{"id":471417,"date":"2021-05-03T10:00:33","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T17:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=471417"},"modified":"2021-05-03T11:10:57","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T18:10:57","slug":"swimming-world-presents-josh-matheny-rising-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-presents-josh-matheny-rising-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Swimming World Presents – Josh Matheny: Rising Star"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest issue of Swimming World Magazine<\/em><\/span>
\nis now available for download in the<\/span> Swimming World Vault<\/span><\/strong><\/a>!<\/p>\n

Non-Subscribers Can Download This Issue Here<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Josh Matheny: Rising Star<\/span><\/h3>\n

By Matthew De George<\/span><\/p>\n

From a middle-schooler newly committed to swimming full-time in 2016, the future looks encouraging for 18-year-old Josh Matheny, who approaches the U.S. Olympic Trials for Tokyo in June as a dark horse to make the team in men\u2019s breaststroke.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Josh Matheny had prepared physically for the holiday burst of training last December, with school on break and two-a-days on the docket. He was less ready for the logistical ordeal of finding somewhere to work out, even as the “roller coaster” of 2020 had deposited so many challenges in his way.<\/p>\n

As restrictions in Pennsylvania ramped up to curb a rise in COVID-19 cases, Matheny was on the road as much as in the water, getting creative to find open pools. With Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics training partner Nico Butera, he attended open swims at SPIRE Institute in Ohio, renting an Airbnb to do doubles\u2014at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.\u2014for a week.<\/p>\n

The next week, Matheny commuted a little over an hour each way to Morgantown to swim at the University of West Virginia. He and Butera rang in the New Year with Luke Barr, Matheny\u2019s future University of Indiana teammate, who is from Nebraska and has family in Arizona. Together with a group of five others, they headed west for a true training escape.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been pretty much everywhere just to get as much training as possible,\u201d Matheny said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a wild ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

A LEVEL-HEADED APPROACH<\/span><\/strong>
\nMatheny\u2019s multi-year ride has vaulted him into the upper echelons of American swimming. As the one-year postponement of the Games has pushed many established names in the breaststroke field deeper into their late 20s, it\u2019s only benefited the high school senior\u2019s maturation.<\/p>\n

Matheny\u2019s gains in the pool are built on a level-headed approach out of the pool\u2014one that comes from being relatively new to swimming. Until he was in middle school, swimming was just one of the sports he participated in, along with lacrosse and hockey. Aquatic talent runs in the family\u2014older sister Abby Matheny swims at Williams College\u2014but Josh was allowed to discover the sport for himself.
\nHis athleticism on dry land and the competitive drive from team sports continues to serve him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think I needed to be laser-focused on swimming because I think that would\u2019ve led to a burnout relatively quickly,\u201d Matheny said. \u201cIt helped me fall in love with swimming because I got to experience all these different types of sports and realize that swimming was the sport for me instead of being forced into it when I was little.\u201d<\/p>\n

The love informs a dogged training approach. Dave Schraven has coached Matheny since he was 9 years old, through Upper St. Clair Swim Club, then Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics and Upper St. Clair High School. He\u2019s witnessed the rapid benefits Matheny has reaped in his teens, going from a 13-year-old few had heard of to a national name by 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it makes him more focused on swimming now because he wasn\u2019t just living swimming since he was 8,\u201d Schraven said. \u201cIt makes him fresher. And if you consider the sports of lacrosse and hockey, there\u2019s a toughness element to the sports, which I think is helpful.\u201d
\n\u201cHe\u2019s just athletic at everything he does…except basketball. I will say that one,\u201d said Butera, a Wisconsin signee. \u201cBut he\u2019s just a natural athlete, and he brings that athletic mentality to the pool every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To read more about Josh Matheny’s path to Trials…and Tokyo,<\/a>
\nClick here to download the full May 2021 issue of Swimming World Magazine, available now!<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

T\"Swimming<\/a>
\n[PHOTO CREDIT: ISHOF ARCHIVE]<\/p>\n


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<\/h1>\n

Swimming World May 2021 Issue<\/span><\/h1>\n

FEATURES<\/p>\n

014<\/span> WOMEN\u2019S NCAAs: A NEW NO. 1<\/strong>
\n<\/span>For the first time in the history of the NCAA Division I Women\u2019s Swimming and Diving Championships\u2014since 1982\u2014the University of Virginia finished first. It was also the first time it cracked the top 5 with its previous highest finish sixth in 2019.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • VIRGINIA\u2019S ROAD TO HISTORY<\/strong><\/span>
    \nby Dan D\u2019Addona<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • NC STATE ADDS TO ACC DOMINANCE<\/strong><\/span>
    \nby Dan D\u2019Addona<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • THE TALK OF THE MEET: MAGGIE MacNEIL<\/strong><\/span>
    \nby John Lohn<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    018 <\/span>MEN\u2019S NCAAs: THE PERFECT RETIREMENT GIFT<\/strong><\/span>
    \nDays before their coach, Eddie Reese, officially announced his retirement from coaching after 43 years, the Texas men\u2019s team won their 15th men\u2019s NCAA national team championship.<\/p>\n

      \n
    • THIS ONE\u2019S FOR EDDIE!<\/span><\/strong>
      \nby Andy Ross<\/strong><\/li>\n
    • SCINTILLATING PERFORMANCES: SHAINE CASAS & RYAN HOFFER<\/span><\/strong>
      \nby John Lohn<\/strong><\/li>\n
    • PATIENCE REWARDED: MAX McHUGH & NICK ALBIERO<\/span><\/strong>
      \nby Andy Ross<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      022<\/span> NCAA D-II CHAMPS: SOME THINGS NEVER SEEM TO CHANGE<\/strong><\/span>
      \nby Andy Ross<\/strong>
      \nA year into the pandemic that has completely changed our world, Queens University of Charlotte brought about some stability to the 2021 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships by sweeping their sixth straight women\u2019s and men\u2019s team titles.<\/p>\n

      023<\/span> NO LIMITS!<\/strong><\/span>
      \nby David Rieder<\/strong>
      \nClaire Curzan has been swimming fast since she was a young age grouper and has continued to do so in high school. Last March, she came within 13-hundredths of the American record in the short course 100 fly, and in April, she found herself within 22-hundredths of the long course U.S. best. She\u2019s versatile, she\u2019s coachable, she has international experience, and she\u2019s moved from a fringe Olympic contender to an Olympic favorite. Curzan is only 16, and her promising future couldn\u2019t be brighter.<\/p>\n

      026<\/span> TAKEOFF TO TOKYO: WHEN IRISH EYES WEREN\u2019T SMILING<\/strong><\/span>
      \nby John Lohn<\/strong>
      \nIreland\u2019s Michelle Smith\u2014a four-time Olympic medalist in 1996 who received a four-year ban from the sport in 1998 for tampering with a doping sample\u2014has been defined as being a poster girl for cheating, and by her willingness to cut corners and take advantage of performance-enhancing drug use to make the leap from an athlete of very-good skill to one of elite status.<\/p>\n

      029<\/span> 50 SWIMMERS, 6 MEDALS<\/strong><\/span>
      \nby Dan D\u2019Addona<\/strong>
      \nThe Tokyo Olympics will mark the fourth occasion that open water swimming will be contested on the Olympic level, and even a 10-kilometer marathon race can bring exciting moments and dramatic finishes.<\/p>\n

      030<\/span> JOSH MATHENY: RISING STAR<\/strong><\/span>
      \nby Matthew De George<\/strong>
      \nFrom a middle-schooler newly committed to swimming full-time in 2016, the future looks encouraging for 18-year-old Josh Matheny, who approaches the U.S. Olympic Trials for Tokyo in June as a dark horse to make the team in men\u2019s breaststroke.<\/p>\n

      032<\/span> ISHOF: THE ART OF SWIMMING<\/strong><\/span>
      \nby Bruce Wigo<\/strong>
      \nThis is the story of Hero and Leander, Lord Byron and the birth of open water swimming.<\/p>\n

      035<\/span> NUTRITION: HYDRATION\u2014BEYOND THIRST!<\/strong><\/span>
      \nby Dawn Weatherwax<\/strong>
      \nHydration truly has a daily importance for all kinds of swimmers from age groupers to Olympians to Masters swimmers, but it tends to get more notoriety when the weather gets warmer.<\/p>\n

      COACHING<\/p>\n

      012<\/span> THE POWER OF POSITIVE COACHING<\/strong><\/span>
      \nby Michael J. Stott<\/strong>
      \nRelationships built upon honesty, trust and communication go a long way toward cementing a bond between coach and athlete. Coupling that with knowledge of the individual first and athlete second produces a positive working relationship that can last for a lifetime.<\/p>\n

      038<\/span> SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: MAXIMIZING SWIMMING VELOCITY (Part 1)\u2014STROKE RATE vs. STROKE LENGTH<\/strong><\/span>
      \nby Rod Havriluk<\/strong>
      \nSwimming velocity is the criterion measure for swimming performance and is the product of stroke length and stroke rate. This article explains how stroke length and stroke rate vary and how stroke time provides insight into maximizing swimming velocity.<\/p>\n

      042<\/span> Q&A WITH COACH STEVE HAUFLER<\/strong><\/span>
      \nby Michael J. Stott<\/strong><\/p>\n

      044<\/span> HOW THEY TRAIN CHARLOTTE SHAMIA<\/strong><\/span>
      \nby Michael J. Stott<\/strong><\/p>\n

      TRAINING<\/p>\n

      037<\/span> DRYSIDE TRAINING: THE IM DRYLAND CIRCUIT<\/strong><\/span>
      \nby J.R. Rosania<\/strong><\/p>\n

      JUNIOR SWIMMER<\/p>\n

      047<\/span> UP & COMERS: TEAGAN O\u2019DELL<\/strong><\/span>
      \nby Shoshanna Rutemiller<\/strong><\/p>\n

      COLUMNS<\/p>\n

      008<\/span> A VOICE FOR THE SPORT<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      011<\/span> DID YOU KNOW: ABOUT THE MOREHOUSE TIGER SHARKS?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      046<\/span> THE OFFICIAL WORD<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      048<\/span> GUTTERTALK<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n