-years will have the opportunity to experience what the normal rest breaks are between the races; they will learn how to compose themselves between the preliminary and finals races, they will learn how to mentally prepare and most importantly how to make the appropriate adjustments to race strategies between the preliminaries and finals. There are many positives that can be gained from a meet like this.”
One of the biggest positives is the opportunity that the longer meet provides. Each swimmer will have three days to produce his or her best performance, which is Virginia’s ultimate goal.
Today’s events are scheduled to include the 200 free relay, 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free and 400 medley relay. Swimmers will compete in the 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back and 800 free relay tomorrow. Finally, Saturday’s competition will start off with the 1650 free, followed by shorter events such as the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly and 400 free relay.
With an assortment of distances and strokes each day, the Virginia swimming and diving teams have a good chance of finding their time to shine as they host their last meet of 2008.
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