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Cavaliers Compete at Navy Friday
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams compete at Navy Friday in the first dual meet of the season. The meet will begin at 4 p.m. at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis, Md.
“We will have our hands full with an excellent Navy men’s team and an excellent Navy women’s team,” Virginia head coach Mark Bernardino said. “We are ready to get the season started, see where we are, measure some things and progress from there. It’s not what happens early in the season that matters most, but it would certainly be nice to get off to a good start.”
Visitors attending the Virginia-Navy meet will need to park outside of the USNA grounds and enter the Academy through the visitors entrance located at Gate One. For more information on visiting the USNA, click here.
The Virginia women are coming off a fifth-place finish at the SMU Classic last weekend. Junior Christine Olson recorded a NCAA ‘B’ time in the 200 breaststroke over the weekend while sophomore Rachel Naurath had solid individual finishes with a second-place performance in the 100 butterfly and a third-place showing in the 200 butterfly.
The Virginia men, competing for the first time this season, return eight swimmers who have NCAA Championship experience under their belts.
“We have put in an extremely high amount of work, probably the most in the month of September and early October in the last decade,” Bernardino said. “Whether that work is positive or not, I can’t say for sure. We haven’t done a whole lot of speed work; we’re not super prepared from that perspective. But aerobically this team is very fit and physically they are ready to go.”
The two Navy teams picked up victories last week over UMBC. The Mids combined to win 23 of 32 events on the day as the men posted a 157-132 win over the Retrievers and the women won a 150-144 decision. The victories allowed the Navy men’s squad to remain undefeated through three meets this year and the women’s team to improve to 2-1 on the young season.
Last year in Charlottesville, the Virginia men earned a 156-136 win over the Mids. The women have not competed against Navy since 2009, when the Cavaliers came away with a 160-128 victory in Annapolis.