Just weeks after the California Polytechnic State University swimming and diving program was cut, Drew Huston announced that he will continue his athletic career at the University of Southern California, beginning in the fall of 2025. Huston spent his first three seasons at Cal Poly and is graduating early to pursue graduate school at USC.
As a refresher, in a press release on March 7th, Cal Poly president Jeffrey D. Armstrong said “financial realities” were at the root of the decision to cut the program, specifically pointing to the House v. NCAA settlement as the cause of their programs losing at least $450,000 per year.
Directly addressing if the House settlement was the reason for the cuts, the school said: “The overall financial health of the athletic department is the primary reason (for the cuts), and certainly the House v. NCAA settlement (loss of nearly $500,000 per year) has an impact on the department finances, along with the state cuts (nearly 8% for Cal Poly) impacting the entire university.”
Cal Poly has created a GoFundMe page with a goal of $200K to help save the program. Organizers say that this is just a portion of their fundraising effort, and that they are also in conversations with private donors to make up a larger share of that fundraising effort. Armstrong told organizers of the movement to save the swimming & diving program from being cut that they would need to raise $25 million to put in an endowment to keep the program from being cut. That was an increase from the prior floated number of $10-$20 million.
Huston’s career highlight at Cal Poly came this past season when he won the Big West Conference title in the 200 backstroke. He posted a time of 1:40.39, which ranked him 40th in the NCAA prior to the NCAA Championships. His time was faster than the 2024 NCAA cutline of 1:40.62, but his 40th ranking was not enough to earn him an invite to the meet due to how fast the event has become this season, as last year’s cutline was 31st.
His best SCY times are:
- 100 Backstroke: 46.11
- 200 Backstroke: 1:40.39
- 100 Freestyle: 43.80
- 200 IM: 1:45.67
Huston’s best 200 back time would have been 1st on the Trojans’ roster for the 2024-25 season. Junior Griffin O’Leary holds the fastest time with his 1:42.27 from the Texas Hall of Fame Invitational in November. Coincidentally, Huston competed at the same meet, recording a time of 1:41.26. Huston’s best 100 back time of 46.11 would place him 2nd on USC’s depth chart for the season, sitting behind Michal Chmielewski (45.82), a sophomore from Poland.
Huston’s addition will be pivotal in both backstroke events when USC competes in the team’s second season in the Big Ten. The Trojans placed 4th at the 2025 Big Ten Championships last month, scoring 878 points. Indiana won the meet with 1579 points, followed by Michigan in 2nd (1148 points) and Ohio State in 3rd (1100 points). The Trojan men went on to place 15th at the NCAA Championships, scoring 80 points.
If Huston had competed at the 2025 Big Ten Championships, his highest finish would have come in the 200 back, where his personal best would have placed him 5th in the ‘A’ final. O’Leary won the ‘C’ final at the meet with a time of 1:43.90.
In addition to his short course success, Huston also qualified to compete at this past summer’s U.S. Olympic Trials. He first punched his ticket at the 2023 Speedo Junior National Championships, where he qualified in the 100 back. He later surpassed the 200 back benchmark at the Pac-12 Last Chance Invite last March.
He entered the Trials seeded 52nd in the 100 back (55.48) and 38th in the 200 (2:00.79). The incoming Trojan ultimately finished 28th in the 100 (55.18) and 37th in the 200 (2:01.04), moving up in rankings for both events, with the 100 marking a new lifetime best.
As someone who swims with Drew at Cal Poly, he is one of the hardest working people you will meet! Congrats Drew!
Congratulations on graduating early!!