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Feb. 23, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The ninth-ranked University of Virginia men’sswimming and diving team begins competition in the 47th annual Men’sAtlantic Coast Conference Swimming and Diving Championship on Thursday,February 24 at Koury Natatorium on the campus of the University of NorthCarolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. The ACC Championship runs through Saturday,February 26. The Cavaliers are the defending champions and are seekingtheir fourth ACC title overall.
Virginia, under the direction of 22nd-year head coach Mark Bernardino, iscurrently ranked ninth in the College Swimming Coaches Association ofAmerica (CSCAA) Top 25 Poll released on February 10. The Cavaliers are oneof four ranked ACC teams. Host North Carolina, N.C. State and FloridaState are ranked 21st, 22nd and 23rd, respectively, in the CSCAA Poll. UVafinished the 1999-2000 dual meet season with a 7-1 overall record and a 4-1mark in the ACC. Virginia’s only dual meet loss was at Clemson, 136-107,on October 30.
Virginia holds the top 1999-2000 season times among the eight ACC teams ineight individual and two relay events heading into the ACC Championship.The Cavaliers won seven ACC titles in the 1999 ACC Championship and returnthree of the four swimmers who garnered those titles.
Virginia fourth-year distance freestyler Austin Ramirez (Brookfield,Wisc./Brookfield Central) will attempt to become just the second swimmer tobe a four-time ACC champion in two events. He is the three-time defendingchampion in the 500 and 1650 freestyle events. The only other swimmer toaccomplish the feat is UVa’s Andy Wren, who won the 100 and 200 butterflyevents from 1980 through 1983. This season, Ramirez holds the top ACC timein the 500 free (4:26.97) and ranks third in the 1650 free (15:35.32).
Classmate Doak Finch (Southern Pines, N.C./O’Neal) is the three-timedefending champion in the 400 individual medley. Ramirez and Finch areattempting to become the 13th and 14th four-time ACC champions. UNC juniorDave Slawinski holds the ACC’s top time in the 400 IM this season at3:53.04, 41 hundredths of a second faster than Finch’s best effort in1999-2000 (3:53.45). Finch also holds the top ACC times in the 100 and 200butterfly at 48.59 and 1:45.61, respectively.
The Cavaliers’ third returning ACC champion is second-year Ed Moses (Burke,Va./Lake Braddock), the 1999 ACC Rookie of the Year. Moses won the 200breaststroke in 1999 with an ACC Meet record time of 1:57.37. This season,Moses has set Virginia and Atlantic Coast Conference records in the 200breast with a time of 1:55.91. His time is nearly four seconds faster thanhis nearest ACC competitor. Moses also set the Virginia school record inthe 100 breast with a time of 53.21 seconds. His time in the 100 breast ismore than 2.7 seconds faster than anyone else has swam in the ACC. Moses,who holds the top times in the NCAA in both breaststroke this season, islooking to break the conference (53.16) and ACC Meet (53.24) records set byFlorida State’s Brendon Dedekind.
In addition to Ramirez in the distance freestyle events, the ‘Hoos alsofeature third-year Jamie Grimes (Olney, Md./Sherwood School) and first-yearDan DeMarco (Great Neck, N.Y./Great Neck South). Grimes holds the top ACCtime in the 1650 free (15:21.39), while DeMarco ranks second (15:30.28).First-year Guy Yimsomruay (Bangkok, Thailand/Germantown) is the top-rankedperformer in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:47.96. He has also postedthe third-best time on the 400 IM (3:57.28). The Cavaliers will look tothird-year Troy Johnson (St. George, Utah/Dixie) to lead the team in thesprint freestyle events. He has the second best time in the 100 free(45.35) and third fastest in the 200 free (1:40.04).
UVa holds the fastest conference time in both the 800 free relay and the400 medley relay. The Cavaliers’ best time in the 800 free relay is6:43.58, and have touched in an ACC best 3:16.49 in the 400 medley relay.Virginia is also the second ranked team in the 200 medley relay (1:30.04),behind N.C. State (1:29.83).