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Noah Powers from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, is headed to the University of Virginia in the fall to swim and study in the Cavaliers’ class of 2029. At the time of his verbal commitment, he wrote on social media:
“Im super excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at the University of Virginia. Thank you to all my family, friends, coaches, and the UVA staff who have supported me along the way. GO HOOS ⚔️ #savage7”
Powers is one of the top sprinters in the high school class of 2025. Representing his high school, Blue Mountain High School, at the PIAA 2A State Championships in February, he won the 50 free with 19.83 (just .01 off his best) and was runner-up in the 100 free, clocking a new PB of 43.36. He also swam legs on the 200 medley (25.85 breaststroke) and 200 free (19.55 flying start) relays.
Powers doesn’t do a lot of club swimming outside high school season and is currently unattached. He did compete at the 2024 YMCA Short Course Championships last spring –where he was a top 8 finisher in the 50/100 free and a top 16 finisher in the 200 free and 100 back– and the Richmond Futures last summer. There, he placed 3rd in the 50 free, 2nd in the 100 free, 17th in the 200 free, and 20th in the 200 back. He left the meet with new LCM times in the 50 free (22.95), 100 free (50.54), and 200 free (1:54.54).
Best SCY times:
- 50 free – 19.82
- 100 free – 43.36
- 50 back – 23.99
- 100 back – 50.13
Powers will join an absolutely star-studded class of 2029 with Thomas Heilman, Maximus Williamson, Thomas Mercer, Grant Murphy, Blake Amlicke, Nathan Szobota, Chris Smith, Davin Lindholm, Jackson Tishler, Josh Howat, and Kris Mihalyov. The Cavs invested heavily in this men’s class, much as they did on the women’s side in 2019 when they nabbed 4 of the top 20-ranked girls recruits (Kate Douglass, Ella Nelson, Maddie Donohoe, and Lexi Cuomo). Heretofore that had been a feat reserved mainly for Stanford and Cal, but after being named head coach at UVA in August 2017, Todd DeSorbo went to work building a powerhouse women’s team that has now won the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships five years in a row. DeSorbo is attempting to repeat that magic on the men’s side, and this class is a great starting point.
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Does he know that the staff will never post about the men’s team on the gram?
I just looked at their Instagram page and there are lots of posts about the men.
The women achieve more so when they’re doing one post, for example, for everyone who made the Worlds team, undoubtedly there will be more about the women. But there are still plenty about the men.
During Men’s NCAA they were posting about the women and in the accounts stories.
You could argue that DeSorbo is the worst men’s swimming coach in NCAA history. No coach has done less with more. Yes, he’s probably the greatest female coach in NCAA swimming history. But, he is an objectively terrible men’s coach. Here are the recruiting class ranks (per SwimSwam) and NCAA finishes over the last 7 years:
| Year | Class Rank | NCAA Finish |
|——-|—————–|——————-|
| 2019 | 3rd | 10th |
| 2020 | 9th | COVID |
| 2021 | 6th | 9th |
| 2022 | 6th | 10th |
| 2023 | 8th | 15th |
| 2024 | 4th | 17th |
| 2025 | ?? | 32nd |
They’ve been disappointing but these rankings can’t be the basis of any fair comparison when they ignore international recruits. Who are the best NCAA swimmers over these years? Leon Marchand, Hubi Kos, Josh Liendo, Jordan Crooks. None of them are in these rankings.
The reality is that if you pull in the 6th, 8th, or 9th best set of domestic recruits, but zero major international recruits, you’re not really on track to be top ten. Virginia Tech has been behind UVa on these rankings consistently, but if you included all their international recruits it would be obvious that they were better positioned to succeed. And looking back, it’s been internationals who have scored most of their points and allowed… Read more »
Class rankings include all swimmers, including internationals, because by the time we do class rankings, we have a pretty good idea of which internationals are coming. Individual rankings do not, because it’s impossible to figure out who is coming, who is not, and when they’re coming.
How is this class a “starting point”? UVA men have been pulling in nationally ranked classes for YEARS. If this was any other men’s team (cough cough Stanford), Swimswam would not be cutting them any slack.
Stanford men have swam a lot better than UVA the last few years.
🤓!
oh good, some competition for Gretchen.
If this class is the starting point, how should we refer to the previous 6 consecutive top 10 classes?
The class of 2019 was the first top 10 recruiting class. Let’s put some respect on their name. 🫶
Respect for the Men flaming out while the Women ascended the NCAA throne? ok
6 consecutive top 10 recruiting classes and not exactly a lot to show for it, dozens of other schools have accomplished much more with less acclaimed recruits
Those brave young men deserve our respect for venturing into and sacrificing their swimming careers for the unknown and unproven. ❤️🙌
wtf. BOTR? 19.8/43.3? What planet am I on
Had the same thought. Those times made NCAA finals when I was in college, and they’d still win or contend at the Texas high school state meet. 😳
So wild. A kid like this getting picked up late in his senior year is absurd.
He didn’t get picked up late. He committed in Nov of 2023.
This is Todd’s blast of positive PR in hopes the world will forget he has a coach on staff who admitted to abusing 11 swimmers.
I apologize, I just saw the original commitment date.
Another swimmer in this class 19.9/44.8 50/100 free and 55 100 breast and not even BOTR. Swimflation is crazy.
Very true. Which kid is this? I wasn’t aware they picked up someone who swims breaststroke besides the foreign guys
By class I meant year, not Virginia’e class. I had the wrong years though. He will be 26/27.
Oh, my bad
I’ll be interested to see who your kid is. I know a family with a kid in the 26/27 class that I’m told is heading to uva. 200/400 IM sub 1:47/3:50 and 100/200 Breast sub 55/1:57 are the flashiest times. In this day and age who knows though? Lot of recruit/school movement on commitments relative to the previous system
The kid’s already decided? Recruiting hasn’t even been open a week
Jake “The Truth” Lloyd
Todd is probably the smartest coach in the NCAA.
why are the men not good then?
Not smart enough to not hire Gary Taylor