Minnesota Snags Winter Nationals Qualifier Matthew Thomas

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Matthew Thomas of the Santa Clara Swim Club (SCSC) has verbally committed to the University of Minnesota. He’s a Winter Nationals qualifier in the 100 fly, and is better in the sprint fly races. Thomas finished 39th overall in the 100 fly at this past summer’s U.S. Junior Nationals.

Thomas’s Top Times

  • 50y fly – 22.51
  • 100y fly– 48.67
  • 200y fly – 1:51.43
  • 100m fly –  55.90
  • 200m fly – 2:06.33

At the inaugural CIF State Championships, Thomas, representing Valley Christian, muscled his way to a 7th place finish in the 100 fly in his sole event of the meet.

In order to C final at the Big Ten Champs, Thomas will probably have to get under 1:50 in the 200 fly, but a 48-low made it back last season. The Gophers might find themselves a freshman contributing scorer in Thomas after having just one finalist in the 100 fly at Big Tens last year. That was Daryl Turner, who finished 3rd overall. Of the four 200 fly finalists for the Gophers, only one returns this season, junior Nick Orf. Thomas will help add depth to the butterfly talent pool at U of M next fall.

Thomas isn’t the only SCSC swimmer to make his way to Minnesota– sophomore Michael Nunan and freshman Michael Messner both swam for SCSC prior to becoming a Gopher.

In addition to Thomas, the Minnesota men have gotten verbal commitments from the following:

If you have a commitment to report, please send an email to [email protected]

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GO IU
8 years ago

Rumor is Michael Nunan has left the Minnesota team.

About Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon studied sociology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, graduating in May of 2018. He began swimming on a club team in first grade and swam four years for Wesleyan.

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