By Terin Frodyma on SwimSwam
Virginia Tech has added a European Junior Championship finalist, Noa Martin, and Uruguayan National Record holder, Diego Aranda, to its roster for the upcoming 2025-2026 season.
Martin, a distance freestyler from Club Natación Ferca-San Jose in Spain, finaled in a pair of events at the 2024 European Aquatics Junior Championships (LCM). She finished 6th in both the 800 freestyle in 8:46.33 and the 1500 free in 16:36.17.
At the age of 14, Martin earned an open water bronze in the 5km (52:05.90) at the World Junior Open Water Swimming championships in 2022.
More recently, Martin raced both the mixed 4x1500m relay and the girls’ 7.5km at the 2024 World Junior Open Water Championships. Her relay took bronze in 1:11:46.00, and she touched 5th individually in the 7.5km with a time of 1:34:27.40.
In the pool, Martin swam her best times in the 400 free (4:07.39) and 800 free (8:34.48) at the Spanish Winter Short Course Championships in November of last year. Her efforts earned her a silver in the 400 free and bronze in the 800 free.
Diego Aranda, a freestyler from Federación Uruguaya de Natación in Uruguay, holds both the short-course (21.72) and long-course (22.12) Uruguayan records in the 50 free. Aranda has represented his country of Uruguay at multiple World Aquatics Championships.
I am very excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at Virginia Tech. I’m very grateful to my family for supporting me in everything at any time and to my coach @jorgegnazzo who helped me do my best in my career so far. Thank you coaches @subicule and @sergiolopezmiro for this opportunity to be part of this amazing team and program.
Let’s Go Hokiess!! 
In December, at the 2024 South Course World Aquatics Swimming Championships, Aranda turned in a 34th-place outing in the 50 free (21.72) and 42nd-place finish in the 100 free (48.44).
He also competed in the 50 free in Doha at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships (LCM) where he finished 41st in the 50 free (23.06).
Earlier this month, Aranda raced in Otopeni at the 2025 World Junior Swimming Championships, where he raced both the 50 free (22.98) and 50 butterfly (24.98), finishing 20th and 34th, respectively.
Virginia Tech kicks off its 2025-2026 season…The men finished 6th and the women finished 9th at the 2025 ACC Championships. The men added a 10th-place finish, while the women were 20th at the 2025 NCAA Championships. However, the team graduated significant pieces at the end of the season, including Carles Coll Marti, Youssef Ramadan, and Emma Atkinson.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: VT Adds Spain’s Noa Martin and Uruguay’s Diego Aranda as Late Additions to 2025-2026 Roster