Next Level Hokies: Robert Owen makes national swim team
Virginia Tech senior Robert Owen was named to the 2016–2017 USA Swimming National Team Friday, Sept. 9. As the first Hokie swimmer ever selected, Owen will not be joining the team alone — current Hokies' head coach Ned Skinner will also join as a 2016–2017 National Team coach.
For Owen, excelling at the 200-meter backstroke was a driving factor to him joining the national team. He first competed in the 200 backstroke, as well as the 400 individual medley (IM), in the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2012. Owen then came back to the U.S. Trials in 2016 much improved. The senior saw a 200-meter backstroke time of 1:56.79 at the 2016 U.S. Open and a sixth best 1:57.48 time in the finals of 2016 Olympic Swim Trials.
Before these meets and even before he came to Tech, the Hokies star swimmer had seen a great deal of success in high school in Bridgewater at Coyle and Cassidy.
Coming to Blacksburg, Owen was Massachusetts’ top-ranked swimmer of 2013. The Bridgewater native had set records in many different events in high school including the 100-meter backstroke, 200-meter IM, 200-meter freestyle and 500-meter freestyle and looked to do the same at Virginia Tech.
In 2013–2014, Owen set the Virginia Tech record for the 400 IM with 3:45.24 time, while also competing in the 2014 NCAA Championships in the 200-meter backstroke and 400 IM.
The Bridgewater native’s next season saw even more records shattered. Owen broke Virginia Tech’s 400 IM best with a 3:41.79 time that also brought him his first individual ACC title. At the ACC Championships, the swimmer would also come in fourth in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:41.21, before going on to set the world’s seventh fastest time in the 200 backstroke long course meters (LCM) with a time of 1:58.58 in the offseason.
All of this success resulted in Owen earning the Gobbler Awards' Breakout Performer of the Year.
Now entering his senior season, and having earned a spot on the national team, Owen will look to do more of the same: keep improving and keep setting records.