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After originally committing to East Carolina University in May, rising high school senior Ava Yandle bounced back from the elimination of the ECU program and found a home at Virginia Tech for the 2021-22 school year and beyond.
“I’m super excited to announce my verbal commitment to swim and study at Virginia Tech University. This decision gives me an opportunity for a fantastic education and a very competitive swim environment. I remain thankful for my family, friends, and coaches who have supported me throughout my swimming career. I can’t wait to get to beautiful Blacksburg and join my new Hokie family!”
Yandle swims for Piedmont, North Carolina’s Piedmont High School, where she is a two-time USA Swimming Scholastic All-American, and SwimMAC Carolina. She specializes in back and fly and is a Winter Juniors qualifier in the 100/200 back and 100 fly. Yandle wrapped up her junior year of high school swimming at the North Carolina 3A State Meet where she placed 2nd in the 100 back (55.92) and 3rd in the 100 fly (55.51). A month later she swam at Southern Premier in the 100/200 free, 100/200 back, 100/200 fly, and 200 IM. She earned lifetime bests in both backstrokes and finaled in the 100 back (11th), 200 back (12th), 100 fly (31st), 200 fly (24th), and 200 IM (30th). At last summer’s Charlotte Ultraswim, she took home PBs in the LCM 50 back (31.21), 100 back (1:05.13), 50 fly (29.27), and 100 fly (1:04.64). She ended the summer at 2019 Futures Meet in Greensboro, touching 8th in the 200m back and 18th in the 100m back.
Top SCY times:
- 100 back – 55.61
- 200 back – 2:00.44
- 100 fly – 55.31
- 200 fly – 2:04.07
- 200 IM – 2:04.55
- 100 free – 52.30
- 200 free – 1:51.51
Yandle will join verbal commits Alex Eastmond, Athena Vanyo, and Julia Nappi in the H2Okies’ class of 2025. Virginia Tech had four sub-55 backstrokers on the roster in 2019-20. While Emily Meilus (54.18/1:55.00) and Margarita Ryan (54.43/1:57.56) will have graduated by the time Yandle gets to Blacksburg, Alex Slayton (54.61/2:06.49), Brooke Travis (1:56.89) and Sarah Shackelford (54.97) will still be part of the H2Okies’ backstroke training group.
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Welcome to the Hokie Family Ava!