Despite what coaches considered a lack of mental discipline, the Virginia men's and women's swimming and diving teams swept Kentucky in Charlottesville over the weekend.
The men's team defeated the Wildcats 165-125, while the women's 172 points trumped the opposition's 110.
"The coaches definitely feel that the Kentucky meet was not the greatest showing of our mental and physical toughness at this point in the season," junior Elizabeth Shaw said. "But after some motivational words from Mark in our mid-meet meeting, I think they were more pleased with the second half of the meet in terms of our enthusiasm and racing."
To refocus his athletes, coach Mark Bernardino emphasized the importance of unwavering attentiveness to every event from start to finish.
"We talked about concentration and focus, not only during their own race but during their teammate's races," Bernardino said. "You need to be a student of the sport if you're going to be good at a sport, and that was the main thing that I wanted them to focus on."
Maintaining that mindset helped the team during the weekend, and the benefits of being able to preserve such a focus will help the team in the future.
"I wanted them to be better students of the sport so that in the long run it would help them be better athletes," Bernardino said.
Freshman Lauren Perdue took her coach's advice to heart and recorded first-place finishes in the 50-meter, 100 and 200 freestyle.
"We're seeing pretty steady performances [from Lauren]," Bernardino said. "She's been rock-solid steady. There's been no drop-off in her performance whatsoever. What we're looking to do is teach her how to take her training to the next level."
While Perdue's time of 23.06 seconds in the 50 free, 50.30 in the 100, and 1:48.39 in the 200 were impressive, the coaches expect her to shave off even more time as training progresses.
"We think she's going to be capable of quite a bit as time goes on," Bernardino said. "It's just a matter of hoping that it happens at the right time and the team's able to benefit from her performances."
Perdue is not the only freshman whose performance has benefitted the team thus far. Newcomer Christine Olson swept the breaststroke events for the second week in a row, winning the 100 breast and touching first in 2:17.82 to take the 200.
In the 200, Olson was followed by teammates senior Katherine McDonnell and junior Anne Summer Myers, making it a 1-2-3 finish for Virginia.
Myers, meanwhile, added to the Cavaliers' weekend haul with a performance that impressed Bernadino.
"The biggest surprise was how well Anne Summer Myers performed in the 1000 freestyle," Bernardino said. "It was a wonderful early season swim for her. It speaks well to her mental approach to the sport and how she's attacking and trying to make something special happen."
Shaw also turned in solid distance performances at the meet.
"I was happy with my 400 IM for this point in the season," Shaw said.
Her 4:18.85 finish in the exhibition event, coupled with her 2:00.19 victory in the 200 fly, made the meet a positive one for the junior.
On the men's side, junior Matt McLean and sophomore David Karasek had solid swims in the 500 freestyle, finishing in 4:26.48 and 4:36.73, respectively.
McLean's 1:38.09 performance in the 200 freestyle earned him an NCAA B title and marked another first-place finish for him against the Wildcats.
Senior Eric Olesen, senior John Azar, sophomore Peter Geissinger, and junior Scot Robison formed the winning 200 medley relay team, which finished in 1:31.89.
Coming off their relatively easy defeat of the Wildcats, the teams will face their next opponents two weeks from now at Penn State.
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