Maxwell McHugh (born 1999) is an American former competitive swimmer specializing in breaststroke events. In 2021, he won two NCAA Division I titles at the year's championships, one in the 100 yard breaststroke and one in the 200 yard breaststroke. At the 2022 NCAA Division I Championships, he won the NCAA title in the 100 yard breaststroke. In 2023, he won a third-consecutive title in the 100 yard breaststroke at the NCAA Division I Championships for the year. He competed collegiately for the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Background McHugh graduated from Sevastopol High School in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin where he competed scholastically as part of the high school team and set a National Age Group record, overall national high school record, and national public high school record in the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 51.62 seconds at the 2018 Wisconsin State High School Championships.Keith, Braden (February 16, 2018). "Max McHugh Breaks National High School Record In 100 Breaststroke". Minnesota Golden Gophers. Retrieved January 30, 2022."Max McHugh breaks national record at WIAA state swim meet". Green Bay Press-Gazette. February 20, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2023. In 2018, he started attending the University of Minnesota where he majored in psychology and competed collegiately as part of the Minnesota Golden Gophers swim team."2021-22 Men's Swimming & Diving Roster: Max McHugh". Minnesota Golden Gophers. Retrieved January 30, 2022. In the summer of 2019, he was a survivor in a drive-by shooting, receiving a bullet to his right leg and recovering from the wound to return and continue competing collegiately.Hart, Torrey (July 28, 2019). "Minnesota Swimmers Max McHugh And Nick Saulnier Injured In Shooting". SwimSwam. Retrieved January 30, 2022.Rieder, David (February 4, 2020). "Learning From Adversity: Minnesota's Max McHugh Perseveres After Drive-By Shooting". Swimming World. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
McHugh has an older brother, Conner McHugh, who is also a competitive swimmer specializing in breaststroke events and who swam collegiately for the Minnesota Golden Gophers.Shaw, Mike (February 27, 2018). "Conner McHugh swims to NCAA's second-best breaststroke time for Minnesota". Green Bay Press-Gazette. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
Career 2018–2020 collegiate seasons
In his freshman (first) year, McHugh won the silver medal in the 100 yard breaststroke (51.08 seconds) and the 200 yard breaststroke (1:52.40), a bronze medal in the 4×100 yard medley relay (3:05.46), placed fifth in the 4×50 yard medley relay (1:24.62), and thirtieth in the 200 yard individual medley with a 1:48.25 at the 2019 Big Ten Conference Championships."2019 Men's B1G Championship: Results". Big Ten Conference. March 2, 2019. Retrieved April 27, 2023. Following his performances, he was named the 2019 Big Ten Conference men's freshman swimmer of the year.
Later in March, McHugh won the bronze medal in the 100 yard breaststroke at the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Austin, Texas with a time of 50.52 seconds in the final after swimming a personal best time of 50.30 seconds in the prelims heats."McHugh Earns Bronze at NCAA Championships". Minnesota Golden Gophers. March 29, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2022. For the 200 yard breaststroke, he won the silver medal in 1:49.41, finishing 0.71 seconds behind the first-place finisher in the event Andrew Seliskar of the California Golden Bears.Ross, Andy (March 30, 2019). "Andrew Seliskar Wins Third Event of NCAAs to Move to Third All-Time in 200 Breast". Swimming World. Retrieved January 30, 2022. In the 4×100 yard medley relay, he helped place tenth in a time of 3:04.70. For the 4×50 yard medley relay, he split a 23.01 for the breaststroke leg of the relay to help place seventeenth with a time of 1:24.85."Meet Results: 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming & Diving". sidearmstats.com. March 2, 2019. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
The following year, McHugh competed at the 2020 Big Ten Conference Championships in February in Bloomington, Indiana, winning the gold medal in the 100 yard breaststroke with a pool record time of 50.67 seconds and becoming the most recent male Minnesota Golden Gopher winner in the event at a Big Ten Championships since 2009."2020 Big Ten Men's Swimming & Diving Championships". Big Ten Conference. February 29, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2023. He also won the bronze medal in the 200 yard breaststroke, where he finished in 1:51.80 in the final. For his other events, he placed fourth in the 4×100 yard medley relay in 3:07.19, splitting a 50.77 for the breaststroke leg, placed seventh in the 4×50 yard medley relay in 1:25.39, splitting a 22.99 for the breaststroke leg, and placed fortieth in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 20.39 seconds.Hy-Tek (February 29, 2020). "2020 Men's B1G Swim & Dive Championships: Results". Big Ten Conference. Retrieved March 30, 2023. By the end of the NCAA Division I conference championships, Big Ten and other conference championships, his time of 50.67 ranked as fastest 100 yard breaststroke time heading into the 2020 NCAA Division I Championships.Pothast, Matt (April 3, 2020). "For McHugh, Crisis Ends Shot at National Title". Door County Pulse. Retrieved March 30, 2023. However, he was unable to compete at the 2020 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships as they were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.De George, Matthew (March 12, 2020). "NCAA Cancels Winter Championships, Including Swimming And Diving". Swimming World. Retrieved March 28, 2023.Hart, Torrey (March 12, 2020). "NCAA Cancels Remaining Winter and Spring Champs; DII Swim & Dive Ends Midway". SwimSwam. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
2020–2021 collegiate season
Competing at the 2021 Big Ten Conference Championships in March 2021 in Columbus, Ohio, McHugh split a 22.40 for the breaststroke leg of the 4×50 yard medley relay, which was the fastest 50 yard breaststroke relay split in the history of the NCAA and contributed to an eighth-place finish in 1:25.40.Ortegon, Karl (March 2, 2021). "Max McHugh Unleashes Fastest 50-Yard Breast Split Ever – 22.40". SwimSwam. Retrieved January 30, 2022.Ross, Andy (March 2, 2021). "Max McHugh Splits All-Time Fastest 50 Breaststroke at Big Ten Men's Swimming Championships". Swimming World. Retrieved January 30, 2022. He also won the conference title each in the 100 yard breaststroke (50.59 seconds) and the 200 yard breaststroke (1:50.93), placed sixth in the 4×100 yard medley relay (3:06.96, split of 50.09 for the breaststroke portion), eighth in the 4×50 yard freestyle relay (1:18.55, split of 19.63 for the third leg), eighth in the 4×100 yard freestyle relay (2:54.37, split of 43.71 for the third leg), and twenty-ninth in the 50 yard freestyle with a personal best time of 20.16 seconds."2021 B1G Men's Swim & Dive Championships: Results". Big Ten Conference. March 6, 2021. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
Later in the month, McHugh won the NCAA title in the 100 yard breaststroke at the 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships with a personal best time of 50.18 seconds and became the first Minnesota Golden Gopher since 1964 to win an individual NCAA title.Ross, Andy (March 26, 2021). "Wins Minnesota's First NCAA Men's Swimming Title Since 1964 With 100 Breast". Swimming World. Retrieved January 30, 2022."Gophers junior Max McHugh wins 100-yard breaststroke in NCAA swimming meet". Star Tribune. March 26, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2022. He also won the NCAA title in the 200 yard breaststroke where he swam a personal best time of 1:49.02 to achieve the first NCAA men's title in the event for the University of Minnesota."Gophers Swimming: Max McHugh is a NCAA Champion!—AGAIN". The Daily Gopher. March 26, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2022.Ross, Andy (March 27, 2021). "Max McHugh Upsets Reece Whitley in 200 Distance to Sweep NCAA Breaststroke Titles". Swimming World. Retrieved January 30, 2022."Sturgeon Bay's McHugh celebrates 2 NCAA swimming titles". WBAY-TV. March 31, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2022. His performances earned him the Big Ten Conference honor of "Swimmer of the Year"."Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Purdue Earn Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Awards". Big Ten Conference. March 30, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
2020 US Olympic Trials At the 2020 US Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, and postponed to June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, McHugh swam a 59.93 in the prelims heats of the 100 meter breaststroke and qualified for the semifinals ranking fourth.USA Swimming (June 13, 2021). "2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Wave II: Men's 100m Breaststroke Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved January 30, 2022. In the semifinals later the same day, he lowered his time to a 59.68 and advanced ranking fifth to the final the following day.USA Swimming (June 13, 2021). "2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Wave II: Men's 100m Breaststroke Semifinals Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved January 30, 2022. His times from the prelims and semifinals were both personal best times."Gophers swimmer Max McHugh swims two personal-best times at U.S. Olympic swimmings trials". Star Tribune. June 13, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2022. For the final of the 100 meter breaststroke the next day, he tied for seventh-place with a time of 1:00.56.USA Swimming (June 14, 2021). "2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Wave II: Men's 100m Breaststroke Final Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved January 30, 2022. Two days later he competed in the prelims heats of the 200 meter breaststroke where he placed 21st overall with a time of 2:13.97.USA Swimming (June 16, 2021). "2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Wave II: Men's 200m Breaststroke Final Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved January 30, 2022. For the 2021 year, his time of 59.68 seconds ranked him in the top 30 performers in the long course 100 meter breaststroke."World Rankings 2021: Men 100 Breaststroke Long Course Metres" . FINA. February 23, 2022. Retrieved February 24, 2022. Later in the summer, in August at the 2021 Minnesota Senior State Championship, he won the 100 meter breaststroke with a personal best time of 59.57 seconds and the 200 meter breaststroke with a personal best time of 2:12.61 as well as swimming a personal best time of 27.25 seconds in a timed final for the 50 meter breaststroke.Johnson, Annika (August 3, 2021). "Minnesota's Max McHugh Blasts Lifetime Best 100 Meter Breast: 59.57". SwimSwam. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
2021–2022 collegiate season McHugh earned the honor of being team captain for his senior year competing with the Minnesota Golden Gophers. In a meet against three other colleges in January 2022, McHugh won the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 50.58 seconds, which ranked him first overall in the NCAA for the season.Penland, Spencer (January 29, 2022). "McHugh Clocks NCAA-Leading 50.58 100 Breast, 22.53 Relay Split On Friday Night". SwimSwam. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
2022 Big Ten Championships