Minnesota junior Max McHugh dominated the finals of the 100 breaststroke on Friday at the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships in Greensboro with a 50.18, improving his best time by 0.01 to remain fourth all-time.
McHugh won ahead of Florida’s Dillon Hillis (50.96), who had the fastest split on the 400 medley relay last night and was hoping to win Florida’s third event of the night after Bobby Finke in the 400 IM and Kieran Smith in the 200 free. Regardless, Hillis is 15th all-time in this event.
Cal’s Reece Whitley snagged third place for the Golden Bears at 51.03 as he should be the man to beat in the 200 breaststroke tomorrow as Cal is now 32 points behind Texas after 11 events in their pursuit of a repeat title.
Texas had one finalist in Caspar Corbeau, who finished sixth at 51.62.
Louisville’s Evgenii Somov (51.17) finished in fourth as he was second behind McHugh at the 50 and was looking dangerous at the 75, but fell off on the final 25 to place fourth and give the Cardinals some points in their pursuit of a second straight top five finish. They are currently sixth behind Indiana, who had seventh place finisher Zane Backes (51.66) in the A-Final.
Virginia’s Keefer Barnum (51.27) and Pittsburgh’s Cooper Van Der Laan (52.17) also swam in the championship final.
Max McHugh was looking to be the second man to ever break 50 seconds in this event but fell just short, regardless he won Minnesota’s first NCAA title in men’s swimming since 1964 when Walt Richardson won the 100 butterfly. The Gophers had a diver, Pat Bogart, win the 1m dive in 1996, but haven’t had a men’s swimmer since Lyndon B. Johnson was President of the United States.
“It is a long time coming. I was prepared last year for this meet, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. I am happy to be here this year,” Max McHugh said after the race.
All-Time Rankings:
- 49.69, Ian Finnerty, Indiana, 2018
- 50.03, Caeleb Dressel, Florida, 2018
- 50.04, Kevin Cordes, Arizona, 2014
- 50.18, Max McHugh, Minnesota, 2021
- 50.30, Carsten Vissering, Southern California, 2019
Listen to McHugh’s interview below:
Event 11 Men 100 Yard Breaststroke
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NCAA: N 49.69 3/23/2018 Ian Finnerty, Indiana
Meet: M 49.69 3/23/2018 Ian Finnerty, Indiana
American: A 49.69 3/23/2018 Ian Finnerty, Indiana
U. S. Open: O 49.69 3/23/2018 Ian Finnerty, Indiana
Pool: P 50.87 3/26/2021 Max McHugh, Minnesota
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== Championship Final ===
1 McHugh, Max JR Minnesota 50.87 50.18P 20
r:+0.68 23.53 50.18 (26.65)
2 Hillis, Dillon JR Florida 51.27 50.96 17
r:+0.63 23.80 50.96 (27.16)
3 Whitley, Reece JR California 51.38 51.03 16
r:+0.70 23.89 51.03 (27.14)
4 Somov, Evgenii SR Louisville 51.58 51.17 15
r:+0.69 23.76 51.17 (27.41)
5 Barnum, Keefer SR Virginia 51.09 51.27 14
r:+0.61 24.07 51.27 (27.20)
6 Corbeau, Caspar SO Texas 51.62 51.62 13
r:+0.70 24.19 51.62 (27.43)
7 Backes, Zane JR Indiana 51.53 51.66 12
r:+0.67 23.90 51.66 (27.76)
8 Van Der Laan, Cooper JR Pittsburgh 51.73 52.17 11
r:+0.66 24.47 52.17 (27.70)
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Houlie, Michael JR Tennessee 51.83 51.26 9
r:+0.64 23.89 51.26 (27.37)
10 McDaniel, Hudson JR Ohio St 51.98 51.55 7
r:+0.67 23.75 51.55 (27.80)
11 Mathews, Jason JR Ohio St 51.83 51.63 6
r:+0.63 24.18 51.63 (27.45)
12 Patton, Ben SO Missouri 52.21 51.84 5
r:+0.62 24.17 51.84 (27.67)
13 Chan, Will JR Michigan 52.03 51.95 4
r:+0.68 24.12 51.95 (27.83)
14 Nichols, Noah FR Virginia 51.88 51.99 3
r:+0.68 24.30 51.99 (27.69)
15 Pellini, Trent SR Purdue 52.03 52.08 2
r:+0.69 24.21 52.08 (27.87)
16 Abaliksta, Valdas SR UNC 52.00 52.21 1
r:+0.75 24.74 52.21 (27.47)
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 11 1. Texas 339 2. California 307 3. Florida 230 4. Georgia 162 5. Indiana 109 6. Louisville 96 7. Texas A&M 89 7. NC State 89 9. Virginia 80 10. Michigan 74 11. Missouri 67 12. Arizona 66 13. Stanford 58 14. Ohio St 55 15. Virginia Tech 52 16. Alabama 38 17. Lsu 36 18. Purdue 30 19. Georgia Tech 29 20. Pittsburgh 23 21. Minnesota 20 22. University of Miami 19 23. Florida St 18.5 24. Tennessee 16 25. Notre Dame 15 25. Southern California 15 27. Penn St 13 28. Kentucky 9 29. Wisconsin 8 30. UNC 5 31. Utah 2.5
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Great swim Max! Good luck in the 200! Go Gophers!