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by Katharine Palmer, Athletics Media Relations
Meet the old boss, same as the new boss. It is a well-know lyric from The Who song “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” It also served as the slogan a recurring theme for the 2007-08 Virginia men’s swimming and diving team.
You see, after an unprecedented school record of eight consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference championships, the Cavalier streak was snapped in 2007 when Florida State went on to claim its first league title.
In 2008, the UVa men would return to glory. And it wasn’t even close.
The Cavaliers finished with 833 points a 273-point margin of victory over second-place North Carolina, which had edged UVa in a dual meet earlier in the year.
Virginia took the first two events on the opening night of the championships in record-setting fashion. The 200 medley relay team of Bryan Stahl, PJ Sullivan, Lee Robertson and Scot Robison broke the school record in the event and won the event in 1:27.11.
“For me the highlight of it all was that first race,” Robertson said.
“As soon as Scotty (Robison) touched at the end of that relay, I knew it was going to be a special day,” added Sullivan. “We were maybe favored to get to the podium at best in that event, and then to win it was unbelievable. Right there I knew nothing could stop us.”
In the second and final race on the meet’s opening night, the Cavaliers set a conference and meet record and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. John Azar, Robison, Darren Ankosko and Matt McLean claimed first-place honors with a time of 6:22.93, breaking the 15-year old conference record set by North Carolina in 1993.
McLean, a first-year from Sterling, Va., went on to win with 200 and 500 freestyle events and also helped the 400 medley relay and 400 free relay (in addition to the 800 free relay) squads to ACC wins. Following the conclusion of the meet, McLean was tabbed the event’s most valuable swimmer after a vote of the head coaches.
“I don’t even know how to describe it,” McLean said of the award. “It was truly an honor but I couldn’t have done it with out my team.”
With the Cavalier women claiming the conference crown a week earlier, it was the fifth time in school history both programs have brought home the trophy in the same year.
“We train with the women all year and when they go to their meet and really swim out of their minds, knowing we have gone through the same training, is a nice feeling and a confidence-booster,” Sullivan said. “And it also gave us some motivation.”
Sullivan swam his final conference championship meet for Virginia and came home with the 200 breast title and placed second in the 100 breast. Sullivan also was a member of the winning 200 and 400 medley relay teams.
Reams won the 200 butterfly while third-year Bjorn Falk claimed the 200 back and second-year John Azar earned first-place honors in the 200 individual medley. In total, Virginia came home with 21 All-ACC performances.
“We celebrated on the plane ride back, took a day off, and got right back to work,” Reams said.