NOVA News
October 16th, 2023
All finals sessions will air live on NBC in primetime starting on Saturday, June 15, with coverage also streaming on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com and the NBC/NBC Sports apps. USA Network will air coverage of prelims sessions, which can also be streamed live on Peacock and NBC's digital platforms.
May 31st- June 2nd NOVA swimmers of all ages crossed the river to CSAC to swim at SwimRVA's Success Bell meet. Our swimmers raced hard, cheered loudly, RANG THE BELL LOUDLY and achieved many new time standards. Congrats coaches and swimmers!
Age Group Silver, Age Group Gold, Senior Dev. Bronze, Senior Dev. Silver, Senior Bronze
May 31st-June 2nd. NOVA Senior and Senior Dev. swimmers raced hard at the NOVA Senior Invite at Regency. Though a small meet NOVA swimmers had fun, and raced hard swimming 4 sessions over the 2.5 days.
Sarah Bender, NOVA Alumni from class of 2020, graduated in May from the University of Notre Dame where she swam all 4 years. She was honored as a 4 time All ACC Academic Team, as a CSCAA Academic All American and finished her career 5th on Notre Dame's All Time 200 breast list. Sarah is a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship and will be heading to teach English in the Slovak Republic as a graduate student. Sarah is the first Notre Dame student athlete to become a Fulbright Scholar.
"Swimming at NOVA provided the perfect mix of fun and discipline. It teaches kids to push themselves out of their comfort zone, to own their successes and failures and to advocate for themselves and their teammates. The friendships made through their shared experiences endure. The benefits make the sacrifices worth it!"- Amy Bender (Sarah's Mom)
When did you swim for NOVA? I swam for NOVA starting when I was 7 (on pre-team!) until I was 18 when I graduated from Freeman HS.
What is your favorite NOVA memory? My favorite NOVA memories are 2018 Summer Juniors in Irvine and every Halloween in Senior Gold when all the girls dressed up in big group costumes.
What was your favorite NOVA tee shirt? NOVAtube or NOVA juice
What was your favorite event/stroke? My favorite event is the 200 breast (always was and always will be)
What is a Fulbright Scholar? The Fulbright Program is a state department program for cross cultural exchange between the US and 140+ other countries. I will be moving to Slovakia to teach English to high schoolers there, as well as serving as an ambassador of US culture.
How do you think swimming at NOVA influenced your college and career choice? Swimming at NOVA obviously opened a lot of doors for me in that I was able to visit a lot of great schools with the possibility of being a student athlete. I loved Notre Dame for its amazing culture and how well balanced the student athletes were, and the opportunity to swim there was incredible. NOVA also gave me a lot of the skills I needed to succeed there, such as a strong work ethic, time management, and discipline.
Swimswam also had a recent article about Sarah HERE
NOVA Novice Summer Slam 6/8
CGBD Steve Hennessy Summer Madness Invite 6/13-6/16
Mason Manta Rays Invite 6/20-6/23
NOVA Firecracker Invite 6/27-6/30 Entry deadline June 17th Commit
13 and over PPOW
Our 13 and over PPOW is Senior Dev. Silver's Cayden Chang. Cayden has been killing it in practice for quite some time now. We can always count of him leading the way and being out in front of the pack. Along with the 100 and 200 breaststroke, he recently knocked out a state age group champs cut in the 800 free.
Keep up the great work Cayden!
12 and under PPOW
Our 12 and under PPOW is Age Group Dev Bronze's Andrew Xu. Andrew has been working hard consistently since he joined the group in April. Andrew has been moving his way up the lane order and is now close to the front of the lane and is challenging for the leaders. Andrew's hard work paid off with this first B time at his last meet. We can’t wait to see what he can do this season.
Way to go Andrew!
