SWIMMING

Splash Valley prepared for a busy season of fun this summer

2,500 athletes will compete in Virginia's Blue Ridge IRONMAN this Sunday.

Being fast led Carly Wilkes to putting her best foot forward in running track and cross country.

"I have to try and make myself believe that I'm going to do something great."

Hidden Valley had five spring athletes sign their National Letter of Intent Friday. Swimmer Meagan Baxley is off to Washington and Lee, Titan goalie Rio Jarrett is going to Concord University, and three lacrosse players are moving on. Landon Blackshear to Bridgewater, Tyler Duffey to Averett, and Connor McGarry to Pfeiffer University.

Either exercising more or achieving greater fitness goals are usually popular New Year’s resolutions for people, but have you thought about an even bolder resolution that will ensure you either get or remain in great shape?

The inspiration the Olympic Summer Games brings sticks around long after the games are over.

Well, that was as fast as Caeleb Dressel swimming the 50-meter freestyle.

The Blacksburg native and Virginia Tech grad qualified for the 50m and 100m freestyle for Team Hong Kong.

We lost a lot last summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and one of those things was the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

ROANOKE, Va. – Daleville’s Olivia Bray has many titles; Lord Botetourt alum, Olympic Trial Qualifier, Texas Longhorn, and now, and All-American. Last week, she competed in multiple events in her first NCAA Swim & Dive Championship, taking home silver in the 200-meter butterfly as a freshman. “There were eight of us, two swimmers had been to an NCAA Championship before so we were a new group to go. We went to go get the trophy and we couldn’t let it go.”AdBray placed 3rd in the 400-yard medley relay, 7th in the 200-yard medley relay, 9th in the 400-yard freestyle relay with her team, 7th in the 100-yard butterfly, 16th in the 100-yard backstroke, 2nd in the 200-yard butterfly. With her Olympic dreams put on hold last year, she also intends on competing in the Olympic trials this summer.

This time, we’re hitting a swimming hole known to the locals as Blue Hole, but is part of Jennings Creek in Arcadia. You’ll park in a little lot right off of Route 614. You’ll then walk to the left back across the bridge that crosses Jennings Creek. When the water is high, this makes for a nice swimming hole as well, but for now we just got our hair wet and moved on. We walked downstream along the bank then over some boulders to make it to the actual Blue Hole.

ROANOKE, Va. After about two months out of the pool, a 5 a.m. wake up call is nothing for the CCA Marlins. Swimmers are like getting fish out of the water, its just not possible, head coach Amina Serir said. The year-round swim club is one of the first teams to get back in the water since the Coronavirus pandemic. I know RVAA as a league decided back in May that we were not going to host a formal swim season, RVAA board member Shannon Hoopes said. "Right now we have been following the guidelines, one swimmer per lane, only 50 minutes so we can clean up between practices,' Serir said.

Charles Cobbert was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 3 and at age 17, he is competing in the swimming nationals. Meg Oliver reports on how the repetitive aerobic activity helps to reduce the autistic behavior.