Swim & Dive
Jude DeSando Lozupone enjoyed an All-American swimming career that carried her to the U.S. Olympic Trials. She is now helping members of the Our Lady of Good Counsel boys and girls swimming and diving team reach similar heights.
Lozupone (low-zuh-poan) joined the Falcon program as diving coach in 2006. She and Beth Silva assumed co-head coaching duties in 2013 and have enjoyed tremendous success.
Beth Kremer Silva contributed to two national championships as a collegian. Since becoming a coach of the Our Lady of Good Counsel boys and girls swimming and diving team, she has mentored several All-Americans and an Olympic gold medalist.
In 2013, Silva and Jude Lozupone assumed co-head coaching duties. They led the Falcon girls to one of their finest seasons in 2022-23 by winning the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship. Since the event started in 2018, Good Counsel has won the title four times, including the first three.
Roster
Varsity Swim & Dive Schedule
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Lozupone and Silva led the Falcon girls to one of their finest seasons in 2022-23 by winning the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship. Since the event started in 2018, Good Counsel has won the title four times, including the first three.
All-American and team record-holder Madison Smith, who will be swimming for the University of Michigan in 2023-24, won the 500y (yard) free at the National Catholic Championships to help steer the Falcons to third place. Brookelynn Weinberg placed eighth at Metros in the 100y breast. She is heading to Catholic University.
Sophomore diver Fiona Tworkowski finished eighth at Metros and was the top diver at the WCAC championship.
The girls also placed eighth at Metros and were second among private schools. One of their biggest regular-season highlights was an upset of Holton Arms. On the boys side, Owen Watkins won the 50y free and earned All-American status.
Ryan Vipavetz garnered All-American honors in 2019 in the 200y fly and 500y free. At the 2018 U.S. Winter Nationals, he won the national championship in the 200m (meter) fly and qualified for the 2020 Olympic Trials.
Lozupone and Silva have also coached All-Americans Brady Welch (2014: 100y free); Olivia French (2018: 100y fly); Sarah Culkin (2020: 100y fly); and Sean Santos (2022: 500y free). French was also an Academic All-American (min. 4.0 GPA).
Haley Marshall was a 2020 All-American and the top National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association diver in the country. She earned All-American recognition again in 2022 and won Metros both years. She now competes at the University of North Carolina. Lozupone played a key role in Marshall’s success by serving the past two years as Good Counsel’s diving coach.
In 2019, the Falcons’ 200y and 400y free relay teams were honored as All-Americans. They were made up of a combination of Vipavetz, Jonathan Crocker, Drew Munson, Gabe Laracuente and Alex Brun. The previous year, Brady Ott, Vipavetz, Crocker and Laracuente were All-Americans in the 200y free relay.
Performances such as these helped the boys place second in the 2018 and ’19 WCAC championships.
An All-American Career
Swimming has been part of Lozupone’s life since she was a child. She competed for the Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club, and in 2008 was an inaugural member of the Montgomery County (Md.) Swim League’s Hall of Fame. She qualified for senior nationals at 14 and participated in 19 national championships.
At Robert E. Peary High School in Rockville, Md., Lozupone was a three-time (1977-79) All-American. The Montgomery Gazette named her Female Swimmer of the Decade.
After graduating in 1979, she received a full scholarship to the University of South Carolina. She competed in four national championships in the 400y IM, the first three in the AIAW (Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women). Her best finish (sixth) came in 1983 at the NCAA championships. She held the school record in the 400y IM for 19 years.
Lozupone was the first South Carolina athlete in any sport to be a four-time individual All-American and achieved that status 11 times. In addition to the 400y IM, she was a 1980 All-American in the 100y IM, 200y IM, and the 200y, 400y and 800y free relays. She was also among the best in the country in the 800y free relay in 1981 and ’82.
She graduated in 1983 with a B.A. in theatre and a minor in English.
Lozupone qualified for the 400m IM at the 1980 and ’84 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. She also represented Team USA at the 1983 World University Games in Edmonton, Canada. She placed 10th in her signature event.
Lozupone served as coach of the Montgomery Stroke & Turn Clinic in Olney, Md., from 1999-2020.
Lozupone, whose first name is pronounced “Judy,” was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in the same Rockville, Md., neighborhood where she now lives. Her husband, Frank, ran cross country and track at Good Counsel and graduated in 1979. Her oldest brother, Charlie, is a 1974 graduate and was part of the school’s first swim team. Their mother, Mary Frances, was team manager under Coach Bill Radcliffe. Another brother, Frank, completed his studies in 1987.
The Lozupone’s children, Frank III ’06, Angela, ’09 and Anthony ’13, are all Good Counsel graduates who participated on the swimming and diving team.
All-American and team record-holder Madison Smith, who will be swimming for the University of Michigan in 2023-24, won the 500y (yard) free at the National Catholic Championships to help steer the Falcons to third place. Brookelynn Weinberg placed eighth at Metros in the 100y breast. She is heading to Catholic University.
Sophomore diver Fiona Tworkowski finished eighth at Metros and was the top diver at the WCAC championship.
The girls also placed eighth at Metros and were second among private schools. One of their biggest regular-season highlights was an upset of Holton Arms. On the boys side, Owen Watkins won the 50y free and earned All-American status.
In Silva’s year as an assistant coach for the Falcons (2012-13), Jack Conger broke a 30-year-old national prep record in the 500y free by more than two seconds (4:13.87). Swimming World Magazine named him National High School Swimmer of the Year.
Conger proceeded to win four NCAA championships (three relay, one individual) at the University of Texas. During the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, he was part of the 800m (meter) free relay team that won a gold medal.
Conger is one of several recent Good Counsel All-Americans. Ryan Vipavetz attained that status in 2019 in the 200y fly and 500y free. At the 2018 U.S. Winter Nationals, he won the national championship in the 200m fly and qualified for the 2020 Olympic Trials.
Silva and Lozupone have also coached All-Americans Brady Welch (2014: 100y free); Olivia French (2018: 100y fly); Sarah Culkin (2020: 100y fly); and Sean Santos (2022: 500y free). French was also an Academic All-American (min. 4.0 GPA).
Haley Marshall was a 2020 All-American and the top National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association diver in the country. She earned All-American honors again in 2022 and won Metros both years. She now competes at the University of North Carolina.
In 2019, the Falcons’ 200y and 400y free relay teams earned All-American recognition. They were made up of a combination of Vipavetz, Jonathan Crocker, Drew Munson, Gabe Laracuente and Alex Brun. The previous year, Brady Ott, Vipavetz, Crocker and Laracuente were All-Americans in the 200y free relay.
Performances such as these helped the boys place second in the 2018 and ’19 WCAC championships.
Winning National Titles
Silva coached for nearly 20 years in the Montgomery County (Md.) Swim League and in the Potomac Valley region of USA Swimming. From 2002-05, she was head coach at Damascus (Md.) High School.
During her three years (1983-86) swimming at Springbrook High School in Silver Spring, Md., Silva set the school record (since broken) in the 200y IM. At the prestigious Metros championships for public and private schools, she was a three-time finalist. An Honor Roll student, she graduated in 1986 seventh in her class of more than 500.
Silva received an academic scholarship to Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. She qualified for the NCAA Division III championships in 1987 and 1990 in the 200y and 400y IM. Kenyon won the national crown both years. She was so highly regarded that, even after taking off the two seasons in between, she was a team captain and Academic All-American as a senior.
Silva graduated summa cum laude in 1990 with bachelor of arts degrees in English and modern foreign languages. She spent her junior year studying in France and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society. In 1992, she added a master’s of education from the University of Maryland.
Silva teaches English at Good Counsel.
“I love teaching and coaching here,” she said. “Working with energetic teenagers brings me joy.”
Silva was born and raised in Silver Spring, where she swam for the Robin Hood and Rockville-Montgomery swim clubs. She lives in Gaithersburg, Md., with her daughters, Ava and Catherine.
Ava swam four years for the Falcons and graduated in 2021. She received an academic and athletic scholarship to continue her career in Loretto, Pa., at St. Francis University. Catherine, a rising junior at Good Counsel, is an avid artist and member of the swim team.