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Athena Kovacs of Fort Lauderdale, Florida has announced her commitment to continue her athletic and academic careers at Virginia Tech beginning in the 2023-2024 school year.
Kovacs most recently represented Mexico at the 2023 World Championships in Japan. There she finished 26th in the 200 back (2:15.14) and 32nd in the 100 fly (1:00.95). She also competed on three relays in prelims for the team.
In June, she represented Mexico at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games. There she finished second in the 100 free (56.39), 100 fly (59.86, 100 back (1:02.62), and 200 back (2:15.06) as well as sixth in the 50 fly (27.36).
Back in March, she competed at Pro Swim-Fort Lauderdale. There she was sixth in the 200 back (2:14.18), seventh in the 50 back (29.42), ninth in the 100 fly (59.58), 11th in the 100 back (1:02.72), 13th in the 50 fly (27.31), and 28th in the 100 free (56.84).
Kovacs used to compete in short course yards (SCY) but has not competed in a SCY meet since March 2021 during prelims at ISCAs (where finals were long course meters). There she swam personal bests of 50.49 in the 100 free, 54.58 in the 100 back, and 1:59.44 in the 200 back.
Kovacs best LCM times (with SCY conversions) are:
- 100 back: 1:02.36 (55.09)
- 200 back: 2:12.66 (1:57.35)
- 100 fly: 59.44 (52.28)
The Hokie women finished sixth out of 12 teams at the 2023 ACC Championships. The team was led by their backstroke group as Emma Atkinson and Carmen Weiler Sastre were the team’s top two individual scorers.
Based on Kovacs best converted times, she would have already made the ACC ‘B’ final of the 100 fly and the ‘C’ final of the 200 back, less than a tenth off of the 200 backstroke ‘B’ final. The team only had one finalist in the 100 fly (one ‘B’ finalist) so the addition of Kovac is a huge boost. Kovacs 100 fly converted time would also have been the fastest on the roster this past season by 0.04 seconds, which may potentially make an impact at the medley relay level.
Kovacs will arrive on campus this fall as a member of the class of 2027 along with Parker Bolduc, Julia Simpson, Delaney Bookstein, Courtney Phillips, Sydney Starnes, and Kate Anderson. The class is made up of mostly freestylers, so the addition of Kovacs brings some versatility to the class.
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