The Virginia men's and women's swim and dive teams welcome Big Ten foes Indiana and Penn State to Charlottesville this weekend for a two-day meet. Both the men and women will be looking to continue their strong start to the season with a victory against two opponents that could contend for the Big Ten Championship.
On the women's side, Indiana won last season's Big Ten meet while Penn State placed seventh. As for the men, Indiana placed fifth, two places ahead of Penn State. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers, who have championship aspirations of their own in the ACC, have opened the season with impressive performances in three meets against Florida, Navy, and Princeton and Virginia Tech, respectively.
After compressing last week's showdown against Princeton and Virginia Tech into one-and-a-half days despite a format normally stretched across three days, the Cavaliers returned to a rigorous week of training. Rather than rest his swimmers to prepare for the meet, Virginia coach Mark Bernardino chose to challenge the early-season fitness level of his team.
"Obviously we'll be a bit concerned about soreness and muscle fatigue, but it is what it is," he said. "It's important for our athletes to swim through the training whether it's in the weight room, or whether it's in the water, or whether it's on dry land. We have to work through that and swim well regardless of the stresses of training."
How the team responds to the physical grind will heavily influence its performance this weekend.
"You have to get in there and say, 'It doesn't matter how tired I am. That's not going to affect how I'm going to race. I'm here for my team and I want to have good times,' and that definitely keeps me going," senior Kristen Moores said.
Against Indiana, the Cavaliers, Bernardino said, will face a team that has inserted a slew of young talent into its lineup to place itself among the top teams in the country.
"Indiana has a very, very large class of athletes that they redshirted last year in preparation for a big year this year," Bernardino said. "They've strategically redshirted some athletes to put themselves in a position to not only contend for the Big Ten Championship but also to potentially be one of the top teams at the NCAA Championships, as well."
With regard to Penn State, Bernardino added that the Cavaliers and Nittany Lions "enjoy competing against each other. It's been a really outstanding rivalry, one of the better swimming rivalries in a positive sense on the East Coast probably for the last 10 to 15 years."
The Cavalier women will face a strong set of individual competitors, including Penn State sophomore Amy Modglin and Indiana junior Allysa Vavra. Modglin was recently selected to represent the United States at the 2011 World University Games against student-athletes between the ages of 17 and 28 from around the globe. Vavra was the only individual winner for the Hoosiers in their meet earlier this season against Michigan and Texas, claiming the 200 breaststroke in 2:18.09. Vavra will return to Virginia after transferring from the school midway through her freshman year.
In the men's competition, Indiana's standout athletes include redshirt senior David Piercy, who set a dual meet school record with his performance in the one-meter springboard earlier this season. Penn State is led by juniors Brian Alden and Mitch Scherer, who combined to win five events in a meet against Virginia Tech in October.
The Cavaliers will counter with plenty of talent of their own, as senior Matt McLean and sophomore Lauren Perdue were recognized as ACC Performers of the Week Tuesday.
"I'm just kind of taking it all in as a [senior] and seeing what I can leave in the pool," Moores said.
Competition begins at 6 p.m. tonight and 11 a.m. tomorrow at the Aquatic & Fitness Center.
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