NCAA Men’s Championships: Max McHugh Repeats as 100 Breast Champion, Achieves ‘A Big Goal For Me Forever’<\/strong><\/p>\n

After Minnesota’s\u00a0Max McHugh<\/strong> became just the second man in history to break 50 seconds in the 100 breaststroke prelims, there was a chance that McHugh could take a shot at\u00a0Ian Finnerty’s\u00a0<\/strong>2018 American and NCAA record of 49.69. That was not in the cards in the evening, but McHugh was still completely dominant in the final. The field stuck with McHugh through the first 25 yards, but it was all over after that as McHugh built his lead with every stroke led by more than two tenths at the halfway point.<\/p>\n

McHugh finished in 49.90, five hundredths ahead of his time from the morning and good enough to defeat the field by more than a half-second. The Minnesota senior was 0.21 off Finnerty’s record time from 2018, and he remained the second-fastest man in history in the race.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s huge,” McHugh said after the race. “It\u2019s what I strive for all year. This is the pinnacle of NCAA swimming. I didn\u2019t shave and taper until this meet, so this is everything for me. This is the meet of the year. I had a plan, and I executed it pretty well. I have a stroke count. My plan was to try to get under 50, and obviously go after that record this year. Hopefully next year. We\u2019ll see.”<\/p>\n

The battle behind McHugh was significant in the team race as Texas’\u00a0Caspar Corbeau<\/strong> faced the Cal duo of\u00a0Liam Bell<\/strong> and\u00a0Reece Whitley<\/strong>. Corbeau ended up hitting the wall in 50.49, moving to sixth all-time in the event, and he was one hundredth ahead of Bell (50.50). Whitley ended up fourth in 50.84 to help Cal finish the race with a points advantage, while USC’s\u00a0Trent Pellini<\/strong> took fifth in 50.93.<\/p>\n

With the win, McHugh joined an elite club of swimmers to win consecutive titles in the 100 breaststroke in recent years.\u00a0Texas’ Brendan Hansen<\/strong> won four consecutive titles from 2001 through 2004 before Cal’s Damir Dugonjic<\/strong> won three straight in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Kevin Cordes<\/strong> was another four-peat winner (2012 through 2015), and Finnerty won his two titles in 2018 and 2019. McHugh pointed out that he did not put himself on a pedestal as “defending champion,” preferring to focus on swimming in the moment.<\/p>\n

“Defending champion, it doesn\u2019t mean much to me,” he said. “I won last year, and you couldn\u2019t take that away from me, and this year, I had to get it again. It\u2019s not really defending it. I think it\u2019d put way too much pressure on myself if I saw it that way. I knew defending champion doesn\u2019t mean anything to any of my competitors, so I had to go and get it done this year.”<\/p>\n

Of course, it is a huge success for McHugh to just be in the pool and winning national championships at this point. Less than three years ago, he was hit by a stray bullet in a drive-by shooting in Minneapolis, and the bullet went through his knee and his quad. Swimming became a secondary concern at that point as he worked to just become physically healthy again and overcome the very real anxiety that would linger for any person after such an incident. But McHugh did work through that challenging, draining recovery, and that has helped the Sturgeon Bay, Wis., native learn how to embody perseverance in all aspects of his life.<\/p>\n

“Perseverance to me in swimming has been trying to find the enjoyment in it. I haven\u2019t always had the best relationship with swimming. Trying to find the enjoyment in that, trying to find the enjoyment through my coaches, my teammates, my family. I think perseverance, I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s motivation, I would say it\u2019s more commitment,” he said. As for his life outside of swimming, McHugh added, “Trying to have goals to meet every single day, try to be 1% better. That\u2019s something always in the back of my head that\u2019s ingrained.”<\/p>\n

McHugh will enter Saturday’s 200 breast as the top seed with a chance to pull off the breaststroke double-double after he also took the title in the longer event in 2021, but after that, he admitted, he is a bit unsure about where to turn his focus next after finally accomplishing his long-standing goal of swimming under the vaunted 50-second barrier.<\/p>\n

“Forty-nine was a big goal for me forever. NCAA champion was a big goal for me forever,” McHugh said. “I\u2019m not sure what my goals are moving forward. I\u2019d love to finally break out onto that international scene, try to convert to long course a little bit better. I need to make a new goal list. That\u2019s for sure. It\u2019s not a bad problem to have. I need to answer that myself.”<\/p>\n