2025 College Swimming Previews: #9 Virginia Tech Men In Groove With Scoring Relays, Key Stars

09/17/2024 08:00 AM

By Robert Gibbs on SwimSwam

It's that time of the year again. SwimSwam will be previewing the top 12 men's and women's teams (and then some) from the 2023 NCAA Championships. Follow along with the College Swimming Preview Channel. Want to read even more? Check out the latest edition of the SwimSwam magazine. 

#9 Virginia Tech Hokies

Key Losses: AJ Pouch(8 NCAA points)

Key Additions: Kyle Algrim(IL – distance free), Levente Balogh(Hungary – fly/back),JC Gordon(VA – distance free), Eli Martin(VA – breast/IM),Jakub Poliacik(Slovakia – freestyle)

Returning Fifth Years: Youssef Ramadan(32 NCAA points, 4 NCAA relays), Carles Coll Marti (30 NCAA points, 4 NCAA relays)

GRADING CRITERIA

Over the years, we’ve gone back and forth on how to project points, ranging from largely subjective rankings to more data-based grading criteria based on 'projected returning points.’ We like being as objective as possible, but we’re going to stick with the approach we’ve adopted post-Covid. The "stars" will rely heavily on what swimmers actually did last year, but we'll also give credit to returning swimmers or freshmen who have posted times that would have scored last year.

Since we only profile the top 12 teams in this format, our grades are designed with that range in mind. In the grand scheme of college swimming and compared to all other college programs, top 12 NCAA programs would pretty much all grade well across the board. But in the interest of making these previews informative, our grading scale is tough – designed to show the tiers between the good stroke groups, the great ones, and the 2015 Texas fly group types.

• 5 star (★★★★★) – a rare, elite NCAA group projected to score 25+ points per event
• 4 star (★★★★) – a very, very good NCAA group projected to score 15-24 points per event
• 3 star (★★★) – a good NCAA group projected to score 5-14 points per event
• 2 star (★★) – a solid NCAA group projected to score 1-4 points per event
• 1 star (★) –  an NCAA group that is projected to score no points per event, though that doesn't mean it's without potential scorers – they'll just need to leapfrog some swimmers ahead of them to do it

We'll grade each event discipline: sprint free (which we define to include all the relay-distance freestyle events, so 50, 100 and 200), distance free, IM, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and diving. Use these grades as a jumping-off point for discussion, rather than a reason to be angry.

Also, keep in mind that we are publishing many of these previews before teams have posted finalized rosters. We’re making our assessments based on the best information we have available at the time of publication, but we reserve the right to make changes after publication based on any new information that may emerge regarding rosters. If that does happen, we’ll make certain to note the change.

2023-2024 LOOKBACK

The Hokies seemed to hit a groove last year in their sixth season under head coach Sergio Lopez. They weren’t quite able to defend their second-place effort at ACCs, due to a dynamic performance from the then-rising Notre Dame squad, but they held strong at NCAAs, tying their best-ever finish by taking 9th overall with 172 points.

At the 2018 NCAA Championships, the Virginia Tech men finished 33rd with nine points, all from diving. Here’s how they’ve fared at NCAAs since Lopez came on board prior to the 2019 season:

• 2019 – 35th (11)
• 2020- N/A
• 2021 – 11th (135)
• 2022 – 11th (143)
• 2023 – 9th (133)
• 2024 – 9th (172)

It’s not a huge secret that scoring in all five relays and having a couple of key individuals is the path to a top 10 finish at NCAAs, but Virginia Tech has made a habit of that over the last couple of seasons.

Youssef Ramadan suffered a fractured wrist in the fall, but he bounced back to snare a pair of 9th-place finishes in the 50 and the 100 free, and he also finished 4th in the 100 fly to net 32 points. Fellow senior Carles Coll Marti garnered 30 points with 5th and 3rd place efforts in the 100 and 200 breast, respectively, and he probably would’ve scored in the 200 IM had he not drawn a DQ for a false start. Not to be left out, fifth-year AJ Pouch scored in both breaststroke events, taking 15th in the 100 and 11th in the 200.

Freshman Brendan Whitfield didn’t score individually but was a key contributor nonetheless, swimming on all five of the Hokies relays. Those relays all finished between 6th and 10th, accounting for another 102 points. All told Virginia Tech scored nearly 40 more points than they did in 2023 while holding fast at 9th place.

We’ll go ahead and note here that this preview is going to look very similar to last year’s, as the Hokies return eight of their nine NCAA qualifiers from last year, with Pouch being the sole exception.

SPRINT FREE: ★★★

As we stated above, Youssef Ramadanwas just a bit off of his lifetime bests of 18.68/41.15 last season. He’s back for a fifth year, and if he can stay injury-free, he should once again be a threat to make ‘A’ finals in both of those events, while also being a dynamo on the relays.

Last year we suggested that Brendan Whitfieldcould make NCAAs and swim all three sprint free relays, and sure enough, he did. The Virginia native had big time drops as a freshman, going from 19.48/42.67/1:33.97 to 19.10/41.61/1:32.50. All those individual bests came at ACCs, but his 100 free time would’ve scored at NCAAs had he matched it there.

A trio of relay contributors hit lifetime bests in individual sprint free events at NCAAs last year.Luis Domínguez led off the 800 free relay with a 1:32.25 split, then went 42.31 individually to go along with a 41.51 split on the 400 free relay. As a sophomore last year, Will Hayon improved from 19.65/43.12 to 19.54/42.53, with those best times coming via a pair of 44th-place finishes at NCAAs. Mario Molla Yanesbounced back last year to hit lifetime bests of 19.29/42.39 at NCAAs, and split 19.06 and 1:32.25 on the 200 and 800 free relays.

Breaststroker/IMer Carles Coll Marti once again contributed on free relays, splitting a 1:32.23 on the 800 free relay and 41.34 on the 400 free relay. He’s also capable of splitting around 19-flat on the 200 free relay.

Lithuanian national Daniil Pancerevaswent 44.15 and 1:34.44 last year, but his long course times of 22.95/49.68/1:48.93 in LCM suggest that he could add some relay depth if his yards swimming develops as well as some of the other Hokie international swimmers’ have.

The newcomer most likely to make an impact in the sprint freestyles may be Slovakian national Jakub Poliacik. He trends a little more towards the distance side, but his SCM best times convert to SCY times of roughly 20.9/43.3/1:34.8. Virginia native Luis Domínguez arrives with bests of 20.76/45.18, while Texas’ Danny Bishop has been 21.25/45.59/1:37.96.

DISTANCE FREE: ★

Once again, Luis Domínguez and Nicolas Garcia were the only two Hokie men to qualify for NCAAs in distance events, and both swam the 500 free, where they went 4:16.09 (39th) and 4:20.30 (47th) respectively.

Lee Naber dropped roughly six seconds in his 500 and 22 seconds in the 1650 last season and contributed at ACCs by finishing 14th in the 500 (4:20.58) and 8th in the 1650 (15:14.21). Similar drops this year would put him into NCAA invite range.

The ACC didn’t have much depth in the 1650 last year (everyone who swam and wasn’t DQ’d scored), although that may change with the addition of Cal and Stanford. Regardless, the freshman class should help at at least the ACC level. Kyle Algrim (15:30.73) and JC Gordon (15:30.12) both arrive with ACC scoring times in the 1650, and Jakub Poliacik‘s best times convert to roughly 4:21.57/15:23.00.

BACKSTROKE: ★★

With Forest Webb out of eligibility, the Hokies only return two ACC scorers in this discipline. The key one is Spanish Olympian Nicolas Garcia. He once again qualified for NCAAs, but never cracked 1:40 last year and didn’t score at NCAAs. His lifetime best of 1:39.49 from the 2023 ACCs would put him in the B-final at NCAAs if he could match it.

Gabriel Yuk was the only other Hokie to score at ACCs, with a 23rd-place effort in the 100 back. Once again, Virginia Tech’s fastest man in the 100 last year was actually Youssef Ramadan, who led off the 400 medley relay with times of 45.34 (ACCs) and 45.61 (NCAAs), although he clocked a 44.59 leadoff in 2023.

Hungary’s Levente Balogh comes to Blacksburg this year with LCM bests of 55.73 and 2:00.35, which convert to roughly 47.4 and 1:43.10 in yards. At the very least he should be a scoring threat at ACCs, and given how successful many internationals have been at Virginia Tech, he could qualify for NCAAs sooner rather than later.

BREASTSTROKE: ★★★

After missing scoring in the 100 in 2023, Carles Coll Marti finished in the top five at NCAAs in both breaststroke races. He hit a lifetime best of 50.95 at ACCs, and he nearly matched that time with a 51.06 to finish 5th in the 100. Similarly, he was a bit off of his 1:49.69 lifetime best in the 200, but his 1:49.99 put him only behind Leon Marchand and Matt Fallon. With Marchand going pro, Fallon’s probably the favorite to win the title in March, but Coll Marti could be right there with him.

Ethan Maloney had another solid showing as a sophomore, going 52.15/1:55.45 to pick up points at ACCs. Both those times are just a bit off of his bests of 51.95/1:55.15 from 2023. Aiken Do hit a lifetime best of 54.02 at the Virginia Tech invite and also has been 1:59.41 in the 200.

The Hokies add a little depth with freshmen Eli Martin (54.65/1:57.28) and Pablo Silva (55.13/1:58.17).

BUTTERFLY: ★★★

After capturing the 2023 NCAA title in the 100 fly one of the most memorable post-race interviews in recent memory, Yossef Ramadan’s 2023-2024 season got off to a rougher start when he was out for several meets in the fall due to injury. He never quite back to his best times, but most swimmers would be pretty happy when an “off” season resulted in a 4th-place finish at NCAAs, where he touched in 43.95. Josh Liendo was all the rage last year, but Ramadan’s best of 43.15 is only 0.08s off of Liendo’s winning time, so this should be a great race to watch come March.

In 2023, Mario Molla Yanes went 45.44 in ACC prelims, then finished dead last at NCAAs, apparently dealing with sickness or injury. In 2024, he clocked a new lifetime best of 45.06 with an 18th place finish at NCAAs, while also holding down the 400 medley relay fly leg so Ramadan could swim back.

For the second year in a row, Will Hayon hit a lifetime best at a Last Chance meet, clocking 45.35 in early March. That time earned him a NCAA invite, and he finished 31st with a time of 45.86.

Carl Bloebaum bounced back from a freshman campaign that was limited by injury to finish 6th at ACCs in the 200 fly, then continued to improve his best with a 1:42.16 at a Last Chance meet. He made the C-final in the 100 and clocked a 46.12, but he went 45.68 in high school, so he still has the potential to be another Hokie knocking on the door of a sub-45 swim.

Fellow rising junior Landon Gentry was one of the top butterfly prospects in the country coming out of high school, but didn’t manage to qualify for NCAAs last year after doing so as a freshman. Like Bloebaum, his best times (46.07/1:42.32) mean that as long as he’s healthy, he’s an ACC scorer, and he certainly has the potential to make NCAAs again.

Freshman Levente Balogh represented Hungary at the 2023 European Juniors, where he set a best time of 1:59.58 in the long course 200 fly. That converts to roughly a 1:44.4, which puts him in ACC scoring range, while his 100 LCM best of 54.56 converts to a 47.7.

IM: ★★★

This has historically been a fairly strong area for the Hokies, and Carles Coll Marti is one of the fastest men in college swimming, owning a lifetime best of 1:39.63 from 2022. While last season was a bit of a hiccup for him, matching his lifetime best would put him back squarely in the middle of the ‘A’ final.

Nicolas Garciahas a best time of 3:41.63 in the 400 IM, but he didn’t swim the event this year, leaving Coll Marti with the Hokies’ only NCAA swim in this discipline. Garcia’s best time last year was a 3:45.90 from ACCs, but his lifetime would’ve made the B-final at NCAAs, so there is a potential for additional points here if he returns to form.

It’s hard to say if this will be a focus for Jakub Poliacik, but his best SCM converts to roughly 1:46.8, which would’ve put him behind only Coll Marti and Daniil Pancerevas (1:45.31) and equal with Mario Molla Yanes (1:46.89) on last year’s roster. Additionally, Landon Gentry owns an ACC scoring-worthy time of 1:45.16 from 2023.

DIVING: ★

Jacob Fisher was Virginia Tech’s best diver at ACCs last season, netting 46 points, but he missed qualifying for NCAAs after doing so as a freshman in 2023. Zach Shaddy also added points at ACCs in the 1m and 3m events.

RELAYS: ★★★½

The name of the game for Virginia Tech relays is “stability.” They didn’t lose a single leg going from 2022-2023 into 2023-2024, and once again they return all their legs from last year. That’s some almost unheard-of continuity.

Without any other obvious solution for the backstroke leg, Youssef Ramadan will likely continue to lead-off the medley relays, while Carles Coll Marti will swim breast and Brendan Whitfield will anchor. Will Hayon swam the fly leg on the 200 medley, whileMario Molla Yanes held it down on the 400. There’s a chance we could see some flex on that leg, especially Carl Bloebaum or Landon Gentrymake some strides, or if a backstroker emerges to free Ramadan to move back to fly, but otherwise the medleys look pretty locked in already.

It’s a similar situation on the freestyle relays, where there doesn’t seem to be an obvious impetus to shake up last year’s lineups. Perhaps someone like Jakub Poliacik forces his way onto the 800 and frees up another swimmer, but with four guys splitting between 1:32.2 and 1:32.5, there’s no obvious weak leg. 

Total Stars: 19½/40

2024-2025 OUTLOOK 

While they didn’t move up in the overall team standings, there’s a strong argument that they were a markedly better team in 2024 than they were in 2023. They scored roughly 40 more points, got all five relays to score, and a number of swimmers hit lifetime bests at NCAAs. Take away a 200 IM DQ, and the Hokies would’ve finished ahead of Stanford and possibly challenged Texas for 7th.

Virginia Tech is in the enviable position of only losing one NCAA qualifier and returning all relay legs. The top of the sport has such a concentration of talent that it’s tough to see a path for them to crack into the top 7 or so, but assuming no mishaps, they’re a safe bet for another top-10 NCAA finish.

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