2011 ACC Women's Championship Wrapup

The 2011 ACC Women’s Championships are in the book, and the Virginia Cavaliers have 4-peated as the champions: the first time in the history of the conference that this has happened. This meet was not won on the backs of superstar swimmers. In fact, Virginia only won 4 out of  a possible 16 individual event en route to their victory, showing their incredible depth. This is compared to runners-up North Carolina, who actually took more (5) of the individual events First, let’s check out the final scores and some stats, and then we’ll take a look at some superlatives and hand out some awards.

Team Scores

1. Virginia 776
2. North Carolina 734
3. Florida State 417
4. Maryland 397
5. Virginia Tech 358
6. Miami 349
7. Duke 262.5
8. North Carolina State 159.5
9. Georgia Tech 152
10. Clemson University 151
11. Boston College 60

Conference/Championship Records

800 yard freestyle relay- University of Virginia-7:03.00-ACC Championship and Conference Record (old conference mark 7:04.74 set by Virginia at the 2009 ACC Championships)

500 yard freestyle- Stephanie Peacock, North Carolina-4:36.86-ACC Championship and Conference Record (old conference mark 4:38.72 set by UNC’s Whitney Sprague at the 2009 NCAA Championships)

1 meter diving- Abby Johnston, Duke-361.85-ACC Championship Record (old championship mark 358.25 set by Johnston at 2010 ACC Championships)

200 yard freestyle relay- University of Virginia-1:29.21-ACC Championship Record (old championship mark 1:29.25 set by Virginia at 2010 ACC Championships)

400 yard IM- Claire Crippen-4:07.29-ACC Championship and Conference Record (old conference mark 4:07.66 set by UNC’s Laura Moriarty at 2010 ACC Championships)

100 yard butterfly- Megan Lafferty-52.39-ACC Championship Record (old conference mark 52.48 set by Virginia’s Megan Evo at 2009 ACC Championships)

200 yard freestyle- Lauren Perdue, Virginia-1:43.73-ACC Championship and Conference Record (old conference mark 1:43.86 by Perdue at 2010 ACC Championships)

1650 yard freestyle- Ashley Twichell, Duke-15:45.15-ACC Championship Record (old conference mark 15:56.50 by Twichell at 2009 ACC Championships)

100 yard freestyle- Lauren Perdue, Virginia-47.88-ACC Championship and Conference Record (old conference mark 48.10 by Sarah Smith of Virginia Tech at 2009 ACC Championships)

Races That Made a Mark

Turning Point of the Meet– This meet was an extremely tight, back-and-forth affair, until the women’s 200 fly just prior to the end of the meet. There, Virginia got clutch performances from both their youngest star and their two oldest stars. Seniors Liz Shaw and Claire Crippen finished second and third, but freshman Rachel Naurath stepped up in a big way to take the race in 1:55.88. This put the Caveliers in the lead for good and sealed their fourth straight ACC Championship. (Props to Garrett for picking this win!)

Breakout Performance- There were a lot of great, surprising performances in this meet, but none was a bigger shock, or more timely, than Meredith Cavalier’s runner-up finish in the 200 backstroke. Though she tied for fourth in the 100 backstroke, her 200 yard time of 1:54.27 was a career-best time by 8 seconds that we didn’t see coming at all. Now she will have a very good chance, in an event that she’d only swum a handful of times before, at nabbing an NCAA finals berth in March.

Not For Lack of Trying- In the same race that Cavalier was runner-up in, the 200 back, North Carolina’s Carly Smith put up a fabulous swim in a last-ditch effort to try and egg her Tarheels on to a victory. She posted a 1:53.08 that is amongst the top 5 in the country, after the dust from this weekend has settled, and still seems to have a little more to give at NCAA’s. She also posted a great swim to win the 100 back (52.39), and had a gutsy, career-best performance in the 100 fly of 53.19 to give Carolina a little bit of a spark.

Proud as a Peacock– North Carolina’s Stephanie Peacock blew away the 500 freestyle conference record by almost 2 seconds in 4:36.86, and what’s even scarier is that she’s only a freshman. She’s been fast all year too, so don’t think that this was a fluke performance or that she doesn’t have more to give. She will definitely have an opportunity to place top-3 amongst what will be a loaded NCAA field, though I don’t think anyone can beat Georgia’s Allison Schmitt when she’s tapered.

Fittin’ Right In-In 2007, when Annie Fittin was lured to Maryland, they were a program in rebuilding. Two years after they won their only ACC Championship, the Terrapins were under the tutelage of a hot young coach named Dave Durden, whose previous stop was an assistant for the NCAA Champion Auburn Tigers. They were destined to return to the top, and so Maryland was able to land Fittin, one of the top recruits in her class. But then, before she ever swam a meet in Maryland, Durden jumped ship and headed west to take over the Cal men’s program that is currently one of the best in the country. Fittin likely could’ve fielded offers to transfer to other programs, but instead chose to stick it out in Annapolis. Three coaches later, Fittin has finally hit pay-dirt with her first ACC Championship in the 50 free at 22.11 and led Maryland to a fourth-place finish. She leaves the program in good shape though, as she is the only of Maryland’s top swimmers who will graduate.

Awards

Swimmer of the Meet– Lauren Perdue, Soph., Virginia- Perdue’s meet got off to a bit of a rough start in the 50 freestyle final, where she wasn’t even close to her season-best time. But she bounced back in a huge way to set two ACC Conference Championship records in the 100 freestyle (47.88) and the 200 freestyle (1:43.73).
honorable mention: Carly Smith-UNC

Coach of the Meet- Mark Bernadino, Virginia- Bernadino could’ve won this award for the obvious reason: he led the Cavaliers to their 9th ACC Championship and fourth-straight. But he really earned it for more than that. This was the first meet in the streak in which Virginia did not have a commanding lead of well-over 100 points headed into the last day, and they in fact were trailing. But Bernadino rallied his troops on Friday night, telling them that they needed to “light the pool” on fire. They did that and so much more on the last day. From a stroke of genius to recognize Cavalier’s potential in the 200 back to saving three of his best swimmers for the last individual event, with confidence that a freshman and two seniors would pull his team through, Bernadino seemed to make the right call at every turn. In over 30 years at Virginia, this meet might have been his singular best coaching performance.

honorable mention: Sean Schimmel, Maryland

Freshman of the Meet– Rachel Naurath, Fr., UVA- In her first year as a collegiate swimmer, Naurath showed incredible poise to win the 200 fly with the meet on the line. But besides that swim, she also placed second in the 200 free, behind only teammate Perdue, and 4th in the 500 free. She and Carolina’s Peacock, the two leading candidates for this award, matched up in all four of their races, including a leadoff in the 800 free. In those four races, Naurath was 3-1 head-to-head, making her the obvious choice. But man, is it going to be fun to watch these two square off over the next 3 seasons.
honorable mention: Stephanie Peacock-UNC

Diver of the Meet- Abby Johnston, Jr., Duke- For the second-straight season, Johnston swept the springboard diving competitions at this year’s ACC Championship. Of the two wins, the 1-meter was probably the best performance, and it snapped her own ACC Championship record with a total of 361.85.
honorable mention: Carrie Dragland-Miami