IU Athletics Confirms Swimming World Report; NCAA Champ Michael Hixon is a Hoosier

Hixon,M.

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana, July 21. JUST a few weeks after Swimming World first reported the news, the Indiana University Athletics Department has released a statement explaining that two-time NCAA champion Michael Hixon is now a Hoosier.

Here’s the release from an ecstatic Hoosiers Athletics program:

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Michael Hixon, the 2014 NCAA Champion on the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard, will continue his collegiate career at Indiana University, head coach Drew Johansen announced today.

Hixon will be a sophomore with the Hoosiers this fall and has three years of eligibility remaining.

“Hixon is one of the best divers in the world and is going to make an immediate impact on the team,” Johansen said. “I am excited to start working with Michael and I know he is going the thrive here as a Hoosier.”

Hixon took the collegiate diving world by storm during his freshman year at Texas in 2013-14, winning the 1-meter title on the opening day of competition with a score of 443.50, topping 2012 Olympian Kristian Ipsen of Stanford and setting a new Big XII record in the process.

On day two he came back to win the 3-meter crown, tallying 457.20 points, including scores of 79.20 and 90.10 points on his final two dives. He finished the meet with a seventh-place finish on the platform after tallying 366.35 points. In all Hixon contributed 52 of Texas’ 417.5 team points as the Longhorns finished second at the meet.

At the 2014 Big XII Championships, Hixon won the 1-meter with a Big XII meet record score of 436.45. He placed third on the 3-meter springboard after tallying 444.10 points.

Last month Hixon teamed up with Troy Dumais for a fifth-place finish in the 3-meter synchro at the 2014 FINA Diving World Series stop in Monterrey, Mexico. In May, Hixon finished sixth on the 3-meter springboard at the FINA Diving Guanajuato Grand Prix in Mexico. He finished second alongside former Hoosier Darian Schmidt in the 3-meter synchro event at the USA Diving World Cup Synchronized Trials in April.

Prior to his freshman year at Texas, Hixon teamed up with Dumais for a fifth-place finish in the three-meter synchro event at the FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. He also placed third in the three-meter event and second alongside Schmidt in the three-meter synchro competition at the 2013 AT&T National Diving Championships.

In 2012 Hixon was the USA Diving Junior National Champion on the 1-meter and won both the 1-meter and 3-meter titles in 2011. He was also the 2011 AT&T USA Diving National Champion on the 1-meter.

In 2008 and 2009, Hixon swept the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions at the Speedo USA Diving National Championships.

In international competition, Hixon was third on the 1-meter at the 2012 FINA World Junior Diving Championships, while finishing first on the 3-meter and third on the 1-meter at the 2011 Junior Pan American Championships. He was third on the 3-meter at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games.

The 20-year-old Hixon hails from Amherst, Mass. His father, David, is the head men’s basketball coach at Amherst College, while his mother, Mandy, is the diving coach at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

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