Low key my go to spot for UVa gear is the store there
2 Likes
I live in AZ so I can’t say for sure, but my bet is nah.
I guess I don’t bother to calculate the gate when I evaluate excellence.
1 Like
Y’all really think having Olympic gold medalists does nothing for UVA? Okaaayyyyyy
7 Likes
Its all about the money C.R.E.A.M
2 Likes
Kinda wild the difference between kids who want to be at UVa versus kids we have to pay to be at UVa.
5 Likes
6 Likes
We’re a swimming school.
15 Likes
If they trained in the waters of the James River they’d own every NCAA record
How did we become dominant in women’s swimming? I remember that the men and women dominated the ACC for most of the 2000s through mid 2010s until Bernardino left, but that was still only like in the teens nationally. Then the men dropped off but the women took off with national top 5s and now 4 straight championships.
Our facilities are nice, but also 30 years old now. I assume the program has some wealthy backers, but I figure every top program does. Was it Douglass coming here followed by the Walsh sisters driving momentum of top swimmers wanting to follow so they can train together with other top swimmers? DeSorbo became a better coach mid-career?
And why the drop-off for the men at the same time?
Proly coaching…
2 Likes
DeSorbo was hired in 2017 and has built the program. He was one of the Team USA swimming coaches for the Paris Olympics.
The men’s team is coming. The 2025 recruiting class is loaded.
4 Likes
Lets get some divers
The men haven’t dropped off at all really versus what they were before. It’s just that the women have ascended so it makes it look like the men have dropped off…
2 Likes
Our 1m women’s diver - Elizabeth Kaye qualified in 8th (last spot) for the finals and moved up to finish 4th in the ACC Championships!!!
Also Jessica Buntman got points at 16th.
Men 3m diving on the other hand - not good.
Mitchell Brown top finisher at 31st - 2 others at 42 and 43.
Seems like for most of the decade and a half to start the 2000s the men consistently won the ACC, but since then it’s been more like 3rd-5th in the ACC.
Ok - I didn’t know that about Acc - was just thinking nationally - but to your point there are still some team records on the men’s side that stand from 2009 and 2010, which is generally ancient history in swimming so yes it would seem the program has declined a little bit.
They have perhaps the greatest swimming recruiting class in swimming history coming in next year two generational talents plus a world junior record holder and several other top 10-15 swimmers. It’s a loaded class. And that’s on top of this year’s class, with two guys already with three program records.
4 Likes
I read that Swimswam article, but it doesn’t go into why the uptick in recruiting. Did something change for the better? Was it spurred by the success of the women and people wanting to train together with other top talents? A happenstance of great swimmers being local for a few classes? And if it’s greatness wanting to be together, that could happen at any school and has happened at other schools in the recent past.
100% because of Thomas Heilman. He’s from Cville and wanted to swim here, and he went to bat recruiting a game-changing class.
Heilman represented the US in the 100 and 200 fly in Paris this summer. He’s the best HS men’s swimmer in years.
6 Likes
1 Like