NOVA of Virginia Aquatics News

NOVA of Virginia Aquatics Wins 13th Consecutive Virginia Swimming Long Course Age Group Championships

David Dixon, age 14, breaks Virginia state swimming records in 2 events and three meet records

13 year old Maddie Hadd breaks 3 meet records, including Olympian Katie Hoff’s age-group 400m Freestyle record

NOVA relay teams earn new Virginia state records in 5 events
Richmond, VA (July 30, 2013) NOVA of Virginia Aquatics (NOVA) continues to dominate Virginia swimming, winning its 13th consecutive Virginia Swimming Long Course Age Group Championship, held July 25 – 28 in Christiansburg, Virginia. NOVA won the Boys, Girls and Combined titles. NOVA athletes leading the way were David Dixon, with seven total and five individual wins; Maddie Hadd, with six total and four individual wins; and Matthew Whelan, with seven total and three individual wins. In total, the team broke six Virginia State swimming records and seven meet records.

David Dixon, competing with the 13-14 year old boys, had five individual wins, in the 100m Breaststroke, 200m Breaststroke, 100m Butterfly, 200m Butterfly and the 200m Individual Medley. His time of 58.35 in the 100m Butterfly broke the state record, and his time of 2:29.40 in the 200m Breaststroke was a meet record. Dixon was also on the winning 200m Medley and 200m Freestyle (new state record) relay teams, placed second in the 400m Individual Medley (where he broke the previous meet record), 800m Freestyle and 400m Medley Relay races, and third in the 1500m Freestyle.

Maddie Hadd’s performance among the 13-14 year old girls led to wins in the 200m, 400m and 1500m Freestyle events as well as the 200m Butterfly. Still just 13 years old, Hadd broke three meet records (200, 400, and 1500m Freestyle), including Olympian Katie Hoff’s age-group meet record in the 400m Freestyle, with a time of 4:24.59. Hadd also was part of the winning 400m Medley and the 400m Freestyle Relay teams. The 13-14 girl’s 400m Freestyle Relay set a new state record with a time of 4:05.06. Leading off that relay was teammate Bryn Gvozdas who set a new meet record in the 100m Freestyle earlier that morning. In addition, Maddie helped to take home two third-place finishes in the 200m Medley Relay and the 200m Freestyle Relay.

Matthew Whelan had individual wins in the 11-12 year old boys’ 50m and 400m Freestyle events and the 400m Individual Medley. Whelan also was on relay teams winning the 200m Medley, the 400m Medley
(new state record), the 200m Freestyle (new state record) and the 400m Freestyle (new state record) relays. Whelan had four additional second place finishes (50m, 100m, and 200m Freestyle and 200m Individual Medley) and one third (100m Butterfly).

Other first place individual finishes included Emily Koegl in the 13-14 Girls 100m and 200m Breaststroke, Sean Belden in the 10 & Under Boys 50m Backstroke and 100m Freestyle, Bryn Gvozdas in the 13-14 Girls 50m Freestyle, Atesh Camurdan in the 10 & Under Boys 50m Backstroke and Bailey Butler in the 13-14 Girls 800m Freestyle.

Relay teams played an important role in NOVA’s victory, with first place finishes in fifteen of 24 events:
 10 & Under Boys 200m Medley Relay (2:27.62, Nikolas Lee-Bishop, Belden, Anderson Broughton, Camurdan)
 10 & under Boys 400m Medley Relay (5:29.16, Broughton, Trey Hepp, Belden, Camurdan)
 10 & Under Girls 200m Freestyle Relay (2:10.69, Caroline Sheble, Grace Sheble, Brin Kuzemka, Olivia Erickson)
 10 & Under Boys 200m Freestyle Relay (2:08.09, Belden, Camurdan, Broughton, Nate Pfeffer)
 10 & Under Boys 400m Freestyle Relay (4:49.86, Belden, Camurdan, Broughton, Hepp)
 11-12 Girls 200m Medley Relay (2:12.15, Quincey Edwards, Maura Graff, Catherine Wilks, Allison Langenburg)
 11-12 Boys 200m Medley Relay (2:06.47, Mark Graff, Colin Whiting, Whelan, Dain Ripol)
 11-12 Girls 400m Medley Relay (4:53.25, Emma Farney, Graff, Wilks, Alexa Heiry)
 11-12 Boys 400m Medley Relay (4:42.72 (new state record), Patrick Madden, Whiting, Christopher DallaValle, Whelan)
 11-12 Boys 200m Freestyle Relay (1:53.11 (new state record), Whelan, Whiting, Nicholas Viers, Graff)
 11-12 Boys 400m Freestyle Relay (4:10.28 (new state record), Whiting, Ripol, Viers, Whelan)
 13-14 Boys 200m Medley Relay (1:54.02, Jacob Johnson, Jake Holweger, Dixon, Campbell Nystrom)
 13-14 Girls 400m Medley Relay (4:35.77, Emily Provenzo, Jasmine Harper, Hadd, Gvozdas)
 13-14 Girls 400m Freestyle Relay (4:05.06 (new state record), Gvozdas, Provenzo, Hadd, Koegl)
 13-14 Boys 200m Freestyle Relay (1:42.58 (new state record), Dixon, Johnson, Aaron Rose, Nystrom)

NOVA’s lead age group coach, David Schreck, summed up the win, saying “NOVA is incredibly proud of our swimmers, who put a stellar effort forward. Excellent results for many swimmers, including newly-added VACS swimmers on the NOVA roster, helped the team tremendously. This was especially true for the relays, where NOVA won 15 of the 24 events and set five new state records. We are thrilled to have won our 13th consecutive long course title.”

About NOVA of Virginia Aquatics:
NOVA is a full-service swim club that meets the needs of every level of swimmer, from lessons to Masters. It is ranked fifth in the nation for overall club performance for swimming competition and organization by USA Swimming and has received the distinctive Gold Medal Club Award.
Led by head coach Geoff Brown, USA Swimming’s 2012 Developmental Coach of the Year, NOVA’s coaching staff has led its team to three NCSA Junior National Swimming Championships and won the Virginia Swimming Short Course Age Group Championship for fourteen consecutive years and the State Senior Long Course Championship for eight consecutive years. As a comprehensive aquatics center, NOVA has the region’s leading youth swim lessons program as well as the top Master’s swimming program in Virginia.

Contact:
Julie Rakes
804-240-5920
j.rakes@verizon.net
or, visit our website at :
www.novaswim.org