Virginia Swimming Signs Seven Men to National Letters of Intent

Story Links

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia head swimming coach Mark Bernardino announced the signing of seven men to National Letters of Intent to join the swimming and diving program next fall.

Jonathan Buerger (Wexford, Pa.), Parker Camp (Brentwood, Tenn.), Jon Daniec (Mission Viejo, Calif.), Taylor Grey (Williston, Vt.), Nathan Hart (Asheville, N.C.), Brad Phillips (Herndon, Va.) and Patrick Sullivan (Alexandria, Va.) will join the Cavalier men’s team in 2010-11.

“On the men’s side, we did a wonderful job of addressing our middle distance and distance freestyle needs,” Bernardino said. “We brought in a good, young sprinter in Patrick Sullivan, and we feel as though we have a versatile athlete in Nathan Hart. We will continue to recruit aggressively throughout the spring period to make this group an even stronger first-year class.”

SIGNEE TOP TIMES

Jonathan Buerger
Wexford, Pa.
Allegheny North Swim Club (Patrick Wenzel)
Free/IM

Bernardino on Buerger: “Jonathan was UVa’s first verbal commit. He is a talented swimmer who covers a wide range of distances in the freestyle events in an excellent manner. He has also exhibited some talent in the 400 IM and this is an event we are looking to improve depth-wise in the coming season. He is an excellent student, a strong leader and young man of great character and integrity. He has a strong work ethic and fits the UVa mold of distance swimmers. The best is yet to come for Jon and we look for him to challenge our swimmers right away.”

Parker Camp
Brentwood, Tenn.
Nashville Aquatic Club (John Morse)
Free/Back

Bernardino on Camp: “Parker really impressed everyone with his personality, maturity and confidence during his recruiting trip. He is a terrific backstroke swimmer and additionally is a strong freestyler in the middle distance events. Parker has outstanding starts and with improved strength will surprise a lot of folks in the shorter events. We were looking for a backstroker in this class to challenge for the role of leadoff man for our medley relays and to deliver consistent backstroke swims in dual meets and we think we found our guy in Parker. He is a leader and strong student who places great value on his academics and team unity.”

Jon Daniec
Mission Viejo, Calif.
Mission Viejo Nadadores (Bill Rose)
Free/IM

Bernardino on Daniec: “Jon is a very exciting signing for our team and program. He is already a very accomplished distance freestyler and he has been superbly coached by one of the great American coaches of all-time, Bill Rose, out in Mission Viejo, Calif. Jon should immediately be a force to be reckoned with in the distance free events and we look for him to be a fixture at the NCAA Championships during the course of his college career. He will also add depth to our 400 IM corps and will challenge our 200 freestylers for a berth on the 800 free relay. It will be interesting to see him compete in practice everyday with our guys and to further develop his talents. He is a wonderful young man with great heart and toughness.”

Taylor Grey
Williston, Vt.
Green Mountain Aquatics (Laura Matuszak)
Breast/IM

Bernardino on Grey: “Taylor is a very positive addition to our breaststroke unit, as we believe he is going to improve immensely once he is able to devote more time to his specialty stroke and IM training. He is a superb young man with a great desire to improve and the work ethic necessary to push both himself and our current breaststrokers to higher standards. Taylor expects to see significant improvement this winter and spring in his breaststroke times and is adding the 200 IM as a third event to his arsenal. We believe that Taylor has the tools necessary to be an ACC finalist in the coming years.”

Nathan Hart
Asheville, N.C.
YMCA of Western North Carolina (Chris Snyder)
Fly/IM

SCY 100 Fly 50.65 200 Fly
1:49.83 400 IM 4:01.01 LCM 100 Fly 56.35 200 Fly 2:03.56 200 IM 2:06.39 400 IM 4:35.35
Bernardino on Hart: “Nathan was our final fall commitment and an exciting one at that. He is both talented and versatile and will potentially fill areas of our team that are in need of depth, including the butterfly and IM events. Nathan is yet another talented swimmer from North Carolina who has chosen to join us in Charlottesville and we believe with additional strength and competition he will face daily in practice, he will develop rapidly into a very good college swimmer. I like his technique in the water and the fact that he wants to train with athletes who he feels will raise his game. He is a very accomplished student and a really great kid.”

Brad Phillips
Herndon, Va.
Curl Burke Swim Club (John Flanagan)
Free

SCY 200 Free 1:39.29 500 Free 4:25.85 1000 Free
9:09.74 1650 Free 15:32.66 400 IM 3:55.05
Bernardino on Phillips: Brad was our No. 1 in-state prospect and his commitment to our program was critical. We have very high expectations that he will be a very special swimmer during his collegiate years. He has a very strong work ethic and attacks his training with a great deal of vigor and enthusiasm. We see Brad challenging for a top position among ACC distance and middle distance freestylers in the near future. He is a very positive young man who is excited to be a part of our program. It is exciting to realize he has yet to reach full maturation in terms of his strength and endurance. Brad has always been a very strong student and team leader.”

Patrick Sullivan
Alexandria, Va.
Curl Burke Swim Club (Jeff King)
Free

SCY 50 Free 20.43 100 Free
45.65 LCM 50 Free 23.68 100 Free 52.81
Bernardino on Sullivan: “We had the luck of the Irish when we landed Patrick. He was slated to attend UC-Irvine, but that program was cut in late summer of 2009. He really showed terrific development late in his senior year. We foresee him gaining strength, speed and more intense training over the course of the next nine months that he should be able to parlay into some very fast swimming. He should immediately contend for slots on our freestyle sprint relays. Patrick is a quality character guy, a dedicated student and excellent team player.”