Virginia Women's 1999-2000 Swimming And Diving Preview
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Oct. 29, 1999
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The 1999-00 women’s swimming team has the talent and determinationto win its third consecutive ACC title. Ranked 11th in the College SwimmingCoaches Association of America Preseason Poll, the Cavaliers returns eightAll-Americans and the 1999 ACC Coach of the Year in Mark Bernardino to tryto make Virginia swimming history.
“This current group of seniors has the potential to be recognizedas the greatest group of seniors that Virginia women’s swimming has everhad,” said Bernardino. The competition for that title is the 1987-1990group which had two top-11 NCAA finishes and one ACC crown. With two ACCtitles and a 10th place finish at NCAAs last season “this team has theopportunity to supercede all the accomplishments of that team,” saidBernardino. “They want to be viewed as the best class ever.”
The team captains for this season are Emily Carrig, Rebecca Cronkand Emily Trakas. The three captains, and their five senior classmates,will capably lead a talented class of 12 first years.
In order for this group of seniors to be viewed as the best classever, they will have to overcome a difficult schedule that includes fiveteams that scored points in the 1999 NCAA meet, starting with their firstmeet against Clemson. Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Villanova and Marylandare last year’s NCAA scorers who follow on the schedule. Winning a thirdconsecutive ACC Championship will be a tough task as “the ACC is betterthis year as a women’s swimming league than it was a year ago,” saidBernardino. “North Carolina, Clemson, Maryland and Florida State are allmuch improved ACC opponents this season.”
“As much as it will take to repeat as ACC Champions, it will takeeven more to go to NCAAs and be a top-10 team again,” said Bernardino.”Diligence, hard work and mental tenacity will be critical if this team isto take the next step at NCAAs.”
FREESTYLE
Bernardino describes Virginia’s sprint freestyle group as “theheart and the soul of our team the past four years.” Six current Virginiaswimmers hold times in the all-time top-10 for the 50 free and five holdtop-10 times in the 100 free. The sprint corps dominated the field at theACC Championships last season with four finalists in the 50 free and threefinalists in the 100 free.
Among the key sprinters is Cronk, “one of the premier sprinters inthe United States” according to Bernardino. The 1999 ACC Swimmer of theYear and returning ACC Champion in both the 50 free and the 100 free, sheholds the school record in the 50 free and finished seventh in that eventat NCAAs last season. Cronk’s victory in the 100 free at the ACC meetmarked the first time a UVa woman had ever won the ACC title in that event.She was an honorable mention All-American in the 100 free at NCAAs lastseason and holds the second fastest time ever at Virginia.
Joining Cronk at the top of the sprint corps is Meg McCubbins. Atthe ACCs, she placed third in the 50 free and second in the 100 free. EmilyTrakas, coming off a fourth place finish in the 100 free at the ACCs lastseason, is “destined for wonderful things this year, especially in the 100free,” said Bernardino.
Julie Gehm returns following an outstanding junior season in whichshe was an ACC finalist in the 50 free, placing fifth, and a consolationfinalist in the 100 free, placing 13th. Gehm has “gone from one of theleast heralded athletes as a first year to one of our great sprinters,”said Bernardino. “I know she is very motivated to put a really beautifulfinishing touch on her career.”
Also returning is Megan Iffland, an ACC consolation finalist in the50 free last season. She had the greatest time drops of any sprinter at theNCAA Championships and “is going to surprise a lot of people in the 50freestyle,” said Bernardino. Megan Roesch set top-10 times in the 50, 100and 200 free events last season and Kate Slonaker also will compete in thesprint free events.
Newcomers Lindsey Crane, Lisa Favreau, Kristen Knudson and AbbyParker “add more depth and talent to an already deep and talented sprintfreestyle corps,” said Bernardino.
In the middle distance freestyle events, the Cavaliers are “almostequally as deep and equally as rich in character, in toughness and inaccomplishment as they are in the sprint corps,” he said. The team uses acombination of sprint freestylers and distance freestylers who can adjustfor middle distance.
Many sprinters, including Cronk, McCubbins, and Trakas, will helpout in the middle distance freestyle events. “All of them swim the middledistance events very well,” said Bernardino. “We are very deep in the 50,100, and 200 free.” Trakas was runner-up in the 200 free at ACCs lastseason.
Emily Carrig returns as a two-time ACC Champion in the 500 free anda three-time finalist in the 200 free at ACCs. She ranks second all-time inschool history in the 200 free, and fifth in both the 500 free and 1000free.
Laura Sullivan was a finalist in both the 200 free and 500 free atthe ACCs. Sharon Riedlinger and Roesch scored in the 500 free and 200 free,respectively, at the ACC meet. “I look for Roesch to have the biggestbreakthrough of any of the women in the 200 freestyle this year,” saidBernardino.
Newcomers Cara Lane and Mirjana Bosevska were two of the top middledistance freestylers coming out of high school this year. Favreau will alsocontribute in the middle distance. These three provide “a beautiful blendof youth to push the veterans,” Bernardino said.
Virginia’s freestyle excellence continues in the distance events.Sullivan, Riedlinger, and Carrig are all outstanding at swimming distancefree. Riedlinger and Sullivan finished third and fifth in the 1650 free,respectively, at the ACC Championships.
Lane and Bosevska should challenge for the ACC and NCAA titles inthe 1650 free. This summer Lane won the gold medal in the 1500-meter freeat the World University Games. Ali Rubert and Katey Danforth round out thetalented group of distance free newcomers.
“Top to bottom, I don’t know whether there will be another schoolin the country that has as strong a corps of milers as UVa will this year,”said Bernardino. “It’s our goal that when all is said and done thisseason to be able to say to this group, ‘You are the single best distancefreestyle group in the NCAA.'”Backstroke
In the backstroke event, Virginia suffers from the loss of JenniferNapier to graduation. An excellent team leader and a consolation finalistin both back events, she will be sorely missed.
Fortunately, Virginia returns “one of the premier backstrokers inthe ACC in Megan Iffland,” said Bernardino. Last season, she set the schoolrecord in the 100 back and earned honorable mention All-America honors inthat event. She also owns the second fastest 200 back time in UVa history.
Among the returning swimmers who will compete at backstroke isRoesch, who can swim both events, McCubbins in the 100 and Riedlinger inthe 200.
Newcomers Knudson and Bosevska will certainly see action in thebackstroke. Knudson is a strong sprint backstroker and Bosevska owns a timein the 200 back that would rank fourth on Virginia’s top-10 list.
BREASTSTROKE
Danica Wizniuk set UVa and ACC records in both breaststroke eventslast season. She was ACC Champion in both breast events, named ACC Rookieof the Year and ACC Meet Most Valuable Swimmer. Wizniuk finished herfreshman season by earning All-America honors at the NCAA meet with asecond place finish in the 100 breast. She also placed 11th in the 200breast, earning honorable mention All-America honors. Unfortunately for theCavaliers, Wizniuk has decided to take a year off from school to trainfull-time for the Canadian Olympic team. She will return for the 2000-01academic year.
Kate Slonaker is ready to take over as the team’s number onebreaststroker. Also a freshman last season, she holds the second fastesttime at Virginia in the 100 breast and the third best in the 200 breast.She placed third in both events at the ACCs and was an honorable mentionAll-American with a 14th place finish in the 100 breast at NCAAs. “We arevery fortunate that Kate Slonaker developed as a talented and giftedbreaststroker,” said Bernardino, “And her best swimming is yet to come.”
Also returning for the Cavs is Kori Forster, the ACC Champion inthe 100 breast two years ago and a consolation finalist last season. Shehas the school’s fourth fastest time in this event. Cronk is a two-time ACCfinalist in the 100 breast and ranks 10th all-time in the 100 breast atVirginia.
Monica Nista competed in both breast events at the ACCs and was aconsolation finalist in the 200 breast. “Monica will provide us withcontinued improvement and depth,” said Bernardino. Sophomore CaitlynAnderson “could have a real breakthrough season in the breaststrokeevents,” he continued. Newcomer Annie Gill will provide added depth in thebreaststroke.
“We’re confident that we have a solid group of women who cancontinue to provide us with necessary depth in the dual meets and in theconference championship,” said Bernardino about his breaststroke corps.
BUTTERFLY
Virginia lost Val Zammitti, one of the strongest butterflyers inthe ACC over the past four seasons, to graduation. She was ACC Champion inthe 200 fly in 1996 and a four-year finalist in the 100 fly. Despite theloss of Zammitti, the butterfly should continue to be a strong event forthe Cavaliers. “Our butterfly corps looks to be better this year than ithas been in a long time,” said Bernardino. “We are extremely excited aboutthe depth, the talent and the potential of this group.”
In the sprint fly, “McCubbins, Forster and Cronk are the top threereturning 100 butterfly athletes in the conference,” said Bernardino.McCubbins and Forster finished first and second, respectively, at the ACCChampionships last season while Cronk placed ninth. McCubbins owns thesecond fastest time in Virginia history in the 100 fly while Forster holdsthird place and Cronk ranks sixth. “We couldn’t ask for better sprintflyers than those three,” concluded Bernardino.
Also returning in the 100 fly is Julie Gehm who “adds more powerand more depth to the event,” according to Bernardino.
In the distance fly, Virginia is led by Carrig who won ACC titlesin the 200 fly in 1997 and 1998 before placing second last season. Sheholds the all-time Virginia record in the 200 fly, in addition to her twoACC titles, and has the eighth best time at Virginia in the 100 fly.
Sullivan competed in the 200 fly for the first time as a juniorlast season and “she has made tremendous improvement,” said Bernardino.”We’re very excited about the technical aspects of her stroke and herendurance.” Despite her inexperience, Sullivan recorded the fifth fastesttime ever at Virginia.
A talented group of newcomers adds incredible depth to theCavaliers powerful butterfly corps. Lane and Bosevska “are emergingbutterfly stars,” said Bernardino. Danielle Bertrand and Abby Parker roundout the strong first year class.
Overall, Virginia has “a magnificent corps of both sprint anddistance butterflyers,” said Bernardino. “We have the opportunity to be oneof the premier butterfly schools in the country.”
INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
Last season, the I.M. events were among the weakest for Virginia,particularly during the dual meet season. Bernardino hopes to see markedimprovement in the I.M. events this year.
Slonaker was an ACC finalist in the 200 I.M. last season andrecorded the sixth-best time in Virginia history in that event. Forster isanother outstanding 200 I.M. swimmer, having been an ACC finalist in 1997.She holds the seventh fastest 200 I.M. time at Virginia.
“Emily Carrig provided us with a lot of great swims during the dualmeet season,” said Bernardino. “Monica Nista developed in the 200 I.M.,” headded.
Bosevska was one of the top five high school I.M. swimmers in thecountry last year. “She’s going to be a major contributor in the 200 I.M.for us, predicted Bernardino. Anderson and newcomer Danforth will providedepth in the 200 I.M.
In the 400 I.M., Virginia relies on Reidlinger. She was aconference consolation finalist last year. Nista finished 14th at the ACCmeet, one spot behind Riedlinger. Anderson will also contribute in the 400I.M.
Bosevska finished 15th in the 400-meter I.M. at the 1998 WorldChampionships and “should be one of the premier 400 I.M. swimmers in theNCAA this season. Lane, who scored in the 400 I.M. at U.S. Nationals, andDanforth provide additional firepower from the first year class.
“We’re definitely making positive steps forward with our I.M.swimmers,” Bernardino said.
DIVING
Traditionally one of the powers in ACC diving, Virginia has hadconference champions in five of the past six seasons. Third-year CourtneyColbert is back to help try to extend that string of dominance. Lastseason, she was a finalist on both boards at the ACCs and qualified for theNCAA Zone Championship. Diving coach Dave Fafara said he is “looking forher to take charge of the diving corps.”
Second-year Nicole Triden “had a great summer of training,”according to Fafara. He advises to “look for her to score some points atACCs and duel meets this year.”
Allison Sharp is one of the top divers coming out of high school,having been a Junior National qualifier and a High School All-American.”She has the opportunity to win both boards at ACCs,” said Fafara.
RELAYS
The relay events provide teams with the opportunity to scorecrucial points in championship meets. With this in mind, four years agoBernardino challenged the current group of seniors to become the best relayswimmers in Virginia history. “They took it to heart and relays haveremained the focus for this group over the four years, said Bernardino.
The commitment to the relays paid off last season as each relayteam earned All-American honors and the Cavs set three conference records.With the three records set last year, UVa now holds the conference recordin all five relay events.
Last season, Carrig, Cronk, Gehm, Iffland, McCubbins, Roesch,Sullivan and Trakas all swam on the freestyle relay teams. The 200 and 400free relays set ACC records last season and are led by McCubbins whomBernardino calls “one of the greatest anchor leg swimmers in the country,”adding “she gives those relays a feeling of security.”
Last year, both medley relay teams earned first-team All-Americahonors and broke the ACC record. The 200 medley relay All-American teamincluded Iffland, Wizniuk, Forster and Cronk and finished fifth at NCAAs.The 400 medley relay All-American team swapped McCubbins for Forster andfinished seventh at NCAAs. Slonaker looks to replace Wizniuk on the breastleg of the medley relays and may prove to be better based on the strengthof her relay takeovers.
“We built this program around relays,” said Bernardino. “We’re veryconfident we can have very successful relays at the conference and NCAAlevels.”