April 11, 2012

Albemarle Senior Holly Harper grew up loathing Virginia Tech but will now be donning the maroon and orange as she signed on to swim for the Hokies Wednesday afternoon at a signing event at Albemarle High School.

"I'm from Charlottesville so originally I was like 'Oh I hate Tech so much' but my sister convinced me to go on a trip and I went there and fell in love with it. The coach just like, caught a spark in me and we just connected and I'm so excited," Harper explained.

She chose Virginia Tech over Virginia, Navy and Penn State.

Harper is a seven-time Commonwealth District champion, a five-time Northwest Region champ and holds seven Albemarle records. She also led the Patriots to their highest state meet finish ever.

Harper is also beloved by her teammates, who affectionately called her 'Mom'.

"My team is like my family and they call me 'Mom' sometimes so I'm going to miss them a lot," Harper said.

"If you're being called 'Mom' by a bunch of your teammates, they look to you as a leader. Little things like knowing what to say, knowing your teammates. I'm going to miss Holly a lot," Albemarle Coach Jake Shrum added.