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cavalier sports 6 CAVALIER CORNER five questions with Redshirt Fourth-Year Swimmer Brendan Casey Casey was the first Virginia male swimmer to win an ACC title since 2014, taking the top spot in both the 400 individual medley and the 1,650 freestyle. PHOTO BY MATT RILEY/COURTESY UVA R edshirt fourth-year Brendan Casey is at home in any body of water. While Casey has excelled at Virginia in several events, he also has developed into a world-class open water swimmer. He earned a silver medal at the 2017 FINA World Championships with the 5K open water mixed team relay and qualified for the 2018 U.S. Open Water National Team. (Open water swimming takes place in outdoor bodies of water. Most races don't require a spe- cific stroke, but freestyle is usually the stroke of choice.) In March, Casey captured ACC titles — the first for the UVA men since 2014 — in the 400 individual medley and the 1,650 freestyle (his time of 14:37.50 was the second fastest in program history). At the NCAA Championships March 27-30, he helped lead the Cavaliers to a 10th-place team finish — the program's best since coming in eighth in 2011. At the NCAA Championships, Casey earned the first three All- America accolades of his career, and the first by a Wahoo since 2011. He placed fourth in the 400 individual medley (first team) with a school-record time of 3:38.43, fifth in the 1,650 freestyle (first team) with a time of 14:38.42 and 13th in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:14.39 (honorable mention). Cavalier Corner: What attracted you to open water swimming, and in the same vein how does it differ from other events? Casey: "I grew up in the Los Angeles/ Santa Monica area by the beach and surfed. My club team coach [Dave Kelsheimer] took me to an open water race once and I really enjoyed it. "It played to my strengths. I liked it because you can be more strategic and that plays a little more to my strengths." Cavalier Corner: What strategy, if any, is involved in open water swimming? Casey: "Compared with pool swimming, in open water you're swimming with a group of swimmers and a 10K takes two hours. You really can't go hard the whole way. I like to stay back and save energy. You sit on or directly behind another swimmer, which helps you to save energy. "The race takes place in an ocean or a lake. There's a lot of sighting involved. If you swim in a pack, you don't have to sight as much. You can keep your head down." Cavalier Corner: Would you please describe the level of satis- faction you felt when you learned you had qualified for the 2018 U.S. Open Water National Team? Casey: "That was a pretty good feeling. I was on the National Team in 2016. I thought I was going to qualify. "My other goal was to qualify for the Pan-Pacific team, but I missed that by a spot. That was disappointing, but it still felt good to qualify for the National Team." Cavalier Corner: What do you consider your best event? Casey: "My two best events are the 1,650 and the 400 individual medley. I train for the 1,650 mostly and that training kind of runs off onto the 400 IM. "My other stokes are pretty good and I can manage my way through my distance training." Cavalier Corner: Swimming aside, what have you learned as a student-athlete at Virginia that will help you as your life progresses? Casey: "I think the biggest thing I'll take away from Virginia is time management. Maintaining a full course load is challenging in addition to training 20 hours a week and traveling to meets. "That's definitely a trait I'll carry with me throughout my life. It's a pretty challenging university." — Mike Scandura