Swimming is a sport of strategy. Races can come down to tenths of seconds, which can change any race’s outcome. Because of the sport’s nuanced nature, Virginia coach Mark Bernardino constantly emphasizes attention to detail.
Detail and strategy will play integral roles for the Virginia men’s swimming and diving team when it competes in the NCAA Championships at Texas A&M’s Student Rec Center Natatorium in College Station tomorrow through Sunday. The men’s team travels to Texas with hopes of performing at or above the level that its female counterpart reached last week when it finished 12th overall at the women’s NCAA Championships.
Before the season started, the men’s team set a goal of finishing in the top 10 at NCAAs before the season started, Bernardino said.
“I wouldn’t hesitate a second to tell you that the women’s team set the bar very high for the men’s team,” Bernardino said. “The women have done a wonderful job of performing exceptionally well prior to the men all year long. Because we’re such a close-knit group it has helped motivate and set a standard for the men to aggressively go after and to try to match or [do] better.”
Some men qualified automatically because of their exceptional times and plan to focus on specific events to earn points for the team.
“There’s an incredibly different time standard that maybe five to seven swimmers can accomplish in the year prior to going into the meet, but that vast majority of athletes qualify on the provisional standard,” Bernardino said. “There’s a set number of athletes that can go so all numbers are irrelevant ... but if you make an A-standard, which is so hard to do, you automatically make the meet.”
Virginia sophomore Matt McLean clocked in at 4:10.00 in the 500 freestyle, and 14:35.12 in the 1650 freestyle, earning himself an automatic entry and top seed in both events. Sophomore Taylor Smith’s performance in the 500 and 1650 freestyle events also met the A-standard.
Though McLean’s times in the 500 and 1650 are the fastest in the nation this season, this week’s 1650 will only be McLean’s third collegiate mile. The sophomore, however, is not nervous.
“I don’t base my confidence on experience,” McClean said. “Usually I try and base it on my training and how fit I know I am. I’ve gotten stronger this year and I’ve always been more of an aerobic guy and I’ve just utilized that capacity more this year in my events.”
McLean is also part of two relays that automatically qualified to compete this weekend after meeting the A-standard at the ACC Championships last month. Junior John Azar, freshman Peter Geissinger, sophomore Scot Robison and McClean will compete in the 400 free relay. The 800 free relay team is comprised of Azar, McClean, Robison and freshman David Karasek.
Senior Ryan Hurley, senior Lee Robertson, junior Eric Olesen and Geissinger will race in the 200 medley relay, and Hurley, Robertson, Oleson and Robison will swim the 400 medley relay, in which they will have the chance to earn double-points for the Cavaliers.
“For the last three years probably, [relays] have been a major focus on how we could improve our team,” Bernardino said. “The team has really bought into it and understands the psychology behind it and understands the importance of the relays. There’s a real thrill in being selected to be a part of a relay. They realize that that’s a special honor.”
Swimmers who are unable to automatically qualify in a relay or individual event use a different strategy to maximize the opportunity to win points. To save their energy for certain races, swimmers who are not seeded in high positions in one event often will be scratched from races they were originally scheduled to swim.
“It’s a strategical game that coaches will play,” Bernardino said. “If an athlete is the 40th seed in the 100 free, but part of the 400 free relay, the coach might scratch him out of the freestyle so he’ll be fresh for the relay. That happens all the time.”
Robertson potentially finds himself in this situation. Determined to perform to his maximum potential in the relays he qualified for, he said he may opt to take the 50 free out of his line-up.
“The first day, I’ll probably end up scratching the 50 free because there are two relays on the first day, which are a lot more important than not scoring in an individual event,” Robertson said.
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