Max McHugh Upsets Reece Whitley in 200 Distance to Sweep NCAA Breaststroke Titles
Minnesota’s Max McHugh took down Cal’s Reece Whitley in the finals of the 200 breaststroke at the NCAAs in Greensboro when a lot of people were expecting Whitley to challenge the American record of 1:47.91 set by Will Licon back in 2017. Whitley and McHugh were stroke for stroke for the first 150 with McHugh leading at the 100 at 52.16 to Whitley’s 52.22, while Whitley took the lead at the 150 1:20.28 to McHugh’s 1:20.31.
But it was the Minnesota Gopher, who won Minnesota’s first NCAA men’s swimming title since 1964 last night in the 100 breast, who stayed controlled on the final 50, splitting a 28.71 on the final 50 to Whitley’s 29.26 to win his second NCAA title of the weekend.
Max McHugh and Reece Whitley have a storied rivalry, trading the national high school record in the 100 breaststroke in 2018, with McHugh breaking Whitley’s record before the latter got it back to win the high school swimmer of the year awarded by this publication. Their rivalry was disrupted by the pandemic last year but they will go at it one more year in 2022.
Cal’s Hugo Gonzalez placed third for the Bears at 1:51.20 to close the gap behind Texas to 21 points as the Longhorns had Caspar Corbeau finish fourth at 1:51.43.
Stanford’s Daniel Roy (1:51.82) finished fifth as the junior should factor into the Olympic Trials race this summer in long course.
Virginia Tech’s Charles Coll Marti (1:51.84), Virginia’s Keefer Barnum (1:52.23) and Georgia Tech’s Caio Pumputis (1:52.27) also swam in the championship final.
This is Minnesota’s first ever NCAA title in the 200 breaststroke and the first for the Big Ten since Indiana’s Ian Finnerty won in 2018 as Max McHugh will be returning for his senior season.
All-Time Rankings:
- 1:47.91, Will Licon, Texas, 2017
- 1:48.53, Reece Whitley, California, 2020
- 1:48.66, Kevin Cordes, Arizona, 2014
- 1:48.70, Andrew Seliskar, California, 2019
- 1:49.02, Max McHugh, Minnesota, 2021
- 1:49.31, Cody Miller, Indiana, 2017
Event 18 Men 200 Yard Breaststroke
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NCAA: N 1:47.91 3/25/2017 Will Licon, Texas
Meet: M 1:47.91 3/25/2017 Will Licon, Texas
American: A 1:47.91 3/25/2017 Will Licon, Texas
U. S. Open: O 1:47.91 3/25/2017 Will Licon, Texas
Pool: P 1:49.87 3/27/2021 Reece Whitley, California
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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=== Championship Final ===
1 McHugh, Max JR Minnesota 1:50.88 1:49.02P 20
r:+0.69 24.41 52.16 (27.75)
1:20.31 (28.15) 1:49.02 (28.71)
2 Whitley, Reece JR California 1:49.87 1:49.54P 17
r:+0.71 24.63 52.22 (27.59)
1:20.28 (28.06) 1:49.54 (29.26)
3 Gonzalez, Hugo JR California 1:52.26 1:51.20 16
r:+0.67 25.16 53.42 (28.26)
1:21.89 (28.47) 1:51.20 (29.31)
4 Corbeau, Caspar SO Texas 1:52.01 1:51.43 15
r:+0.69 25.10 53.20 (28.10)
1:22.00 (28.80) 1:51.43 (29.43)
5 Roy, Daniel JR Stanford 1:51.76 1:51.82 14
r:+0.60 25.38 53.25 (27.87)
1:21.83 (28.58) 1:51.82 (29.99)
6 Coll Marti, Carles FR VT 1:52.26 1:51.84 13
r:+0.63 24.91 53.56 (28.65)
1:22.69 (29.13) 1:51.84 (29.15)
7 Barnum, Keefer SR Virginia 1:52.30 1:52.23 12
r:+0.63 25.29 53.57 (28.28)
1:22.37 (28.80) 1:52.23 (29.86)
8 Pumputis, Caio SR GT 1:52.23 1:52.27 11
r:+0.65 24.94 52.86 (27.92)
1:21.70 (28.84) 1:52.27 (30.57)
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Mathews, Jason JR Ohio St 1:52.87 1:52.56 9
r:+0.63 24.97 53.32 (28.35)
1:22.39 (29.07) 1:52.56 (30.17)
10 Foster, Jake SO Texas 1:52.85 1:52.59 7
r:+0.67 25.15 53.40 (28.25)
1:22.64 (29.24) 1:52.59 (29.95)
11 Pouch, AJ SO VT 1:53.32 1:53.03 6
r:+0.65 25.26 53.58 (28.32)
1:22.79 (29.21) 1:53.03 (30.24)
12 Vines, Braden JR Texas 1:52.51 1:53.08 5
r:+0.58 25.70 54.01 (28.31)
1:23.24 (29.23) 1:53.08 (29.84)
13 Otto, Matt SR Virginia 1:53.11 1:53.31 4
r:+0.71 25.99 54.39 (28.40)
1:23.57 (29.18) 1:53.31 (29.74)
14 Delakis, Paul SR Ohio St 1:53.09 1:53.38 3
r:+0.68 25.87 54.38 (28.51)
1:23.93 (29.55) 1:53.38 (29.45)
15 Dalmolin, Jack SR Georgia 1:53.30 1:54.12 2
r:+0.73 25.75 54.66 (28.91)
1:24.28 (29.62) 1:54.12 (29.84)
16 Epitropov, Lyubomir JR Tennessee 1:53.03 1:54.33 1
r:+0.70 26.41 55.28 (28.87)
1:24.45 (29.17) 1:54.33 (29.88)
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 18 1. Texas 529 2. California 508 3. Florida 331 4. Georgia 239 5. Indiana 168 6. Louisville 159 7. Texas A&M 149 8. NC State 136 9. Ohio St 131 10. Virginia 130 11. Michigan 106 12. Virginia Tech 91 13. Arizona 81 14. Stanford 78 15. Missouri 73 16. Alabama 67 17. Lsu 64 18. Purdue 42 19. Minnesota 40 19. Georgia Tech 40 21. Tennessee 39 22. University of Miami 38 23. UNC 31 24. Notre Dame 29 25. Pittsburgh 28 26. Florida St 24.5 27. Wisconsin 15 27. Southern California 15 29. Penn St 13 30. Kentucky 9 31. Utah 6.5
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