Olympic gold medalist Maggie Mac Neil will take her extra year of NCAA eligibility out west.
Mac Neil announced she will be a graduate student at Cal and swim one year for the Golden Bears.
“I’m so beyond excited to announce that I will be moving out west to finish up my NCAA eligibility. I feel so lucky to be able to pursue a masters degree at the University of California Berkeley, while continuing to swim at the highest level! Happy to be moving away from the snow for this new chapter! Go ?! ??”
Mac Neil had been searching for the right fit for graduate school and swimming and, with a year of eligibility left, she decided on Cal. She entered the transfer portal in July.
“After the changes this year, I learned I definitely wanted a split program,” Maggie Mac Neil told Swimming World. “I really connected with Teri (McKeever) and her visions for my training, and that is really about excelling in my last NCAA season and for Paris. Most of all, growing up in Canada, I’m ready to get out of the snow. Plus, it’s a bonus they are a #teamspeedo school.”
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Mac Neil won Canada’s first gold medal at the Tokyo Games, breaking her own Canadian record to win the 100 fly. She then captured silver as a member of the 4×100-m freestyle relay and bronze with the 4×100-m medley team that set a Canadian record.
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In December Maggie Mac Neil managed another dominating performance at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25-m) in Abu Dhabi, winning four gold medals and setting a world record in the 50-metre backstroke and was named Canada’s Women’s Swimmer of the Year.
She returned to Michigan where she was the defending NCAA champion in multiple events. But she wasn’t quite at the same level this time around and finished third in the 50 free, third in the 100 butterfly and 10th in the 100 free, a very strong meet, but not quite at the level she has performed the past year, including Olympic gold and earning NCAA Swimmer of the Meet in 2021.
Now, Mac Neil will have one more college season to put her stamp on things, this time on the West Coast with the Cal Golden Bears.