Julia Smith from Virginia Beach, Virginia has announced her verbal commitment to Virginia Tech for 2019-20, where she’ll join future classmates Ashley Worden, Brooke Travis, Erin Quinn, Grace Cutrell, Hannah Jirsa, Hannah Virgin, Jenna Thompson, Morgan Miller, Rose Pouch, Shelby Raber, and Sophia Ryan.
“I am ecstatic to announce my commitment to continue my swim and academic career at Virginia Tech! A special thanks to my coaches, family and friends for all their support through this adventure. I can’t wait to officially join the Hokie family!! #GoHokies”
A senior at Ocean Lakes High School, Smith helped the OLHS women’s swim team win conference titles in each of the last two seasons, the first two in school history. She finaled in the 100 breast and 100 free at 2018 6A VHSL State Meet and holds OLHS school records in the 50 free and 100 free.
Smith took a 3-and-a-half-year break from the sport, only starting back up again with competitive swimming in 2016. This summer she had big drops, hinting at the kind of potential she has for further development under head coach Sergio Lopez and his staff. For instance,
| PB before 2018 | May 2018 | June 2018 | July 2018 | August 2018 | |
| 100 LCM breast | 1:18.95 | 1:16.78 | 1:14.79 | 1:13.95 | |
| 200 LCM breast | 2:57.76 | 2:52.00 | 2:42.91 | 2:42.05 | |
| 100 LCM free | 1:01.68 | 1:00.41 | 1:00.21 | 1:00.12 | |
| 50 LCM free | 28.07 | 28.02 p 27.86 f |
Smith swims year-round with Tide Swimming in Virginia Beach. She finaled in the 100/200y breast and 100y free at the 2018 TYR ISCA Junior Championship Cup in March, and in the 100/200m breast at Richmond Futures. A member of the 2018 Virginia Swimming short course all-star team, her best SCY times are:
- 100 breast 1:03.94
- 200 breast – 2:18.40
- 100 free – 52.88
- 50 free – 24.55
If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected].
WAY TO GO JULIA!