Virginia Swimmers Receive Atlantic Coast Conference Honors
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April 26, 1999
GREENSBORO, N.C. – University of Virginia swimmer Rebecca Cronk is the Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Swimmer of the Year for 1998-99, while UVa’s Ed Moses is the ACC Men’s Rookie of the Year and the Cavaliers’ Danica Wizniuk is the ACC Women’s Rookie of the Year. In addition, Virginia men’s and women’s head swimming coach Mark Bernardino is the ACC Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year.
Brendon Dedekind of Florida State is the ACC Men’s Swimmer of the Year.
Cronk, a junior from Charlottesville, Va., won both the 50 (22.53) and 100-freestyle (49.49) events at the ACC Championships. She established school and pool records in the 50-freestyle with a time of 22.52 seconds in the preliminaries, and established a meet record in the 100-freestyle. Cronk also swam a leg on the victorious 200-freestyle, 400-freestyle, 200-medley and 400-medley relay teams that established conference, school, meet and pool records.
At the NCAA Championships, Cronk earned All-America honors by finishing seventh in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.69 seconds and honorable mention All-America honors with a 16th place finish in the 100-yard freestyle (50.36). She was also a member of Virginia’s 200-yard medley relay team that finished fifth (1:40.27), 400-yard medley relay team that finished seventh (3:39.69), 400-yard freestyle relay team that finished seventh (3:20.42), 200-yard freestyle relay team that finished tenth (1:32.00) and 800-yard freestyle relay team that finished 13th (7:23.27). The members of the 200-medley relay, 400-medley relay and 400-freestyle relay teams all earned All-America honors, while the members of the 200-freestyle relay and the 800-freestyle relay all earned honorable mention All-America honors. The 200-yard medley relay team established conference and school records.
Moses, a freshman from Burke, Va., won the 200-breaststroke at the ACC Championships in a meet, conference and school-record time of 1:57.37. He also established a school record with a time of 53.55 seconds while finishing second in the 100-breaststroke at the ACC Championships.
At the NCAA Championships, Moses earned All-America honors by finishing second in both the 100-yard (53.50 seconds) and 200-yard breaststroke (1:57.06). His time of 1:57.06 in the 200-yard breaststroke established school and conference records, and his time of 53.50 seconds in the 100-yard breaststroke is a school record. He also earned All-America honors as a member of the Cavaliers’ 400-yard medley relay team that finished eighth and broke the school-record with a time of 3:14.42.
Wizniuk, a freshman from Alberta, Canada, was the Most Valuable Swimmer at the ACC Women’s Championship Meet after establishing conference, meet, school and pool records while winning both the 100 (1:00.52) and 200-breaststroke (2:11.82) events. She also finished fifth in the 200-individual medley, and swam legs on Virginia’s victorious 400-medley relay and 200-medley relay teams. The 400 and 200-medley relay teams established conference, meet, school and pool records.
At the NCAA Championships, she earned All-America honors with a second place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke in a school and conference-record time of 1:00.45 and honorable mention All-America honors with an 11th place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:12.59). She also earned All-America honors for her participation on Virginia’s 200 and 400-yard medley relay teams. The 200-medley relay team finished fifth (1:40.27) and the 400-medley relay team finished seventh (3:39.69). The 200-yard medley relay team established conference and school records.
Bernardino earned ACC Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year honors for the eighth time and conference Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year honors for the sixth time in his 21 years as Virginia’s head coach. The UVa men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both won ACC Championships in 1999. The Virginia women’s team finished 10th at the NCAA Championships and the men’s team finished 14th. The Cavaliers women’s team has compiled an overall record of 151-57-1 (.725) under Bernardino’s guidance and the men’s team has compiled an overall record of 135-79 (.631).
Six Virginia men and nine UVa women earned All-ACC honors in 1999. The men swimmers included Doak Finch, Jamie Grimes, Shamek Pietucha, Austin Ramirez, Michael Renshaw and Moses. The women swimmers included Emily Carrig, Kori Forster, Julie Gehm, Meghan Iffland, Meg McCubbins, Megan Roesch, Emily Trakas, Cronk and Wizniuk.
Pietucha, a senior from Alberta, Canada, became the first UVa men’s swimmer to win a national championship when he won the 200-yard butterfly in a school and conference-record time of 1:43.50 at the NCAA Championships. He was one of four Virginia men to earn first-team All-America honors. The others were Finch, Moses and Ramirez. Grimes earned honorable mention All-America honors.
Seven UVa women earned first-team All-America honors, including Cronk, Forster, Iffland, McCubbins, Roesch, Trakas and Wizniuk. Gehm and Kate Slonaker earned honorable mention All-America honors.