Virginia Tech swimmer reflects on NCAA individual championship win

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - At the end of March, Virginia Tech swimmer Youssef Ramadan picked up an NCAA Championship in the 100-yard butterfly with a 43.15 time.

“I saw my team, they were crazy. The stands went insane and I knew,” he remembers.

The win marks the first NCAA individual title for the swim and dive program and the 21st individual for Virginia Tech.

The Egyptian swimmer says his experience competing in the Tokyo Olympics helped prepare him for this achievement.

“It’s helped me a lot because to be able to be there I failed so many times and what’s helped me become first in the NCAA is how I’ve learned to fail.”

Through that competition, Ramadan has been able to find comfort in challenge.

“The hard times are when you have to push through. If I feel okay, I’ll be able to swim okay, that’s easy,” he explains. “What’s hard is when you feel like you can’t do it, when you’re at the pool and you’re about to head in and it’s cold, and it’s 5 a.m. and you just hate it. But these are the times where champions are like made.”

Feeling proud to be both a champion and a Hokie.

“I’ve been the happiest I’ve ever been in VT,” he says. “The staff and the team changed who I am, and to be able to be the first in VT history [swim and dive] to win a NCAA with VT on the cap means everything to me.”

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