Saint Petersburg Aquatics Sprinter Matthew Dieffenthaller Commits to Penn Quakers

Photo Courtesy: Matthew Dieffenthaller

NEW COMMIT: Tampa, Fla. sprinter Matthew Dieffenthaller has committed to the University of Pennsylvania and will join the Quakers this fall.

Dieffenthaller does his club swimming with Saint Petersburg Aquatics under head coach Frank Lewis and owns three Winter Juniors standards. He won the 50/100 free and took second in the 100 back/100 fly at the Outback Bloomin Fast Meet in January and earned gold in the 100 free at the Holiday Classic in December. He capped off his summer long course season with 100% best times and a win in the 50m free at Florida LCM Seniors after earning a pair of best times at NCSAs last March.

Also competing for Berkeley Prep, Dieffenthaller is a six-time Florida 1A State Championship finalist. He was the 100 free runner-up and placed third in the 50 free as a senior, finished fourth in the 200 free and ninth in the 100 fly as a junior, and raced to tenth in the 100 back and 11th in the 200 IM during his sophomore season.

He told Swimming World:

“I am thrilled and honored to announce my commitment to the University of Pennsylvania. I look forward to furthering my swimming career with Coach Schnur and my academics at this stellar university. Additionally, thank you to my club coach of St. Petersburg Aquatics, Coach Fred Lewis, for his incredible support and constant drive for higher levels of success in and out of the pool. Lastly, I am forever grateful to my family and teammates for their support. Go Quakers!”

His best times include:

50 free – 20.64
100 free – 45.02
200 free – 1:40.54
100 fly – 50.45
100 back – 52.06

When he arrives on campus as a member of the class of 2023, Dieffenthaller will add his talents to a sprint group that’ll include Sean Lee and Nathaniel Cunnan. He would’ve scored in the C-final of both the 50 free and 100 free at the 2018 Ivy League Championships where Penn took fifth overall in the team standings.

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