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The Virginia Cavalier men are getting a big distance boost next year, as high school junior Dillon Wright announced his verbal commitment to the Cavaliers. Wright swims for the Sandpipers of Nevada, a team known primarily for its distance success lately, especially on the girls side.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CplDcrsPCAB/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
I am extremely excited to announce my verbal commitment to the University of Virginia to continue my academic and athletic career. I want to thank God, my parents, my coaches and all my teammates. GO HOOS!
Best Times (SCY)
- 200 free – 1:38.16
- 500 free – 4:21.94
- 1000 free – 9:02.96
- 1650 free – 15:06.66
- 400 IM – 3:48.09
Those times would’ve put Wright in the C-final in the 500, B-final in the 400 IM, and 8th in the 1650 at the 2023 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships last month. That 1650 time would’ve made him the Cavaliers’ top performer in that event at ACCs.
Under longtime head coach Mark Bernadino, UVA was known primarily as a distance-oriented program. That held true to some extent in the early years of the Todd DeSorbo era — Brendan Casey racked up 33 points across the 500 free, 400 IM and 1650 at the 2019 NCAA Championships. But the Cavaliers haven’t had anyone score in the 500 free or the 1650 since then, while the sprint program has taken off.
Wright could be the impetus for a revitalized distance crew. When Wright arrives on campus, he’ll join a distance group that should include current Cavaliers Braeden Haughey, Alex Hotta, and Peter Thompson, along with 2023 recruit Zach Larrick and 2024 recruit David King.
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With Sam O’Brien transferring to UVA for 2 years, they’ll have a decent bench for ACCs, in O’Briens Sr year overlap. Unclear if either is making or scoring at NCAAs.
Surprised there hasn’t been an article yet on O’Brien transferring
What a great fit for the men’s team.
DeSorbo is great for the women’s team, but that doesn’t always transition over to the men’s team. I believe men and women should train separately. They train separately in a lot of other sports.
I agree, although that could be what benefits the women. Too risky of a loss to mess with, they could swim apart like two or three practices a week and that would probably help
huh? Matt King, Matt Brownstead, Lamb, a few others etc etc..all elite level swimmers. All trials high ranking swimmers.
“i believe men and women should train separately.” When your Olympic medalists keep up with and frequently beat some of the guys in practice (and they do), that’s a good thing.
But, you have the right to your opinion.
like I said, that helps the women, can be a little demoralizing to men though. I’ve seen a number of womens teams excel while mens teams failed to improve
UVA men need to step up next year, huge transition year for them
They’ve been getting too much leniency for the talent they have and recruit. Men have been underperforming especially this past year
I’m blanking on the man’s name, but they were without their top 50 freestyler. And somewhat suddenly.
Despite what I just said… I do agree everyone has been somewhat lenient. Same goes for Texas. If Cal had a similar drop as Texas, I don’t think people would be as lenient with them.
Matt King left suddenly. But he is the #2 50 swimmer. Matt Brownstead is the #1 guy and he swam poorly at NCAAs.
Agreed. They had 2 scoring individual swims this year. That just doesn’t cut it.
Desorbo’s success with the women’s team has blinded people to what’s going on on the men’s side
UVA Men’s NCAA Finishes
Four Years Before DeSorbo
2014: Did Not Score
2015: 33
2016: 28
2017: Did Not Score
Last Four NCAAs
2019: 10
2021: 9
2022: 10
2023: 15
Highest UVA Men’s Finish All-Time: 8
Agree. The men have improved quite a bit since he arrived. Didn’t the men break the AR in the 200 FRR 2 years ago.
The women have been so great because they have had 3 of the best 4 swimmers in the NCAA the last few years. All have improved which is a testament to great coaching but I’m curious to see how dominant they are once they lose the Walsh sisters and Douglas.
Also, the men were great when Desorbo was at NCST so it’s not like he can’t coach men.
I think that we often expect there to be this linear explosion from teams. Saw this in the Minakov comments re: “Stanford unraveling” as well. If every piece of news, every NCAA meet, isn’t up up up, it’s easy in swimming to say “it’s a disaster.” Reminds me of Lea Maurer at Stanford (women) when she was getting rocked for getting top 4 finishes every year, because sometimes they missed their taper at NCAAs. Maybe a bit of that with Kim Brackin at Texas too.
Not everyone can win an NCAA title every year. Programs go up and down and rock around. I think you’ve gotta look at a bigger-picture snapshot to evaluate. Both Stanford and Virginia men are better… Read more »
Sometimes people base their expectations on the recruits that schools end up with, better recruits = expectations of better performances. Especially if a school has several Top 20 recruits several years in a row.
Just because they are better now than before doesn’t mean they aren’t underperforming. Having only 2 B final scoring swims when you have a 1:39 backstroke 18.6 50 guy and 50.8 100 breaststroker and a plethora of guys who were ranked in top 20 out of high school
No I agree. Virginia men underperformed this season for sure. Losing Boyle and Matt King hurt a lot, but they should’ve done better.
I just don’t think that one underperforming season should be described as “unraveling.”
Stanford should be top 5 based on reputation, and what that does/has done for recruiting, alone.
We’ve had this discussion before, about marginal returns on top recruits, and it just doesn’t seem like Stanford has the rate of improvement as other top teams. Next year is a big year for a lot of programs.
I agree. But how long should they have to get there? Top 5 on the men’s side is a really tough bar. Four seasons to go from 15th to 5th, given that a lot of that was during COVID, is a really difficult ask.
I also don’t think anything that either of us said means that 8th place at the 2023 NCAA Championships is an “unraveling.”
exactly!