Max McHugh Wins Minnesota’s First NCAA Men’s Swimming Title Since 1964 With 100 Breast

Photo Courtesy: NCAA Media

Minnesota junior Max McHugh dominated the finals of the 100 breaststroke on Friday at the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships in Greensboro with a 50.18, improving his best time by 0.01 to remain fourth all-time.

McHugh won ahead of Florida’s Dillon Hillis (50.96), who had the fastest split on the 400 medley relay last night and was hoping to win Florida’s third event of the night after Bobby Finke in the 400 IM and Kieran Smith in the 200 free. Regardless, Hillis is 15th all-time in this event.

Cal’s Reece Whitley snagged third place for the Golden Bears at 51.03 as he should be the man to beat in the 200 breaststroke tomorrow as Cal is now 32 points behind Texas after 11 events in their pursuit of a repeat title.

Texas had one finalist in Caspar Corbeau, who finished sixth at 51.62.

Louisville’s Evgenii Somov (51.17) finished in fourth as he was second behind McHugh at the 50 and was looking dangerous at the 75, but fell off on the final 25 to place fourth and give the Cardinals some points in their pursuit of a second straight top five finish. They are currently sixth behind Indiana, who had seventh place finisher Zane Backes (51.66) in the A-Final.

Virginia’s Keefer Barnum (51.27) and Pittsburgh’s Cooper Van Der Laan (52.17) also swam in the championship final.

Max McHugh was looking to be the second man to ever break 50 seconds in this event but fell just short, regardless he won Minnesota’s first NCAA title in men’s swimming since 1964 when Walt Richardson won the 100 butterfly. The Gophers had a diver, Pat Bogart, win the 1m dive in 1996, but haven’t had a men’s swimmer since Lyndon B. Johnson was President of the United States.

“It is a long time coming. I was prepared last year for this meet, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. I am happy to be here this year,” Max McHugh said after the race.

All-Time Rankings:

49.69, Ian Finnerty, Indiana, 2018
50.03, Caeleb Dressel, Florida, 2018
50.04, Kevin Cordes, Arizona, 2014
50.18, Max McHugh, Minnesota, 2021
50.30, Carsten Vissering, Southern California, 2019

Listen to McHugh’s interview below:

 Event 11  Men 100 Yard Breaststroke
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 49.69  3/23/2018 Ian Finnerty, Indiana
         Meet: M 49.69  3/23/2018 Ian Finnerty, Indiana
     American: A 49.69  3/23/2018 Ian Finnerty, Indiana
   U. S. Open: O 49.69  3/23/2018 Ian Finnerty, Indiana
         Pool: P 50.87  3/26/2021 Max McHugh, Minnesota
    Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
                       === Championship Final ===                        
 
  1 McHugh, Max            JR Minnesota           50.87      50.18P  20  
    r:+0.68  23.53        50.18 (26.65)
  2 Hillis, Dillon         JR Florida             51.27      50.96   17  
    r:+0.63  23.80        50.96 (27.16)
  3 Whitley, Reece         JR California          51.38      51.03   16  
    r:+0.70  23.89        51.03 (27.14)
  4 Somov, Evgenii         SR Louisville          51.58      51.17   15  
    r:+0.69  23.76        51.17 (27.41)
  5 Barnum, Keefer         SR Virginia            51.09      51.27   14  
    r:+0.61  24.07        51.27 (27.20)
  6 Corbeau, Caspar        SO Texas               51.62      51.62   13  
    r:+0.70  24.19        51.62 (27.43)
  7 Backes, Zane           JR Indiana             51.53      51.66   12  
    r:+0.67  23.90        51.66 (27.76)
  8 Van Der Laan, Cooper   JR Pittsburgh          51.73      52.17   11  
    r:+0.66  24.47        52.17 (27.70)
 
                        === Consolation Final ===                        
 
  9 Houlie, Michael        JR Tennessee           51.83      51.26    9  
    r:+0.64  23.89        51.26 (27.37)
 10 McDaniel, Hudson       JR Ohio St             51.98      51.55    7  
    r:+0.67  23.75        51.55 (27.80)
 11 Mathews, Jason         JR Ohio St             51.83      51.63    6  
    r:+0.63  24.18        51.63 (27.45)
 12 Patton, Ben            SO Missouri            52.21      51.84    5  
    r:+0.62  24.17        51.84 (27.67)
 13 Chan, Will             JR Michigan            52.03      51.95    4  
    r:+0.68  24.12        51.95 (27.83)
 14 Nichols, Noah          FR Virginia            51.88      51.99    3  
    r:+0.68  24.30        51.99 (27.69)
 15 Pellini, Trent         SR Purdue              52.03      52.08    2  
    r:+0.69  24.21        52.08 (27.87)
 16 Abaliksta, Valdas      SR UNC                 52.00      52.21    1  
    r:+0.75  24.74        52.21 (27.47)

Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 11                  
 
  1. Texas                             339   2. California                        307
  3. Florida                           230   4. Georgia                           162
  5. Indiana                           109   6. Louisville                         96
  7. Texas A&M                          89   7. NC State                           89
  9. Virginia                           80  10. Michigan                           74
 11. Missouri                           67  12. Arizona                            66
 13. Stanford                           58  14. Ohio St                            55
 15. Virginia Tech                      52  16. Alabama                            38
 17. Lsu                                36  18. Purdue                             30
 19. Georgia Tech                       29  20. Pittsburgh                         23
 21. Minnesota                          20  22. University of Miami                19
 23. Florida St                       18.5  24. Tennessee                          16
 25. Notre Dame                         15  25. Southern California                15
 27. Penn St                            13  28. Kentucky                            9
 29. Wisconsin                           8  30. UNC                                 5
 31. Utah                              2.5

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Anonymous

3 years ago

Great swim Max! Good luck in the 200! Go Gophers!