U.S. Nationals: Josh Matheny Drops 59.44 to Win 100 Breast
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Indiana breaststroke reigns supreme.
Augmenting the accolades so frequent on the women’s side, Josh Matheny added a national title Friday night at Phillips 66 Nationals in Irvine, Calif., going a personal-best 59.44 to win.
It’s the second best time of the day for Matheny, who broke one minute for the first time in the morning. He rallied with the fastest final 50 in the field of 31.23 to get to the wall first and win a national title.
The time is also the ninth fastest in the world in 2022.
“There’s a lot of things about Bloomington that are special,” Matheny, a rising sophomore, said. “The breaststroke group, it’s a super close and interesting group. I wouldn’t be where I am today without all of them.”
In addition to global mainstays Annie Lazor and Lilly King, the IU group produced women’s 200 breast national champ Mackenzie Looze earlier this week.
Matheny has felt stuck at a minute-point. Getting under that in the morning provided him “an explosion of confidence” to carry into the evening. It also paid off the work he’s done on his underwaters to burnish what is one of the stronger above-water strokes in the field.
“I know it didn’t look like it, but those were both really good pullouts for me,” Matheny said. “That’s something I’ve been working on basically all summer, to try to improve my turn and underwater aspect. It definitely came in handy. I was not as far behind as I normally up. At that point, around the 25 and 75, is where I kind of turned on the jets in each 50. I always feel like the back half of my long-course races is where I turn on the jets and leave people in the dust, and that’s kind of what ended up happening today, which I’m extremely thankful for.”
Second on Friday night was Caspar Corbeau, the Dutch Olympian, the only other one under a minute at 59.51. He had been out first in 28.01, two tenths clear of Matheny.
Third was Kevin Housman in 1:00.24, just .06 up on Jason Louser. Minnesota NCAA champion Max McHugh was fifth in 1:00.82.
The B final was quite the chaotic one, almost superior in intrigue and star power. For 60-plus meters, it appeared that outside smoke would win the day, and not just because the occupants of those outside lanes were American record-holder Michael Andrew and 200 breast champ Matt Fallon.
In the end, the win went to Nick Mahabir, a 16-year-old from Coronado Swim Association Team Elite. He won in 1:00.37, a time that would be fifth in the final. It’s also downs the Singaporean national record, sets earlier this year by Maximilian Ang at the Southeast Asian Games, by more than a second in 1:01.58.
Fallon was second in 1:00.75, Andrew was fourth in 1:00.90. They each beat three swimmers from the A final.
