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Spanish-born and Singapore-based sprinter Carmen Weiler of Nexus Swim Team and Nexus International School has verbally committed to Virginia Tech’s class of 2026. She’s the first publicly announced verbal commitment from the high school class of 2022, just over two weeks since the beginning of the NCAA recruiting season for the class.
The Singapore/Spain connection to VT head coach Sergio Lopez is strong here; Lopez is from Spain and won an Olympic bronze medal in the 200 breast in 1988 representing Spain, while he was the high-performance coach of the Singapore Swimming Association for two years. He took over as the VT head coach starting in the 2018-19 season.
Weiler is the first true commitment for the college class of 2026; Holden Smith has verbally committed to Alabama for 2022 and Kamal Muhammad to Virginia for 2022, but Smith is joining the class after to a gap year while Muhammad re-classified from the class of 2021 to 2022.
I am so excited to announce my verbal commitment to swim at Virginia Tech University! I couldn’t be more thankful for Coach Ivan Bunakov, my family and teammates for helping me make this possible. I want to thank Coach Sergio for giving me this amazing opportunity to join his team. I can’t wait to be a part of the Hokie family 🦃🧡❤️
TOP TIMES (LCM / SCY CONV.)
- 50 free – 25.79 / 22.51
- 100 free – 55.60 / 48.64
- 200 free – 2:05.64 / 1:50.30
- 50 back – 29.20 / 25.22
- 100 back – 1:02.90 / 54.90
- 200 back – 2:16.96 / 1:59.99
Weiler is a fantastic sprinter; her bests in the 50 and 100 free are from summer of 2019, when she was either 14 or 15 years old (she was born in 2004). She’s also a strong backstroker.
Last summer, Weiler just missed the 100 free podium at the 2019 European Junior Championships representing Spain. She clocked a 55.60 to finish fourth overall, also adding a 12th-place finish in the 50 free (25.97) and anchoring their sixth-place 400 medley relay with a 55.08. At the 2019 World Junior Champs, she placed 18th in both the 50 free and 100 free.
VT only has one season left with Joelle Vereb, their top sprinter last year (22.1/48.8). Weiler would’ve been the team’s top 100 freestyler last year with her converted best, which is from the summer after her freshman year of high school.
With her converted times, Weiler would’ve scored in the 2020 ACC A-final in the 100 free and the B-final in the 50 free.
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According to Sergio’s IG page, I think one unknown male swimmer has also committed to VT for 2022. Stay tuned
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCL6L_nBL2I/
Good shopping, solid investment.
Was very surprised to see Braden’s tweet last night that VT had landed a ‘genuine‘ 2022 recruit. Not surprised at all to see Sergio got a combo Spanish / Singapore recruit. Totally makes sense. Biggest surprise is that she looks like she’ll ‘only’ be 18 in Fall of ‘22, which while normal for American high school recruits seems almost like a baby for internationals coming across.
Definitely shady. Wonder if she/her classmates decomit from pressured or rushed decisions?
Doesn’t seem shady to me. Seems pretty logical that a swimmer from Spain training in Singapore would jump at the opportunity to swim for Sergio – he’s a legend in both countries.
I’m honestly surprised that there haven’t been more 2022s already. I would guess that the inability this spring/summer to take personal trips to campuses is what’s holding it up. But, it’s fairly common for international recruits to commit without taking trips to campuses.
In all honesty, Sergio is really under appreciated in the states. The man is a genius and has a wonderful personality. VT is definitely on the rise because of him. I can’t imagine it’s easy to recruit a kid and sell VT but he’s doing it very well!
Why would VT be a hard sell? It’s a beautiful campus, has stellar academics, and has nice facilities.
Curious must not know much about Sergio. What would be odd is a recruit like this going anywhere else!
This is NOT from 2 weeks of recruiting… Singapore + Spain… yeah it was a done deal before the June 15 my guess. A little shady.
Class of 2022, take your time. Visit the schools, meet the teams, and get to know the coaches. Your social media post would be just as cool 🙂
Congrats Carmen
Talk about early recruiting, it’s happening!
Congratulations! Huge addition to the program!
Definitely talked to Lopez when he was with the Singapore National team.
Congrats!
you mean when she was recruited when she was 11 or 12 years old? Maybe just the logical consequence. Congrats Carmen