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Christine Datovech has announced that she will be continuing her academic and swimming career at Virginia Tech University in the fall of 2024. Datovech, a Virginia native, is finishing up her junior year at Maggie Walker Governor’s School in Richmond, Virginia. Her high school team recently won the 2022 Virginia High School League (VHSL) Class 3 State Title. She also swims year-round with SwimRVA Rapids, also in Richmond.
“With great honor, I am blessed to announce my verbal commitment to study and swim at Virginia Tech. Swimming collegiately has been a dream of mine, and I could not have gotten to where I am without the endless support from my faith, family, coaches, friends, and community. A special thanks to my head coach, Jonathan Kaplan, who has continued to challenge me through the years and who has helped me grow into the person I am today. I cannot fully express how excited I am to join the Hokie Family and to see where this next chapter of life takes me. God Bless and #GOHOKIES 🦃🧡”
A USA Swimming Scholastic All-American, Datovech swims anything under a 100 that is free, fly, or back. She is coming off a highly successful showing at Winter Juniors – East, where she clocked personal best times in all but one of her events. Her highest finish was in the 50 free, where she earned 13th with a best time of 22.85. She also took 22nd in the 100 free (50.33) and 29th in the 100 back (54.94).
Top SCY Times:
- 50 free – 22.85
- 100 free – 50.33
- 200 free – 1:53.57
- 100 back – 54.25
- 100 fly – 53.78
The Hokie women placed 7th out of 12 teams at the 2022 ACC Championships, and sent nine athletes to the 2022 NCAA Division I Championships. Datovech is on track to final in multiple events at conference, as her best times in the 50 free and 100 fly would have put her just inside the C-final at last year’s ACCs. Virginia Tech scored 38 points in the 50 free and 26 points in the 100 fly, meaning they were relatively mid-level impact events for them.
Virginia Tech’s sprint group is deep this year, with five athletes already under the 23.00 barrier in the 50 free. The current sprint squad is led by grad student Madelyn Moore and freshman Carmen Weiler Sastre, who have been as fast as 22.45 and 22.52 this year, respectively. Senior Karisa Franz leads the team in the 100 fly, having swam a 52.94 at the Ohio State Invite in November. Of that group, only Sastre will still be on campus when Datovech arrives in 2024.
Datovech is joined by Amanda Barnard in Virginia Tech’s class of 2028. Barnard is also a Virginia native, but instead specializes in distance freestyle and IM. Similar to Datovech, a few of her best times are already projected to score at ACCs, specifically the 400 IM and 1650.
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