It’s championship season in the world of NCAA swimming and diving, and the Virginia women’s team is heading to College Park, Md. for the ACC Championships in what is perhaps its most pivotal meet of the season.
The women will compete Wednesday through Saturday, and the men will follow Feb. 25 to 28. The teams will race in a range of both distance and sprint events in the Eppley Recreation Center Natatorium at the University of Maryland.
Performances at the ACC Championships carry a good deal of weight because they determine which swimmers make it to the NCAA Championships. The fastest 20 to 22 athletes are selected from each event for the championship meet.
“You can’t get to one without the other,” Virginia coach Mark Bernardino said. “If you don’t go super fast at ACC Championships, your team can win the championship, but then you don’t get invited to the NCAA, so one plays right into the other, so we have to be great — really great — twice a year.”
The Virginia women have performed well regularly in recent years and have an impressive track record to show for it, including six ACC titles. At the ACCs last year, the squad made waves in the competition, defeating rival UNC with a score of 800 to the Tar Heels’ second place score of 572.
Despite impressive past achievements, the Cavalier women aim at modesty and try to fight with a continued level of hunger each year. “Never be intimidated and always be humble” is the motto Bernardino insists both his men’s and women’s teams put into practice throughout the season, regardless of standing.
Especially anxious for a conference title this year are Virginia seniors, who are hoping to maintain the team’s No. 1 ranking and end on a high note. The ACCs and NCAAs are the last meets they will participate in as collegiate competitors, and the women will do their best to defend their 2008 ACC Title.
Senior Megan Evo — who swims the 200 fly, the 100 fly, the 200 IM and the relays — has three years experience at the ACC Championships and said she knows how to handle the pressure.
“I think we’re really good about staying grounded,” Evo said. “Each year is a new year, and you never know what’s going to happen. So after last year, we just kind of started over again. We don’t really have any bragging rights at this point yet.”
The Cavalier women aim to continue their close attention to detail and will have to swim their best to beat out a tough crop of ACC competitors.
“[Virginia Tech] has some really good sprint relays, so they’ll definitely be competitive in those,” Evo said. “Each team has a couple really, really great girls, so we’re competitive with all the teams, but as a whole I think our biggest rival is UNC.”
North Carolina has been a consistent contender against both the men and women from Virginia, so Bernardino said the women’s team is hoping to gain an early lead by stepping up in the meet’s relays that began Wednesday.
“There are 21 events, and they’re all scored the same way — but relay points are doubled,” Bernardino said. “So relays can really help tip the scale in a team’s favor if they’re able to place in the top one or two consistently. And that’s our goal; we would like to be first or second in every single relay on both teams.”
To make this goal a reality, the team will look toward certain members that have performed especially well this season. Junior Mei Christensen has had a record-setting season, setting new conference marks in the 100 and 200 backstroke. She was honored with the ACC Performer of the Week award twice this season and also earned the title of National Swimmer of the Week. Furthermore, Bernardino is expecting sophomore Claire Crippen to perform at “a very high level” after she set a pool record in the 400 IM at the team’s meet against Pittsburgh.
The typical top performers may have set a high bar this season, but Bernardino does not believe they are the only women capable of surpassing it.
“I’m sure there will be some surprises,” Bernardino said. “There always are, and I can’t predict who is going to be the ‘surpriser,’ but there will be some people that step up to a much higher level than they’ve shown us so far. If we do things right, it’ll happen.”
The Virginia women have proven to be one of the best teams in the ACC this season, but Bernardino insists that teams come to the ACCs with a clean slate, for better and worse.
“The score is 0-0,” Bernardino said. “It’s a whole new season; anybody can win.”
The women’s championships continue through Saturday, when a conference champion will be crowned.
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