2010-2011 College Previews: No. 9 Virginia Women Among Most Complete Teams in the Nation

Over the next few weeks, as the Long Course season closes out, new freshman are arriving on campus, and fans everywhere ramp up for another exciting NCAA Season, we will be running a team-by-team preview of the upcoming NCAA season. Starting with the no.12 teams and finishing with the defending National Championships (Texas men and Florida women) we will work our way down the top finishers from last year’s NCAAs and will also jump into some rising teams that we expect to break into the top tier this season. Click here to see the other women’s previews, and click here to see all of the previews, Men’s and Women’s.

Key Losses: Mei Christensen (29 NCAA points, 4 NCAA Relays), Jenna Harris (1 NCAA Relay), Jen Narum (1 NCAA Relay), Katherine McDonnell (2 NCAA Relays)

Key Additions: Rachel Naurath (freestyle), Emily Lloyd (sprint free), Caroline Kenney (sprint free, back), Hillary Petersen (distance free, IM), Riley Flanagan (back/fly), Dana Nessler (sprint free), Jane Munro (sprint back, sprint free)

2010-2011 Championship Recap: The Virginia Cavaliers were the ACC-Champions for the third straight year, and finished 9^th at the NCAA Championships in 2010. The 9^th place finish left them only 2 points behind 8^th place Auburn, who they would have passed easily were it not for the DQ of the Cavalier 200 medley relay in the A final.

Virginia sent one of the nation’s biggest squads to the NCAA Championships, with 16 total swimmers entered into the meet. Last year’s Virginia squad had virtually no weaknesses, with a solid NCAA qualifier and a threat to score in every single event, save the 100 fly.

This was a historical season for the Cavaliers. This was the first time they had ever won 3-straight NCAA Championships, and the 5-strong graduating class was the first in school history to graduate with 3 conference titles. Their 9^th place finish at NCAA’s was their highest since taking 7^th 1988; improving off of their 12^th place mark last year. Lauren Perdue won 3 individual All-American awards; making her the first Virginia woman to do so since 2003. The awards and accolades were the longest list this team has scored in a long while.

Passing the Baton: This season was a remarkable one for Virginia for more reasons than just their high finish, however, as it marked a transition from one star class to the next star class.

The 5 members of the senior class, 4 of whom were NCAA qualifiers, were likely the most successful in school history. When they arrived on campus, the Virginia program was at a low point. In their first season, the team finished in a disappointing 39^th place. Their finishes gradually improved as the years went on, as they improved to 20^th place as sophomores, 12^th as juniors, and culminating with their 9^th place finish last year.

The leader of this group, without a doubt, was Mei Christensen. Christensen leaves Virginia on the top-10 lists for 6 different individual events, individual school records in both backstrokes, and as a member of 4 school-record relays. Her contribution to this team over the last 4 years is immeasurable. She was the 2009 ACC Swimmer of the Year as a junior. As a senior, she placed 4^th in the 100 backstroke and 5^th in the 200 backstroke at NCAAs.

Freshman of the Year: But just as Christensen and the stellar senior class were moving on, a new future for this team emerged in the form of Lauren Perdue. Perdue was CollegeSwimming.com’s 5^th-ranked freshman recruit in 2009, and she has certainly lived up to that hype. She was the 2010 ACC Swimmer of the Year, and we named her co-winner of the 2010 NCAA Freshman of the Year.

Purdue holds school records in the 50, 100 and 200 frees, and the ACC record in the 200. At NCAA’s, she was 5^th in the 50, 8^th in the 200, and 14^th in the 100,s coring 28 individual points. In the next 3 years at Virginia, Perdue will have a bigger impact on her team than any other swimmer in the nation from the class of 2013.

Talented Sophmore Class: But this is not to say the Perdue will be going it alone. In her class alone she will be joined by talented breaststroker Christine Olson, who was 15^th in the 200 last year at NCAA’s, as well as the aptly name Meredith Cavalier, who was 27^th in the 100 backstroke and will be expecting to score this year. Lauren Smart, a junior, will slide into Mei Christensen’s backstroke role in 2010. She was 8^th in the 100 in 2010 (52.64) at NCAA’s, but is also an elite sprint butterflier. As the butterflier of Virginia’s medley relays—she didn’t swim any individual fly–Smart split a 52 in the 400 medley, and tied Elaine Breeden of Stanford for the fastest morning split in the 200 medley (23.03) before earning a DQ for leaving early in the A-final. (editor’s note: after press time, it was revealed that Smart would be transferring to Arizona.)

Senior Leadership: This team’s senior leadership will come from team-captain Claire Crippen, who is one of the best 400 IM’ers in ACC history. She has participated in the NCAA Championships in all 3 years at Virginia, earning honorable-mention All-American status in all 3 trips, and is a two-time defending conference champ in the 400 IM. She is a member of the famed Crippen brood and has three siblings who are US National Team members: Maddy, Teresa, and Fran. Teresa, who swims at Florida, was the runner-up in the 400 IM at NCAA’s last year, third in the 200 back, and 5^th in the 200 fly.

Making the B-final in the 400 IM at NCAA’s as a freshman is a huge feat, given the physically demanding nature of the event, and that shows the sort of potential she has. Although many would expect her to have moved higher in the ranks by this point, her 10^th place finish in 2010 was a career high for her. I don’t think anything short of devastating injury will keep Crippen out of the A-final, and big points, this season.

Experience and Balance to Go With Youth: Overall, Virginia returns 12 out of their 16 NCAA swimmers last year, making them one of the most well-balanced and experienced squads in the country headed into next season.

Reloading: As good as last year’s class was, this year’s class might be even better. The hallmark of the group is Rachel Naurath (VA), who is scary good. At the NCSA Junior Nationals In March, Naurath won every freestyle distance over 50 yards, along with the 200 fly, a 5^th place in the 400 IM, and a 14^th place in the 50. It is amazing for such a young swimmer to perform so well with such a huge meet schedule. She has a personal best of 49.7 in the 100, 4:44.5 in the 500, and 16:10 in the mile. That mile mark is already good enough to place in the top 16 at NCAA’s, as is her 1:56.8 200 fly.

But if Naurath’s 23.51 in textile 50 free doesn’t do it for you, check out Emily Lloyd (MD) and her 22.81. Lloyd matches Naurath’s 49.7 in the 100 free, and marks the second consecutive year that Virginia has brought in the nation’s top sprinter.

Virginia also brings in another great sprinter in Caroline Kenney from the Swim Atlanta club that also produced superstars like Kathleen Hersey from Texas. As a senior, in textile, she rocked 23.3/50.2/1:49.2 in the freestyle distances. She should immediately be a contender, with Naurath, for a spot on the 800 free relay, in addition to being a strong future contender for the other relays.

Kenney will also be instrumental in what will be a team effort to replace Mei Christensen. At short-course Nationals in December, she went a 56.35 in the 100 back and a 1:57.83 in the 200. Neither of those times is going to win her any ACC titles immediately, but as a young freshman (she hasn’t swum an official time as an 18-year old yet) they definitely put her in a great position to make big waves in the future.

Yet another backstroker in this class (there are 3, showing how much Christensen meant to this program) coming in is Jane Munro from Illinois. She is the best sprint-backstroker of the group with a career best of 55.4 in the 100, although she isn’t quite as good in the 200. She is also a sub-24 second 50 freestyler.

Migrating North: Head coach Mark Bernadino also nabbed a trio of Florida swimmers, including two stars from Gainesville’s Gator Swim Club: right under the nose of the defending champions.’

One is distance swimmer Hillary Petersen, who is a distance freestyler/IM’er. She has a 9:54 1000, and a 4:52 500, as well as a 4:18 400 IM. Given that Virginia has a reputation for developing swimmers in these specialties—most notably in the Crippen family—she is in excellent hands there.

The other recruit from Gatorland is Riley Flanagan. She is yet another backstroke/butterfly swimmer that Bernadino loves; following in the footsteps of the aforementioned Christensen. Her backstroke bests as a senior are 55.5/2:00.1 and her fly bests are 55.2/2:02. She should qualify for NCAA’s in the 100’s as a freshman, but has a little work to get there in the 200’s.

The other Florida recruit is a pure sprinter in Dana Nessler. She goes a 23.4 50 free, but even when stretched to the 100 her times slip back towards a more pedestrian (for a top 10 team) 51.9.

Erasing Weaknesses: The only real weakness for this program last year, and coming into this year, was the diving program. But Virginia brought in 3 divers this season, which diving coach Rich MacDonald says might be the biggest group they’ve ever brought in, and they’re 3 good ones.

Start off with Alex Leinroth, a 3-time Connecticut State Champion. Leinroth was the 2008 USA-Diving Age Group National Champ on the 3-meter, and has an endless list of big-meet experience. She also comes in with a lot of platform experience, which is usually a weak spot for divers coming out of high school.

Next they added Kelly Lloyd, who was the Virginia State Runner-Up in 2009, and is a USA Diving Senior Zone Qualifier.

And finally, they bring in another Virginia native Carlin Teetlebach, who is a 2-time State Finalist. While Teetlebach doesn’t have the same National resume as the other two divers, she is still very good and makes this a very complete class, being that she was her high school Valedictorian. The drive that it takes to be so outstanding academically will surely help push herself and her teammates to great accomplishments.

This is the type of diving class that Virginia needs to continue to move up the national ranks.

Prognosis: The Virginia women are one of the most complete, if not the most complete, teams in the nation. They have made a huge move to beef up the diving program, which has hurt them in the past. There is no doubt that they will make it a 4^th straight ACC-Championship, and I would expect them to move up another few pegs in the National Ranks, finishing around 6^th. More significantly, they bring in their second-straight incredible recruiting class, and are built to win relays. Mark it down: on the collective backs of Naurath, Lloyd and Perdue, the Cavaliers will be National Championship contenders in 2012 and 2013.