Caroline Bryant
Editor-in-Chief
Four alum Mocs competed in the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, being the most from Florida Southern to ever compete in the same year. With all eyes on Dylan Travis ’16, Ludovico Viberti ’22, Kyle Micallef ’24 and Jenson Van Emburgh, the stakes to perform well were high.
Dylan Travis (3×3 Basketball)
Despite the sport’s infancy in the Olympics, Team USA placed 7th overall ending in a 2-5 streak and 116 total points in the Men’s Pool Rounds.
They started off the games against Serbia, trailing behind 22-14. They then proceeded to lose the next three games by just a few points shy: Poland 19-17, Lithuania 20-18 and Latvia 21-19– the inaugural gold medalist of the 2020 Tokyo Games.
The tail end of the tournament looked brighter, defeating France in game five. Travis assisted teammate and Florida Gator alum Barry Canyon in scoring to lead over France 16-17. Canyon then completed the rest of the shots to end the game 21-19.
They proceeded to conquer China 21-17, with Travis scoring three points and one key assist in the match. Hopes fell quickly, however, as the Netherlands squashed Team USA 21-6. Yet, Travis still had a blast.
“It’s been a crazy last couple of years and I couldn’t be more thankful, and I feel really blessed to be a part of it,” Travis told USA Basketball. “Traveling the world and playing a sport that you love, I mean, you can’t beat it.”
Ludovico Viberti (Swimming)
The 2021-22 NCAA II National Champion in 100 breaststroke Ludovico Viberti represented his home country of Italy in Paris.
On day one, Viberti swam in heat three against Team USA Nic Fink, performing a 59:93 for fifth place to advance to the semifinals. Later in the day, he competed in heat two of the semifinals to swim a personal best of 59:38, tying for fourth with German swimmer Melvin Imodu. Since a fourth place or lower result per heat was needed to advance to the finals, Viberti swam against Imodu in Paris’ first swim-off.
Viberti reached for the wall .21 seconds behind Imodu, losing his chance to race in the finals. The gold later went to his Italian teammate Nicolo Martinenghi who swam .02 seconds faster than the event’s world record holder Adam Peaty of Great Britain and Fink, who tied for silver.
“Competing in the Olympics was an amazing feeling,” Viberti told FSC Athletics. “Overall, I am very happy with my performance, but the goal was to reach the final. I was very close, and it hurts to not achieve that, but I keep my head up and was able to learn so much.”
Kyle Micallef (Swimming)
The most recent graduate of the four Moc Olympians, Kyle Micallef, was one of five athletes to represent the Mediterranean island of Malta at this Olympics.
The 2023-24 national champion in the 50 freestyle competed in the fifth of 10 heats for the event, going up against key members of Team USA Caleb Dressel and Chris Guiliano. He placed second in his heat at 22.98, falling behind Fiji’s David Young by .18 seconds. Micallef’s time was .09 seconds slower than his personal best.
Unfortunately, his time didn’t qualify to advance to the semifinals. However, he connected with former teammate Viberti, who supported each other during their races.
Jenson Van Emburgh (Paralympic Table Tennis)
Jenson Van Emburgh was the last to compete and most expected to do well in this year’s games. The Class 3 Table Tennis athlete was ranked No. 3 entering the tournament after upsetting No. 4 in Tokyo to earn bronze.
In the Round of 16, Van Emburgh defeated opponent Sylvian Noël on his home turf 3-1 sets.
He later fought a tough battle in the quarterfinal against No. 8 Jang Yeong-jin, losing 3-2 sets by only two points in the final set.
“I was fighting,” Van Emburgh told USA Table Tennis. “I wasn’t at the level I wanted to be at, but I was still trying to fight and stay in the match, to grind and find a way. I tried, but it didn’t work.
While it wasn’t the performance he expected as said in our previous article, he is more than excited to take on Los Angeles in 2028. USA Table Tennis states he is the youngest player, so he is more than likely to return to the games.
