John Watson Joining Minnesota With Two Years Of Eligibility Remaining

John Watson will join the Minnesota Gophers for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year. Watson joins the team with two years of eligibility remaining after he just finished his sophomore season at Missouri.

The Nebraska native competed at the 2025 SEC Championships, helping Missouri to a 10th place team finish. He finished 22nd in the 200 breaststroke in a lifetime best 1:55.50. He also was 27th in the 200 IM in a lifetime best 1:45.37 and 31st in the 100 breast in a 53.46.

After competing at SECs, Watson showed his versatility by swimming numerous lifetime bests at the Mizzou Last Chance meet. He swam a 47.69 in the 100 back as well as a 48.11 in the 100 fly.

Watson’s Best SCY Times are:

• 200 Breaststroke- 1:55.50
• 100 Breaststroke- 53.46
• 100 Backstroke- 47.69
• 200 IM- 1:45.37
• 400 IM- 3:49.95

The Minnesota men finished 5th out of nine teams at the 2025 Big Ten Championships. The team scored 794.5 points, less than 100 points behind 4th place USC (878 points).

Based on his best times, Watson has the potential to score at Big Tens. His lifetime best in the 200 breast would have made the ‘B’ final this past season while his 100 breast lifetime best is on the border of the ‘B’ and ‘C’ final as it took a 53.11 to make the ‘B’ final. He also would have made the ‘C’ final in the 200 IM.

The Minnesota men had no ‘A’ finalists in the 100 breast or 200 IM while Joe Polyak was the lone ‘A’ finalist in the 200 breast as he swam a 1:52.67. Polyak just finished his freshman season with the Gophers so the two will overlap for all of Watson’s time with the team.