NOVA Senior Classic
- October 30-November 1, 2020
- NAC, Richmond, VA
- SCY
- Results on Meet Mobile “NOVA Senior Classic”
Two of the country’s largest swim clubs, NOVA of Virginia Aquatics and Nation’s Capital Swim Club met last weekend for a meet, where some of the nation’s top age-group talents clashed with one another.
Two of the top-ranked recruits in the next two women’s classes highlighted the meet: Grace Sheble, an NC State commit who is currently ranked 3rd in the class of 2021, and Zoe Dixon, a Florida commit who is ranked 5th in the class of 2022.
Sheble competed in 6 events over the course of the weekend, winning 2 of them. Sheble got her first win in the 200 butterfly, where she posted a time of 1:57.88. With her swim, Sheble now ranks as the 6th-fastest performer in the country across all age-groups, and she is the 2nd fastest 18 and under swimmer on the list. The only time for an 18-and-under that is faster than Sheble’s belongs to 15-year-old Tess Howley, who’s 1:55.03 leads the nation across all age groups.
Sheble also got a win in one of her primary events, posting a final time of 1:59.21 in the 200 IM to claim the victory. Like the 200 fly, Sheble’s 200 IM time also ranks 6th in the nation across all age-groups. She was only about 2 seconds off of her best time, which stands at a 1:57.00.
In the 400 IM, Dixon managed to out-touch Sheble 4:09.52 to 4:11.99 for the victory. During the race, Dixon went out hard, splitting a 57.18 on the butterfly leg, and never looked back. Although Sheble attempted to close the gap during the freestyle leg, splitting 58.33 to Dixon’s 59.29, the lead was insurmountable. Dixon’s time ranks 4th in the country across all age-groups, while Sheble’s ranks 5th. The two now stand as the top-2 18 and under swimmers in the country.
Over the course of the weekend, Dixon had a successful meet, managing to drop time in 2 of her “off” events.
Dixon began her weekend swimming the 1000 freestyle, where she dropped almost 2 seconds to finish 10th overall in a time of 10:13.24. Traditionally an IM-er and backstroker, Dixon has only registered 3 swims in the 1000 in the USA Swimming database, with her old personal best coming from exactly one year ago.
In the 200 freestyle, Dixon put up another drop, cutting 1.3 seconds off of her best time to swim a time of 1:49.66. This marked her first time under the 1:50-barrier in the event, as her previous best stood at a 1:51.00.
Other Highlights:
- 15-year-old Jordan Kelly dropped time in all 7 of the events he swam, most impressively dropping almost 5 seconds in the 200 breaststroke to post a time of 2:03.20.
- Landon Gentry, who is ranked as “one to watch” in SwimSwam’s rankings of the class of 2022, put up a fast time of 1:47.99 in the 200 butterfly, coming less than 2 seconds off of his best time (1:46.06).
- 15-year-old Devin Naoroz swam to a final time of 50.66 in the 100 backstroke, dropping just under .2 off of his best time.
- Finishing just behind Dixon and Sheble in the 400 IM, 16-year-old Sophie Duncan dropped about 2 seconds off of her best time in the event to finish in a time of 4:13.00.
