NOVA News

NOVA wrapped up the Virginia Swimming State Championship season this past weekend at Age Group Champs in spectacular fashion. With both finesse and flair, NOVA earned its 27th consecutive Age Group Championship banner—an incredible achievement! It has been such an honor to witness and share in this moment, as well as each of the previous 26 championships.

Our swimmers filled the weekend with energy, enthusiasm, and unwavering support for their teammates. They worked hard for their “Built Different” swims and showcased their team spirit every time they stepped on deck. The team delivered an outstanding performance, scoring a combined 6,080 points—nearly 4,000 points ahead of the next closest competitor. Simply incredible.

What made this victory even more special was the balance across the team. Our boys contributed 3,052 points, while our girls added 3,028, highlighting the depth, unity, and strength of NOVA. Every swimmer played a vital role in our success.

As you dive into the group highlights below, you’ll see the results of months of dedication and hard work from both swimmers and coaches. It was truly inspiring to watch athletes achieve best times, earn new cuts, win events, and—most importantly—represent what it means to be #NOVAStrong.

I hope you enjoy reading about these outstanding accomplishments as much as I enjoyed witnessing them. The future of NOVA is incredibly bright.

How many swimmers are in the Senior Silver group? 48

Wyatt, what is Senior Silver working on this week?

We are resetting from Senior Champs, looking ahead towards the Sendoff meet, and having short course season recap conversations.

Wyatt, what is your favorite part of working with Senior Silver?

Senior Silver has a pretty wide variety of swimmers who are on different improvement curves that are intersecting here and now. I enjoy doing my best to plan and write practices where they’re all feeling challenged, satisfied, and progressing towards their varying goals.

Sean, what is your favorite part of working with Senior Silver?

I really enjoy the growth that Senior Silver teaches. There is a heavy dose of delayed gratification in swimming and Senior Silver’s programming really reinforces that lightbulb moment when it all comes together.

Wyatt, what is your favorite part of working with Sean?

Sean pretty seamlessly fills coaching gaps when we are on deck together. While we have similar thinking and styles, he’s willing to challenge my thinking to make sure we are considering multiple perspectives.

He also keeps me up to date on baseball and hockey.

Sean, what is your favorite part of working with Wyatt?

Wyatt and I have incredibly similar coaching and growth philosophies that are also different enough where we can catch a broad spectrum of swimmers. Being so in line with each other means there is rarely any miscommunication and oftentimes we both know what each other needs to make sure sets get done properly and the practice rolls together with the yearly plan.

We also tend to match wavelengths of humor, so even the hardest of practices stay light and fun most of the time.

Wyatt, what is your favorite part of the championship season?

Watching a swimmer put together a great meet that has been the culmination of learning and hard work over multiple seasons or years. Someone who has had to learn from disappointments and frustration and has become a better swimmer for it.

Sean, what is your favorite part of the championship season?

I really enjoy the load management and the complex balancing act we go through in champs season. Between the high school season, districts, and senior champs, there is a lot of high quality racing going on. Mastering the timing of when to be fast is a tough but rewarding process to coach kids through.