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Sophomore Matt McLean helped the Virginia men win their 10th Atlantic Coast Conference title in the last 11 years and now is looking towards a strong showing at the NCAA Championships, set for March 26-28 in College Station, Texas. McLean is one of seven Cavaliers who have already punched their ticket to NCAAs and the remainder of the field will be selected later this week. McLean recently sat down with VirginiaSports.com to talk about winning his second consecutive most valuable swimmer award at the ACC meet, how he got started swimming and what he likes to do for fun.
Question: What was the feeling of winning ACCs for the second straight year?
McLean: As a team, we set out a list of goals we want to accomplish each year, and we accomplish a lot of them together. Anytime this many guys get together and achieve something we have wanted to do all year, it is a great feeling.
Question: What about you with three individual wins and being part of the 400 and 800 free relays?
McLean: The relays are awesome, as always. I knew I was going to have to be ready for all of my races, not only for me but also for the guys on the team. With the relay on the last night, I was pretty tired after swimming the mile, but I knew I was going to have to swim well to hold off FSU. I was glad I was able to do that after the mile.
Question: Were you surprised at how strong the team was on the last day?
McLean: That is traditionally where we shine because of our conditioning. As a team, our work really benefits us. We have confidence in our team and in each other. That is what allowed us to do so well on the last day.
Question: What was your favorite moment of the meet?
McLean: The relays are so great. Watching some of the really close relays where we came out of top was awesome. My personal highlight was the mile because there had been some doubt in people’s minds and I just wanted to get out there and swim.
Question: How did it feel to be named the most valuable swimmer at the meet for the second consecutive year?
McLean: It’s always nice when your hard work pays off.
Question: Are you back to work now with only a couple of weeks until the NCAA meet?
McLean: We are putting in lot of work and bumping up the yardage again. This team is capable of doing a lot of great things. We have the best team we have had in a really long time and the program is continuing to progress. We are going to do some great things.
Question: How did you get started swimming?
McLean: I started when I was 10. I did summer league and I liked how competitive it was. There was no subjectivity to the results, like with a lot of sports. The straight competition really appealed to me. I started swimming year-round and it kind of took off from there.
Question: What do you love about it?
McLean: Swimming has done a lot of great things for me. I like the work and the sense of accomplishment. I love swimming.
Question: What is your favorite event to swim?
McLean: I don’t really know. I would probably have to say just distance freestyle in general. I feel like that is where my conditioning is able to shine the most. That is where my mentality is.
Question: What do you like to do for fun when you’re not swimming?
McLean: I started play guitar recently and I love that. A couple of the guys on the team are pretty good and I have just been teaching myself. We do everything together and it’s nice to have guys that are just committed to taking care of their bodies as I am. I don’t have any problem with playing video games or watching movies on a Friday or Saturday night.
Question: Why did you choose to come to UVa?
McLean: I liked the attitude towards swimming. The way they look at training, what they get out of training and they had a tradition of excellence in the distance freestyle events. That was all appealing to someone like me. Mark (Bernardino) made it clear that if you come here you are going to work. That is probably what did it for me.