Joe Warnagiris raised the bar significantly for Winchester-Frederick County swimming while he was at James Wood, and now he’ll look to do the same in college.
Warnagiris signed with NCAA Division I University of Missouri in a ceremony last week in Richmond with his current club swimming team, NOVA of Virginia Aquatics. Warnagiris is swimming with NOVA during a gap year and will enroll at Missouri for the 2026-27 year, where he will compete on a partial scholarship.
In a phone interview last Wednesday, Warnagiris noted that taking a gap year is more common in swimming than in other sports. What’s not common is Warnagiris’ success.
As a junior in 2024, Warnagiris became the first swimmer in Frederick County to win a Virginia High School League state championship. He did it twice that day at Swim RVA in Richmond, capturing the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 breaststroke. As a senior in 2025, Warnagiris repeated as state champion in both events and broke the state meet record in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 55.48 seconds, topping the previous mark of 55.59 set in 2022. Warnagiris won by 1.36 seconds.
In going to Missouri, Warnagiris — who developed with the Winchester Swim Team — is entering more uncharted territory for local swimming. There have been several successful swimmers who have gone on to compete at the NCAA Division I level in recent years, but none have done so at a Power Four conference. Missouri is one of 11 schools with swimming programs in the Southeastern Conference.
“I want to be someone that others can look up to, especially those that are younger than me,” said Warnagiris in a phone interview last Wednesday. “Being a role model and showing them that all you have to do is put in the work, and you can do pretty much whatever you want. Especially in sports, you just have to be willing to work hard and be consistent. I’m excited to sign and be closer to training in Missouri.”
The Tigers finished 10th at the 2025 SEC Championships but have finished as high as 16th at the NCAA Championships under seventh-year head coach Andrew Grevers. The 2024-25 team had seven NCAA qualifiers and the 2023-24 team had five All-Americans.
Warnagiris also visited Virginia, Texas A&M, Arizona, Northwestern and Florida Atlantic during his recruitment. Warnagiris first visited Missouri in September of 2024, and the program’s environment played a big role in deciding to go with the Tigers. Warnagiris made his verbal commitment in February.
“What stood out the most was probably the team culture,” said Warnagiris, who is considering a major related to cybersecurity and a minor in marketing. “That was one of the most important things for me when I was picking my school, is making sure they have a good team culture, and that the training environment was positive so that I can improve as much as I can while I’m there.”
Grevers told Warnagiris that he feels he’s capable of stepping into a lot of spots where Missouri might need swimmers.
As evidenced by his high school success in the 200 individual medley, Warnagiris’ well-rounded and versatile ability has served him well over the years.
In college, Warnagiris is likely to compete in backstroke and breaststroke as well as the 400 IM, which Warnagiris said is an event that doesn’t have as many participants as most events due to its difficulty. Warnagiris placed 18th in that event in March in 3:56.56 at the National Club Swimming Association (NCSA) Championship in Orlando, Florida. In the 200 IM, Warnagiris recorded a time of 1:49.61 to win the Class 4 state title by 4.01 seconds and has since improved his time to 1:48.30.
Warnagiris said his coach with WST, Trey Shafer, always prioritized individual medley training.
“Being good at IM, you’re at least decent or good at every stroke,” Warnagiris said. “That’s really valuable to colleges. That’s something they look for, is someone who’s good at IM, because they can fill almost any position.”
During the recruiting process, Warnagiris let all the schools that were interested in him know he was planning on taking a gap year. He said most thought it was a good decision. Warnagiris didn’t turn 18 until August, so he was typically one of the younger swimmers in his grade growing up.
“Having that extra year of training is really valuable and gives me more time in the sport,” Warnagiris said.
When Warnagiris made the decision to take the gap year, he wasn’t sure what his training plan would be between his time at James Wood and Missouri. One option was continuing his strong relationship with WST.
Ultimately, Warnagiris decided to connect with NOVA of Virginia Aquatics this summer, and he couldn’t be happier with how it’s turned out.
He lives in an apartment in Richmond and swims Monday through Saturday in the morning and does three weightlifting sessions in the afternoon per week. He’s constantly surrounded by a wealth of elite talent. For example, Warnagiris was one of 15 young men and women who participated in last week’s NOVA signing ceremony, with the other swimmers going to schools like Virginia Tech, Duke, Columbia, Dartmouth, Providence, Villanova, Maine, Bucknell, Cincinnati and Old Dominion.
“NOVA’s a really big team, and they have a lot of talent,” Warnagiris said. “It’s a great environment for me to practice in.”
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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