2022 Cavalier Invitational
- February 4-6, 2022
- Aquatics and Fitness Center, Charlottesville, VA
- Championship Format
- SCY
- Results on Meet Mobile as “2022 Cavalier Invitational”
The University of Virginia kicked off their annual Cavalier Invite today in Charlottesville. This meet typically serves as a combination of taper meet for swimmers who don’t make their conference team, and a tune-up for those who are, but are looking for some fast times before championships, and today proved to be no exception.
Right towards the beginning of tonight’s finals session, the UVA men ripped a 1:16.71 in the 200 free relay, setting a new UVA-season best time and a pool record.
Matt Brownstead led off in 19.37, followed by Matt King (18.93), Connor Boyle (19.25), and August Lamb (19.16).
That time is over a second faster than the Cavaliers’ previous season best of 1:17.67, which they hit at the Tennessee Invite in the fall. Brownstead was not on that relay, as he missed the early stages of the meet.
For what it’s worth, last season the UVA men went 1:17.90 at this meet, and then had the four same swimmers improve by nearly two seconds to go 1:16.01 at NCAAs for a 7th-place finish.
Currently, tonight’s time moves the Cavalier men to #7 in the NCAA, just ahead of NC State’s 1:16.76 from November. The two teams will square off in this event in less than two weeks at the ACC Championships.
Swimmers from George Washington, Johns Hopkins, James Madison, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Richmond, and the College of William & Mary are also competing in the event this weekend.
Johns Hopkins was the only other school to enter relays, and their women set a new season best in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:34.37. The John Hopkins men also picked up an individual event win from Jonik Surprenant, who took the 500 free with a 4:33.02.
UVA swimmers topped the podium in the remainder of the events. Freshman Matthew Styczen swam to a big new lifetime best in the 200 IM with his time of 1:46.26. His previous best was a 1:48.67 from last April; tonight’s time would have made the C-final at last year’s ACC Championships.
Teammate Addie Laurencelle won the 50 free with a new personal best of 20.00, shaving 0.43s off his previous best of 20.43. Laurencelle didn’t drop any time in this event last year as a freshman at UVA, but he’s now improved his best from 20.57 to 20.00 this season.
UVA senior Jessica Nava also set a new personal best, winning the 50 free with a 22.58; her previous best of 22.79 came from the fall of 2020.
Freshman Athena Vanyo won the women’s 200 IM with a 2:04.65, while Caroline Kulp touched first in the 500 with a 4:51.98.
The Cavalier Invite continues tomorrow with the classic college championship day two schedule: prelims and finals of the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 back, and 100 breast, along with timed finals of the 200 medley and (if contested) the 800 free relay.
20.00 as a PB is tough to see. Glad he’s not a senior!
you forget 20.00 is still insanely fast… sometimes we get caught up with the “studs” that we lose sight of how 20.00 is still an impressive swim
Highly doubt he was saying 20 point is slow… Was just the fact that he didn’t break 20 and was a hundredth off of 19.99
That’s how I understood the comment, as well.
UVa does a far better job of publicizing improvements of their swimmers than any other team in the country. Great marketing strategy. Who wouldn’t want to go to a place where it looks like everyone improves?
They do. But they also make ridiculous statements like they have the best two sprinters in the country. No doubt they are good but they are also arrogant and not everyone likes that. We had a swimmer from our club who took a visit there and chose not to go because of all the negative recruiting toward other schools that the coaches did.
Yeah, they are good, but I get tired of seeing DeSorbo always instagramming homemade graphs labeled “The DeSorbo Effect” about himself. It’s a bit much.
You’re right UVA definitely doesn’t have the best two sprinters in the country. They have the best three
Honey, we talked about this. It’s the best FIVE.
Maggie and Torri might have something to say about that
There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance and I think everyone has their own definition of what that line is. I like having a little bit of borderline arrogance in the sport, I think it makes it more fun
Also I’m sure that recognition has to do wonders for the athletes’ morale. Happier athletes are a fantastic marketing tool when it comes to recruiting too.
Who’s ready for conference season?