Wisconsin high school swimming has moved into the Sectional round of post-season swimming, which is the last round before next week’s state championship meets, and Max McHugh has put up one of the fastest-ever 200 medley relay breaststroke splits – by a swimmer at any level.
McHugh swims for the Sturgeon Bay Co-Op, and his relay finished 1st in 1:39.61. That result was in large part thanks to McHugh, who split 22.69 on the breaststroke leg. That’s not just the fastest-ever split done by a high school swimmer, but as far as we can tell ties Tennessee swimmer Peter John Stevens for the 2nd-fastest breaststroke split on a 200 yard medley relay at any level (2016 NCAA Championships). Our research hasn’t found a split faster than Chuck Katis‘ 22.64 from the 2015 NCAA Championships.
Unofficial 5-best splits in history:
All-Time Top Performers – 50 Breast Relay Splits (Men)
Katis
22.64
| 2 | Max MxHugh | SBC | 22.69 | 02/10 |
| 2 | Peter Stevens | SLO | 22.69 | 03/27 |
| 4 | Bruno Ortiz | ESP | 22.77 | 02/25 |
| 5 | Fabian Schwingenschlogl | GER | 22.90 | 03/26 |
Eyewitnesses at the meet said that the splits coincided with what they saw. Sturgeon Bay was in 8th place after the backstroke, but had closed the leg after the breaststroke leg.
Sturegon Bay’s splits:
- Luke Bousley (back) – 29.89
- McHugh (breast) – 22.69
- Brock Aune (fly) – 24.30
- Evan Smith (free) – 22.73
The fastest split at last year’s NCAA Championship meet was a 22.91 from Texas’ Will Licon. Licon won the 100 breaststroke title later in the meet.
McHugh, a Minnesota commit, also won the 50 free with a 20.57 and is due to lead off Sturgeon Bay’s 200 free relay and swim the 100 breaststroke.
Update: McHugh split 20.63 leading off Sturgeon Bay’s 200 free relay and won the 100 breaststroke in 53.09 (splitting 25.12/27.97)
I went back and keyframed the video, and checked the length of the clip to try and get the most accurate split possible. 23.11 is what I came out with. Pixels are proving when he touched to finish the breast, but it’s difficult to tell when the backstroker touched. Giving the contraction of the body and generalizing based on the position of the hand, I could give about a 2-3 frame window for the backstroke finish. I could not time the actual backstroke split because of the video started after the start, but it was a 29. 22.6 is possible giving he was 22.51 in November of 2019. The video was uploaded from the middle of the pacific ocean and… Read more »
The bigger news is what he did last night at state. Incredible
I am intrigued by these comments. This team is a coop team, meaning there are 4 high schools in the area and three of them combined to create a swim team… The TOTAL number of kids on this team is 6. Comments like “are his team mates in awe or embarrassed by their comparable swims’ are clearly meant to offend but in truth, everyone is in awe of what Max is accomplishing. That would include everyone making these comments. His team mates are happy for themselves, and Max, for what they have been able to accomplish this year. Week after week they have been able fulfill their dreams and stand on the podium with a teammate whom we should all… Read more »
https://youtu.be/u-a31lEf4Co
What meet is this from?
D2 Cedarburg Sectional Wisconsin
Although 22.6 may seem fast, Max went a 23.3 breaststroke split last year. With a fast start and a perfect swim, 22 range is definitely not out of the question. It could be a touchpad error, but it also could be a great swim.
With the caveat that I wasn’t at the meet, I believe that’s a legitimate split, as are the other splits for the relay. As mentioned, Sturgeon Bay (co-op) is a very small team — only six swimmers took part in their sectional meet yesterday (they only swam two relays). That medley relay was 1:41.52 (29.00, 24.28, 24.89, 23.35) two weeks ago at an invite at a not-fast, six-lane pool, and McHugh was wearing a brief — and that one I saw, and lots of folks after the meet figured he’d be sub-23 on his split at the state meet, if not sectionals.
I’m doubtful it was a timing malfunction or pad issue — the splits (29.89, 22.69, 24.30, 22.73) are… Read more »
It seems odd that the backstroker would be 0.89 slower when everyone else dropped time.
It seems plausible to me that the backstroke split was really around 28.89, and the breaststroke would have then been 23.69.
With all do respect. At such a small meet… not saying people aren’t familiar with this talent… however how can these kinds of coaches believe that someone can go from 24.2 to 22???? As a kid from high school.
Must see a crazy amount of potential from a mediocre 24.2…..
Not saying he didn’t go this. But this is ridiculous
Did a quick meet mobile search. He has been at least 27.83 in the 50 LCM, which is around 23 high. 23 low seems doable with a jump start in a pressure situation… 22.6 seems unrealistic but not impossible. He’s also a 1:01 LC which isn’t quite world class but is knocking on the door…
We’ve never really had a true world class 50 breast guy in the NCAA since Dugonjic and he was also 22.6 or 22.7. Nobody who’s gone below 26.8 has taken scy seriously and theres a whole second to be dropped. 21.9 with a jump seems doable within 5-10 years if some American or NCAA swimming Peaty-Chasers come along.
Either a touch pad error or jumped the start without it being called, or both. Please take this split down from the all-time performances! It’s not real!
My 13 year old Just swam today and qualified for a local JO 200back. His total time around 2:10 and his first 50 split is 30.5. Which is just 0.7 sec slower than the Wisconsin high school medley relay first leg. How is that possible!
Because this is d2. There were 23 and 24 backstroke splits at d1 meets today
Well, as you can see with this breast split (23 minimum), division doesn’t necessarily correlate with speed.
I went to practice today and swam 12×200 backstroke today! How is that possible! My 12 year old qualified for a regional cut in the 200back. He total time is 2:09 and he first split was a 40.78. How is that possible! We both qualified to swim the 200back at the regional! How is that possible!
My daughter was there, said he took probably 6 strokes for the whole 50. She couldn’t tell if he jumped the start though.
They just posted the video of this. Kid had a ridiculous turnover. More like 16 strokes. I think your daughter was watching someone else.