It’s not the biggest surprise of this recruiting season, but it’s still a great get for Penn: Colin McHugh of Greater Philadelphia Aquatic Club has made a verbal commitment to join the University of Pennsylvania’s class of 2019.*
Colin McHugh is a breaststroke/IM specialist, much like his older brother Brendan McHugh, one of the Quakers’ most storied swim alumni. And then there’s the back/free brother, Dillon McHugh, currently a senior at Penn. Brendan, who graduated in 2012, still hold Penn school records in the 200 free and 100/200 breast. Dillon’s name is in the record books for 200 back, as well as 4 of the 5 relays.
Colin is more of a breaststroke/IMer like Brendan. Competing at St. Augustine College Preparatory School in Richland, New Jersey, the younger McHugh topped off his junior year season with a fifth-place finish in the 100 breast and 17th in the 200 IM at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions.
The Penn swimming program has done good things for the McHugh brothers. Brendan, in particular, improved rather dramatically during his four years with the Quakers. He has continued to swim as a post-grad and this summer broke the American and US Open record in the men’s 50 meter breast. While there is no linear relationship, it is nonetheless interesting to look at where Brendan’s times were before he left for college, where they were when he graduated, and how Colin stacks up:
| Colin at 17 | Brendan at 17 | Brendan, Penn sr. yr. | |
| 100y breast | 56.05 | 57.68 | 53.03 |
| 100m breast | 1:05.73 | 1:06.48 | 1:01.04 |
| 200y breast | 2:03.22 | 2:04.85 | 1:55.82 |
| 200m breast | 2:23.24 | 2:26.36 | 2:13.87 |
| 200y IM | 1:54.95 | 1:54.90 | 1:47.04 |
| 200m IM | 2:11.84 | 2:14.02 | N/A |
| 100y free | 48.28 | 47.33 | 44.86 |
| 200y free | 1:45.34 | 1:43.26 | 1:37.31 |
Again, we aren’t drawing any conclusions but Colin is quite a bit ahead of where Brendan was at the same age in breaststroke. It will be interesting to see how he develops over the next four years. Colin won’t overlap with his older brothers, but there’s another one coming through the pike, so you never know….
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*DISCLAIMER: McHugh has not yet been officially accepted to Penn. As is true with all Ivy League schools, Penn’s Admissions Office will not send its acceptance letter until the beginning of December, along with those of all Early Action candidates. The procedure for a recruited athlete like McHugh is for Admissions to review his transcript and SAT scores, “support (his) application for admissions in the fall,” issue a Likely Letter, then offer him acceptance into the class of 2019.
Way to go Colin! I bet Brendan is proud.