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Rising Virginia Tech sophomore Erika Hajnal of the swimming team, who stormed onto the collegiate scene when she shattered schools records in the 500, 1000, 1650 free and 400 IM in her freshman year campaign, recently represented her native homeland of Hungary at the 25th Universidad World University Games held in Belgrade, Serbia. Hajnal, who became the Hokies’ first All-American in the distance events at this past year’s NCAA championships, swam a large slate of events for the meet; 400 freestyle (22nd), 800 freestyle (14th), 1500 freestyle (9th), 400 IM (11th) and 200 butterfly (5th).

“Erika has made a huge impact to our program since her arrival and we are pleased of how she has represented our program over seas,” Virginia Tech head coach Ned Skinner said. “She swam many races in Serbia and competed well in all of them. We look forward to her sophomore year this fall.”

Former Hokie and 2008 Olympian, Kaan Tayla, used the Mediterranean Games held in Pescara, Italy as a tune up meet for his preparation for the World Championships to be held in Rome later this month. Continuing his post-graduate training in Blacksburg, Tayla competed in the 50 freestyle (7th) and the 100 freestyle (7th, with a lifetime best of 50.20).

“We are thrilled about where Kaan is at this point,” Skinner said. “He made the decision to not have any rest for these major international meets prior to the World Champs and we are excited to see what he can do in Rome. For Kaan to go a best time in the 100 freestyle, shows he is on track to hit lifetime bests at Worlds.”

For updates on Virginia Tech swimming & diving, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_SwimDive).