Junior Nationals qualifier Virginia Marsh from the High Point Swim Club and Westchester Academy in North Carolina has verbally committed to the Richmond Spiders.
The rangy freestyler/backstroker could be one of the most important commits in recent memory for the program given the improvements she made as a junior last season. While the total improvement only came out to six-tenths of a second, she swam the 10 fastest 100 yard freestyle times of her career, for example, in that single season. She also dropped over three seconds in her 200 free and 14 seconds in the 500 free to round out a resume that can fill a lot of spots for Richmond.
Best times in yards:
- 50 free – 23.86
- 100 free – 51.20
- 200 free – 1:49.84
- 500 free – 4:58.40
- 100 back – 57.67
- 200 back – 2:06.02
- 100 breast – 1:13.16
- 100 fly – 57.13
- 200 IM – 2:08.08
Her lifetime bests in each of the above races came either during her junior season, or in the case of the 100 breast already very early in her senior season.
Last season, she would’ve ranked 3rd on Richmond’s team in the 50, 100, and 500 frees; 2nd in the 200 free; and would’ve been relevant in the team’s backstroke and butterfly groups as well.
Marsh is also a two-time USA Swimming Scholastic All-American
The Richmond women are coming off another championship season in the Atlantic 10 Conference, where they’ve won 13 of the last 14 team championships.
“Being a top academic institution while winning championships in the pool, Richmond is the best overall fit for me,” Marsh said. “I look forward to contributing where I can to help Spider Swimming continue to win championships.”
Despite that run of success, the team’s sprint freestyle group wasn’t great. The 400 free relay placed just 7th in the conference and their 800 free relay was only 3rd. Marsh’s signing should help shore-up that sprint group during her four years as the rest of the conference begins to catch up to the Spiders’ depth.
