Ryan Hawkins earned two All-America honors and led the Virginia Tech men’s swimming and diving team to a top-20 finish at the NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships held March 28-30 in Indianapolis, Ind.
Tech finished in a tie for 20th with 52 points – just three shy of the program’s best point total at the NCAA meet. Only NC State (15th) and Duke (17th) finished higher than the Hokies in the meet among ACC schools.
Hawkins, a junior from Charlotte, N.C., tallied 27 of those 52 points. He finished in sixth place in the 3-meter diving event (397.70 points) and eighth place in the platform diving event (352.85 points). As a result, he earned All-America status in both events. He also earned honorable mention All-America honors in the 1-meter event after finishing in 14th place with 312.20 points.
Logan Shinholser, a senior from Burtonsville, Md., finished ninth in the platform event to earn honorable mention All-America status.
Tech’s 200 medley relay team came in 15th place with a time of 1:26.42. The quartet of Zach McGinnis, Nathan Hoisington, Gregory Mahon and Joe Bonk earned honorable mention All-America honors.
McGinnis, Mahon, Bonk and Emmett Dignan teamed to earn honorable mention honors as part of two relay teams. The 200 freestyle relay team placed 16th with a time of 1:18.82, while the 400 medley relay team came in 14th with a time of 3:09.83.
Mahon and McGinnis also earned honorable mention honors. Mahon took 15th in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 46.94 seconds, while McGinnis placed 15th in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 46.82 seconds.
On the women’s side, the Tech women’s swimming and diving team finished 24th at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships held March 22-23 in Indianapolis. The Hokies finished with 26 points and recorded the third-highest finish among ACC schools, as North Carolina came in 12th and Virginia came in 18th.
Heather Savage closed out a terrific career in fine fashion. The senior from Canandaigua, N.Y., finished eighth in the 100-yard butterfly, swimming the event in a time of 52.14 seconds. The two-time ACC champion in the event earned All-America honors for the second straight year. She leaves Tech holding the school record time in both the 100 and 200 butterfly.
Kaylea Arnett, a sophomore from Spring, Texas, earned honorable mention All-America honors in two events. On the first day of the event, she finished in 10th place in the 1-meter diving competition, accumulating a score of 326.60 points. Then, on the final day of the event, she scored 301.10 points in the platform event to place 11th.
Logan Kline also closed out her career earning All-America honors. The senior from Mission Hills, Kansas, earned an honorable mention nod after finishing 15th in the 3-meter diving event with 325.35 points.
The Hokies lose a lot of talent off both the men’s and women’s teams, as Shinholser, Mahon and McGinnis depart on the men’s side, while Savage and Kline leave on the women’s side. But the remainder of those who qualified for the NCAA Championships – a total of 13 – return for next season, leaving Tech coaches, swimmers, divers and fans with optimism looking ahead to the 2013-14 season.
