By Marty Gordon
Virginia Tech and its home at the Christiansburg Aquatics Center continues to be the destination for several other top swimmers from around the world.
Swim Swarm online sports site is reporting Jakub Poliacik from Bratislava, Slovakia has announced his commitment to Virginia Tech beginning in the 2024-2025 school year.
Poliacik swims for XBS Swimming out of Samorin Slovakia. Last August, Poliacik swam at the World Junior Championships. There he finished 11th in the 200 free (1:51.30), 13th in the 800 free (8:18.67), and 18th in the 400 free (4:03.80).
In December, he competed at Short Course World Championships. There he was 19th in the 800 free (8:05.91), 24th in the 400 free (3:49.93), and 33rd in the 200 free (1:47.48).
The Blacksburg school last lost a top freshman swimmer to the transfer portal.
Carl Bloebaum, who was the #5 recruit in the high school class of 2022, came out of high school as the Ohio State Champion in the 100 fly (45.68). He was also the 2021 US Olympic Trials Wave I Champion in the 20-meter fly and finished as high as eighth in the 50-meter fly at the 2022 International Team Trials.
Virginia Tech swimming and diving has 11 Hokies attending the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
During this non-Olympic year, the World Aquatics Championships will host close to 2,400 athletes from 195 countries. The events began on July 14 and include diving, water polo, swimming, synchronized swimming and open water swimming.
The swimming portion of Worlds began on July 22 with prelims and the rest of the competition follows and will conclude on July 30.
Following prelims, the top 16 in each event will advance to semifinals and the top eight will compete in finals (not including relays). All heats and final sessions will be covered on NBC Sports and Peacock.
Hokies attending:
Sergio Lopez Miro – Mexico (Assistant coach)
Youssef Ramadan – Egypt
100 fly, 100 free
Carmen Weiler Sastre – Spain
100 free, 50 back, 100 back
Carles Coll Marti – Spain
200 breast, 200 IM
Mario Molla Yanes – Spain
50 fly, 100 fly
Luis Dominguez – Spain
100 free, 200 free
Madelyn Moore – Bermuda
50 free, 100 free
Ian Ho – Hong Kong (alumni)
50 free, 100 free, 50 fly
Athena Meneses Kovacs – Mexico (Incoming freshman)
50 back, 100 fly
Emil Perez – Venezuela (Incoming freshman)
50 fly
Daniil Pancerevas – Lithuania (Incoming freshman)
50 free, 200 IM
RU coach to IUPAC
IUPUC recently added to its Athletic Department with the hiring of Kevin Nolan as Head Men’s Soccer Coach.
Nolan comes to Columbus from Radford University in Virginia, a Division One school, where he served as Assistant Soccer Coach. He has 12 years of coaching experience at both the junior college and university levels.
