The Virginia club team SNOW Swimming has 7 seniors heading off to swim at the collegiate level next year: Collin Hughes, Hannah Carter, Stuart Pliuskaitis, Sally Burkley, and Luay Hilmi (pictured above), as well as Thomas Moore and Missy Cundiff (not pictured). (SwimSwam previously wrote about Luay Hilmi and Missy Cundiff.)
Thomas Moore, Army West Point
Ashburn, VA, Briar Woods High School
Moore is a USA Swimming Scholastic All-American and four-time VHSL 5A State Champion. As a junior he brought home gold in the 100 breast with 56.84 at the 2017 State Meet, and came in 5th in the 50 free with 22.15. He also anchored the winning 400 free relay. The next year he successfully defended his 100 breast title (57.19) and won the consolation in the 50 free (21.72). In addition, he added a 1st-place finish in the 200 medley relay (25.44 breast split). Moore competed in the 100 breast and 200 IM at Winter Juniors East last December, then followed up with the 50 free and 50/100/200 breast at 2018 NCSA Spring Championship. His 50 free, 50 breast, and 100 breast times are all recent PBs.
Top SCY times:
- 50 breast – 25.80
- 100 breast – 56.13
- 200 breast – 2:06.08
- 50 free – 21.72
- 100 free – 48.90
- 200 IM – 1:59.85
Collin Hughes, Johns Hopkins University
Leesburg, VA, Loudoun County High School
“I chose Johns Hopkins because I want BOTH an excellent swim team environment AND a challenging, world-class college experience in the classroom. I’m excited to join the outstanding swimmers and coaches and achieve my NCAA swimming goals as well as to get involved in some interesting research opportunities while attending Hopkins.”
A USA Swimming Scholastic All-American, Hughes was runner-up in the 200 free (1:39.27) at 2018 VHSL 4A State Championship; he also swam the 500 free in prelims and went 4:39.53. He holds school records in the 50/100/200/500 free, 100 fly, 200 IM, and as a member of all 3 relays.
Top SCY times:
- 100 free – 45.57
- 200 free – 1:39.23
- 500 free – 4:28.73
- 400 IM – 4:02.67
Hannah Carter, Gardner-Webb University
Leesburg, VA, Woodgrove High School
“I am beyond excited to attend Gardner Webb University in the fall. The moment I stepped on campus I knew Gardner Webb was the University for me. They offer an outstanding academic program and a wonderful swim program where I feel I can make a significant contribution to their distance freestyle program. I would like to thank SNOW Swimming, my family and friends for all of the support over the years. GO DAWGS!”
Carter specializes in distance freestyle. Her best times would have scored at CCSA Championships in the B final of the 500 free and 1650 free and the C final of the 400 IM.
- 200 free – 1:52.89
- 500 free – 4:59.68
- 1000 free – 10:19.64
- 1650 free – 17:22.35
- 400 IM – 4:38.88
Stuart Pliuskaitis, University of British Columbia
Asburn, VA, Briar Woods High School
“I choose UBC because it offers the best collegiate swimming in Canada as well as a quality degree in Architectural or Environmental Design. I feel I can play a part as a teammate and an asset to the Thunderbird men’s team. I am hoping that the Thunderbirds program leads me to even bigger stages.”
Pliuskaitis excels at the longer end of the freestyle range. He came in 4th in the 500 free (4:39.89) and won the consolation final of the 200 free (1:44.08) at the 2018 VHSL Class 5 State Meet in his senior season. He competed in the 500/1650 freestyles at Winter Juniors East, and added the 200 free, 200 fly, and 400 IM to the mix at Christiansburg Sectionals.
Top SCY times:
- 1650 free – 15:44.32
- 1000 free – 9:30.27
- 500 free – 4:35.94
- 200 free – 1:43.81
- 400 IM – 4:09.63
Sally Burkley, University of Mary Washington
Great Falls, VA, Homeschooled
“I chose Mary Washington University because I love the community and the atmosphere of the campus. Also, I love how supportive the team is of one another. Coach Abby is very friendly and supportive but also very driven to helping her swimmers reach their goals.”
Burkley swims mostly breast, fly and IM. She competed in the 100/200 breast, 100 fly and 200 IM at Christiansburg Sectionals, attaining the D-final in the 200 breast. Since the start of her senior year she improved her PBs in the 50/200 free, 50/100/200 breast, 50/100/200 fly, and 200/400 IM.
Top SCY times:
- 200 breast – 2:27.95
- 100 breast – 1:07.71
- 50 breast – 31.72
- 100 fly – 59.94
- 50 fly – 27.39
- 200 IM – 2:12.90
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I’ve never heard of this this club until last year at NCSAs Juniors in the Spring of 2017. Last year they sent some pretty solid seniors to big schools. I think Micheal Burris is at Bama, Jackson Lucas at LSU, and Popovich at Penn State. Love seeing these small club teams doing big things around big club teams(NCAP). Looks like Erik Collins and Rumbaugh are doing good work! Keep it up SNOW
What a wonderful group of scholar-athletes! Congratulations to all the coaches and parents and teachers who worked together to help these young people achieve their dreams!
Well, 7 swimmers to college programs, but only 6 to the NCAA. UBC is not part of the NCAA.
Go U Sports! A whole new set of swimmers to track at one of Canada’s National Training Centers!
That is correct, the Canadian counterpart to NCAA is USports. Vancouver is in Canada! UBC happens house one of the Swim Canada National Training centers…Go ‘Birds!