18-year-old Josh Matheny of Pittsburgh Elite broke the national age group record in the 200 breaststroke on Thursday night at the 18 & under virtual championships in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, swimming a 1:51.38 to lower the national age group record of 1:51.43 set by Reece Whitley in December 2017. Matheny, who will be joining the Indiana Hoosiers next fall, improved on his lifetime best of 1:52.12 from last year’s Juniors where he sat sixth all-time in the 17-18 national age group rankings.
Matheny is one of the top rising breaststrokers in the United States as his time here would put him second in Division I this season behind only Cal junior Whitley, who was also the top seed at last year’s NCAA meet before it was ultimately cancelled to slow down the COVID-19 pandemic. Matheny was also the gold medalist in the 200 breaststroke at the 2019 World Juniors in taking down Japan’s Shoma Sato, who has since dropped down his long course best to a 2:07 in the year since that race.
Josh Matheny is now the fifth swimmer under the age of 18 to break 1:52 in the 200 breaststroke in short course yards, joining the exclusive list with Whitley, Andrew Seliskar, Daniel Roy, and Kevin Cordes, who all went on to swim at Pac-12 schools on the west coast. Matheny is the only one of that list that will be doing his college studying in the midwest.
17-18 All-Time Rankings (Men’s 200 Breast)
- 1:51.38, Josh Matheny, 2020
- 1:51.43, Reece Whitley, 2017
- 1:51.57, Andrew Seliskar, 2015
- 1:51.69, Daniel Roy, 2018
- 1:51.97, Kevin Cordes, 2012
Ya Josh!
I was officiating his lane! So amazing. Congrats!!
Fantastic! Well done Josh!