University of Virginia Library

Cavaliers Capsize
In Weekend Meet

By CURT MORRIS

Swimming coach Ron Good
called last week's double dual
meet loss to William and Mary
and West Virginia one of the
"worst experiences of his
coaching career". Virginia was
ahead 22-3 up until the start of
the diving events. "Everything
went downhill from there,"
lamented Coach Good.

Up until that time Virginia's
swimmers had blazed to an
excellent start, but could hold
no consistency and finally lost
by 55-50. Inconsistency has
plagued the swim team all year,
and this, coupled with officials'
judgement calls often going
against them, has accounted
for the team's unimpressive 1-3
record.

Coach Good's team is not
without bright spots, however.
"We have more talent this year
than in any other," he
explained, referring to top
swimmers such as Joel Curtis,
Courtney Chapman and Mark
Bernardino. "We are a lot like
the football team, we look very
good at times and then a bad
break really hurts us."

A problem that is not
conducive to winning this year
but will be a definite asset to
the future is the fact that, of
the nineteen members on the
team, fifteen are first and
second-yearmen. Mr. Good said
his swimmers "need to gain
faith in themselves." With a
team this young, Good feels
that a lack of confidence in
college competition causes his
less experienced swimmers to
perform below their actual
abilities. This is something he
feels will become less of a
factor as his swimmers become
more accustomed to the
increased pressure of other
college teams and away
crowds. Nevertheless, every
first year swimmer has clocked
his best individual career times.

Coach Good would like to
have more time to be able to
recruit top swimmers, but
being the only member of the
coaching staff does not enable
him to hold frequent visits
with his prospects. "I plan to
do a sizable amount of
recruiting during the Christmas
break," he remarked.

When asked to relate any
exceptional times for his
swimmers Good said there was
one swimmer very close to
qualifying for the Nationals.
This is Nan Hawthorne, a coed
and unofficial member of the
team who competes in all the
meets.

Coach Good said that he is
doubtful of a winning season,
especially since the next meets
are against other ACC teams
with well funded programs and
excellent swimmers. He is very
optimistic about the state and
ACC tournaments, however,
and expects a very good
showing.