Virginia junior Lauren Perdue has been ruled out for the NCAA Championships that will begin in just over two weeks in Auburn, Alabama.
Perdue, who is a two-time ACC Swimmer of the Year, was the Cavaliers' biggest scoring threat this year, and her loss will be felt bigtime in the team standings.
Virginia coach Mark Bernadino alluded to an injury of some sort during ACC's, but declined to elaborate on the nature. We now know that Perdue has suffered from a fractured back, and swam through the pain at ACC's in order to have one last opportunity to swim with her sister, Virginia senior Meredith Perdue.
The younger Lauren finished 2nd at last year's NCAA Championships in the 200 free, and would have been the fastest returning swimmer in the event this year. She also picked up 11th-place points in the 100 free and 8th place in the 50.
Despite the pain, Perdue pulled off a gutsy performance at ACC's. She won the 100 free in a time of 48.27 and placed 2nd in the 50 in 22.17.
With the women's NCAA Championship psych sheets expected to come out this week, we'll see how this will affect the Cavalier relays, most of which qualified on the expectation of Perdue's participation. In fact, she sat out her preferred 200 free in order to swim all 5 relays, which could leave the Virginia relays in a dangerous position.