BLACKSBURG – The 2009-10 Virginia Tech men’s swimming signing class has been ranked 20th in the country by CollegeSwimming.com, one of the premier sites covering the sport. It marks the second year in a row the men’s class has been nationally ranked. With the women’s class ranked 14th in the county by the same site, it marks the first time both programs have had top-20 recruiting classes in the same year.

From the site:

“With only three seniors graduating, the Hokies had to be parsimonious in their scholarship allocations this year. That typically means lots of in-state kids and maybe a couple of outstanding kinds from out of state or out of country. That’s exactly how Ned Skinner and his staff played it this year – pulling in some outstanding kids in-state (more even than #5 Virginia) and nabbing a couple of big time additions.

“Karl Botha is a flyer in the mold of former ACC standout and British Olympian Stephen Parry. He will give the Hokies a shot at bringing multiple athletes to the March meet. Greg Mahon has similar possibilities. Mahon is a PIAA Champion in the 100 fly and 200 IM and multiple-time Y-Nat finalist. His decision to attend Blacksburg was a double-bonus as he was also considering ACC rivals Maryland and Florida State.

“After that the class looks like a who’s who of Virginia swimming. The Hokies captured six of the state’s top twenty recruits with only three escaping to ACC competitors.”

The entire class of swimmers consists of: Karl Botha, Gregory Mahon, Michael Hallock, Mason Wilcox, Alex Lutterbein, Ben Munster, Trevor Carr, Adam Skipper and Tom Sheranek. Highly touted diver Logan Shinholser also signed in the fall.