Triumph Together 2021

It was a record-setting season for the Virginia Tech men's swimming and diving team as the Hokies posted their highest finish and the highest points scored in school history at the 2021 Men's NCAA Championships in March. Tech finished in 11th place with a total of 135 points, nearly tripling the previous high of 55 points. The highest the team had finished prior to this past year was 18th in 2011. In all, seven Hokies earned All-America honors and nine school records were set. Individually, Youseff Ramadan was named ACC Men's Freshman of the Year. He and teammate Antani Ivanov competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics along with alumnus Ian Ho.

On the women's side, the Hokies placed 21st at NCAAs for their second-highest finish in program history. Reka Gyorgy (400 IM) and Emma Atkinson (200 Backstroke) secured All-America status, while four school records were broken at nationals.

Head Coach Sergio Lopez Miro likes to talk about “sustainable success” when he addresses recruits and his team.  He looks for a growth mindset where individuals and the team as a whole do the small things daily that add up to yearly improvement.  When Coach Sergio asks 'How fast is fast?' the answer is always 'faster than you think', because expectations and mental limitations are often what hold athletes back or limit their potential.  As a donor to Virginia Tech Swimming & Diving you can help us set up sustainable success and go faster than you think! Here is how your gifts will help the team:

-Team Travel:  As we grow each year we must seek out higher levels of competition.  That means traveling to race against some of the top schools in the country as well as adding in meets like US Nationals for both swimming and diving in December.  The athletes we’re recruiting want to compete at the highest level, both in the NCAA and internationally, and we look to provide them with both these opportunities during our collegiate season.

-Team Training Trip: This is one of the biggest expenses in any budget and with our donor’s support we can enhance our swimmers’ and divers’ experiences, as well as build team unity and cohesiveness. The typical training camp is in the winter for us and we have generally traveled to the sunny state of Florida for about seven days of focused training.  Once every four years we would like to have a training camp outside of the USA, and the goal is to take our swimming and diving team to train while experiencing a new culture in a different country. Besides the training the goal is to have our Hokies better understand that the world is very small and we have to have an open mind.  With your support, we can make it happen!

-Recruiting: The rules have changed and now we can bring juniors to official visits and that will place a big dent in our yearly budgets. Also, we need to keep tapping into the international market for top talent.  Our coaching staff needs to be able to visit swimmers or divers, their families, and other coaches internationally. It is very important for the parents of a student-athlete to know and understand that we care and by visiting them in their home country really sends a positive message to them.

    -Facilities enhancements: It is extremely important for us to keep updating our facilities, replace and repair equipment to be on the cutting edge for training, competition and recruiting.

    -Endowing scholarships and coaches’ salaries: In non-revenue sports like swimming and diving, it is of vital importance to have as many or all scholarships endowed, as well as have the head coach’s salary endowed as well.

"After having had the opportunity to coach in the SEC, Big10 and Big East Conferences I can say without hesitation that the Hokie donors are the best. As the head coach of a non-revenue sport I feel blessed to have such a great support with donations that allow us to recruit nationally and internationally and to travel to top level competition with our student-athletes to keep moving forward.  Triumph Together is a great opportunity to help Hokie student-athletes keep having access to top coaches, facilities, support staff and to develop their potential to the fullest. Please, if you are already a member of the Hokie Club make sure that you help us bring more followers to become members. Our goal is to reach 25,000 members and we have almost reach 20,000 to this date. Become a Hokie Club member and keep making the Hokie Nation a great one."

- Sergio Lopez Miro, Head Coach