US based F-Teamers Flying the Funky Flag
Swimmers AJ Pouch, Tom Hallock and Antani Ivanov, all based out of Virginia Tech in the US, are eyeing off bigger, better and Funkier things as three of our newest F-Team recruits. With the new NIL (name, image, and likeness) NCAA rule changes in place, American college athletes are now able to engage with brands while they are still in competing for their college or university. We're pumped to have them flying the Funky flag down South!
Antani Ivanov is a senior freestyle and butterfly specialist, and is a Bulgarian who competed at the Tokyo Olympics. He won a bronze medal in the 200m Butterfly at the 2017 World Junior Championships and won silver for the same event at the 2016 European Junior Championships. This year he was named all-American in both the Men’s 100m and 200m Butterfly, and also claimed bronze at the NCAA Championships.
We got a little more personal with AJ and Tom below.
Q&A With AJ Pouch
How did you get into swimming?
I was forced into the sport of swimming when I was 12 because I was “too chunky” according to my mom. Once I swam at a few swim meets I fell in love with the sport and now it’s all I ever think about.
What is your college season like?
Our college season basically starts from the moment school starts until school ends (around August/Sept to May) and we suit up for our mid season invite, our conference meet, and NCAAs.
Tell us about your main events.
My best events are the 100 Breaststroke (personal bests are 52.4 SCY / 1:00.3 LCM) and 200 breaststroke (1:52.6 SCY / 2:10.35 LCM), but I also swim the 200 IM in our college season (1:45 SCY and 2:05 LCM).
What is your long-term swimming goal?
My all time goal is to be the best breaststroker there ever was, and a goal a little closer is to make the US Olympic team for Paris 2024. I’m currently shooting for the World Championships team and the World University Games team this upcoming April.
Tell us something funny about yourself.
Some funny things about me….. I can burp the ABCs on command, when I was 8 I had my hand stuck in a tigers mouth, and I only swim breaststroke because my twin sister can swim every stroke except breaststroke.
Q&A With Tom Hallock
How did you get into swimming?
My competitive swimming career started back when I was 5 years old on my summer league team in Northern Virginia. I stuck with that team until I was 19 and became too old to compete for them. Luckily for me as a sprinter, there were only 50's of stroke and 100 IM so I think this is what drew me to love the sport.
What is your college season like?
My season consists of dual meets from October through February, then our championship season begins with ACC's and NCAAs until March, then I typically fly to Switzerland to compete at Nationals in April. From then on it depends If I qualify for a meet (euros/worlds).
Tell us about your main events…
My main events are the 50 Free (personal bests are SCY: 19.32, SCM: 21.75, and LCM: 22.91) and the 100 Free (SCY: 42.90, SCM: 48.58 and LCM: 50.62). I am mostly a freestyler but - if the race is short - I can do any stroke.
Tell us something funny about yourself…
Something funny is recently I accidentally swam freestyle for a couple seconds of a butterfly leg on a relay, and didn't get caught!! Also, a couple guys on my VT team and I love to see how much we can eat.
Tom is a Swiss national and will be representing his country at World SC Champs this month. Make sure you're following these guys on Instagram to keep up with their successes in and out of the pool!
Antani - @antaniivanov_fly
Tom - @t.hallock
AJ - @littlepouch