NOVA News
October 16th, 2023
July is one of my favorite months of the year! We kick things off coming together with family and friends to celebrate the birth of our nation. Fireworks, cookouts, and red, white and blue. It sets the tone for the rest of the month as we come together to cheer on our NOVA swimmers making their final splashes of the season.
That’s right – the long-course championship season is upon us! This year we had the added excitement of the Olympic trials to lead the charge. Wasn’t it thrilling to see familiar names and faces on the jumbotron and TV’s around the pool! Our current and former NOVA swimmers truly made a splash this year – most notably Charlie Swanson! We are so very proud to celebrate Charlie as our second NOVA swimmer to make the Olympic Team.
Now it's your turn! It’s time to get fired up and focused on your goals for the season. Use your remaining practices to work hard and fine tune and sharpen the skills on which you’ve been concentrating to achieve success at your championship meet.
There will be opportunities for fast swimming throughout July! Summer awards arrives first and will be filled with swimmers from across the program who are prepped and primed for success. Virginia Swimming’s Senior Champs for our 15 and older swimmers comes next and will be followed by Virginia Age Group Champs for our 14 and unders, and for those who qualify the NCSA junior national summer championship (15 and Over) and the Eastern Zones age group championship (14 and under).
It's time to dig deep, fight hard and leave it all in the pool! The day is yours, so make it a great one! Go NOVA!
-Coach David
#NOVASTRONG #OneNOVA
The USA Olympic Team Trials were held from June 15-June 23 in Indianapolis, Indiana. About 1000 athletes in the age range of 13-46 competed over the nine days of the meet. The Olympic Trials experience was great and something that I will never forget. There were many memorable moments and it was a great opportunity to catch up with former athletes and coaches that I’ve worked with over my 35 years of coaching. NOVA was represented by four athletes-but we also had quite a few alumni compete in the meet.
The first and probably most impressive memory I will take away was the facility itself. The meet was held in Lucas Oil Stadium-home of the Indianapolis Colts. The competition side of the pool was massive-there were multiple nights where there were more than 20,000 people watching finals. There was also a back side to the facility that wasn’t in plain sight. A warm up pool consisting of 8 long course lanes and 8 short course meters lanes was available to all of the athletes. Overall, USA Swimming did a great job of providing an exciting environment. The Indianapolis Colts cheerleaders performed one night and the Indiana Fever (Caitlin Clark) also made an appearance on deck prior to finals. And the pool was FAST-World Records and American records were broken over the course of nine days.
The second memorable experience I will take away was watching the athletes themselves. First and foremost, they were rock stars. Every day, there were autograph seekers outside of the venue. I think our three high school athletes (Crash Ackerly, Harry Belcher, and Nathan Szobota) who competed at the meet signed their first autograph. But in addition to that, there were many interesting storylines that were not covered by the media. For every Charlie Swanson success story, there were way too many to count stories of athletes who had their Olympic dreams crushed. As the old ABC Sports saying went, “The Thrill of Victory-And the Agony of Defeat” was a lasting memory for myself. My heart went out to every athlete who touched in third place (Top 2 in each individual make the team).
In conclusion, my Olympic Trials experience in Indianapolis is something I will never forget. And it was made extra special by the accomplishment of Charlie Swanson making the team. Charlie has the same background as our entire NOVA family. He had a dream, believed in himself, put the work in, and rose to the occasion in the biggest meet of his life. I can’t wait to see Charlie and Team USA compete in Paris. Good luck Charlie-your entire NOVA family is behind you!
-Mike Wenert
June 20-24th- NOVA's swimmers 13 and over swimmers team traveled to Ohio to swim at Mason Manta Rays 2024 City of Mason June Invitational. Our swimmers raced hard, cheered loudly, and achieved many new time standards. Congrats coaches and swimmers!
Senior Dev. Gold, Senior Silver
June 27-30th- NOVA swimmers of all ages took to the pool at NOVA Regency to race swimmers from all over the state in the NOVA Firecracker Invitational. The 12 and under swimmers dominated the mid day session and the 13 and over swimmers attacked prelims and finals each day. The swimmers raced new events, achieved many new time standards and new AG and SR Champs cuts. Congrats coaches and swimmers!
Novice Bronze, Novice Silver, Novice Gold, Age Group Dev Bronze, Age Group Dev Silver, Age Group Dev Gold, Age Group Bronze, Age Group Silver, Age Group Gold, Senior Dev Bronze, Senior Dev Silver, Senior Dev Gold, Senior Bronze, Senior Silver
Early Saturday morning June 29th, Coach Sean and 23 NOVA swimmers took to the Blacksburg Quarry to take part in some Open Water racing! While events were open to all ages, the scoring was Open for 5k, 13-14 for the 3k, 11-12 for the 1.5K, and 10U for the 500m race. Everyone had a great time and raced hard! Results listed as Event, Overall Place, then Time.
5K Women
Claire Stuhlmacher 1st 1:00:02.05
Katie Schaps 3rd 1:00:05.52
Francie McKay 10th 1:00:13.29
5K Men
Caleb Coyne 2nd 1:00:05.08
3K Women
Mia Eubank 1st 39:19.00
Charlotte White No Place 39:46.00
Orielle Hall 3rd 39:48.00
Lane Francis 4th 42:10.00
3K Men
Ford Reams No Place 39:19.00
Bryson Worthington 2nd 39:45.00
Chance Greene No Place 44:15.00
1.5K Women
Rebecca Goins 2nd 20:54.00
Linden Hall 6th 22:19.00
1.5K Men
James Wallin 1st 20:40.00
Xavi Cornelius No Place 20:47.00
David Goins No Place 20:52.00
Tyler Melson 4th 21:30.00
Colston Worthington 9th 23:10.00
500m Women
Yara Tsybulina 1st 8:20.00
Abby Hedrick 3rd 9:02.00
Elizabeth Goins 4th 9:04.00
Harper Grace Johnson 9th 10:51.00
