Rex Maurer Takes Down Grant Shoults’ National HS Record in 500 Free with 4:12.70

2023 CIF-SS SWIMMING AND DIVING DIVISION I CHAMPIONSHIPS

• April 27-May 5, 2023
• Riverside Aquatic Complex
• SCY (25 yards)
• Results
• Defending Champions:
  • Girls: Santa Margarita
  • Boys: Santa Margarita

Loyola senior Rex Maurer broke the national high school record in the 500-yard freestyle with a 4:12.70 on Friday night after just barely missing the 200 free mark earlier in the session.

Maurer took down former Santa Margarita standout Grant Shoults’ previous standard of 4:12.87 that had stood for seven years since he posted it at the same CIF-Southern Section (CIF-SS) Division I Championship meet back in 2016.

Loyola’s Rex Maurer has done it. 4:12:70 in the boys’ 500 freestyle at the Southern Section swim finals. That’s a new national high school record, beating Grant Shoults’ 2016 time of 4:12:87. pic.twitter.com/4LK7rRuAUU

— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) May 6, 2023

It actually wasn’t a lifetime best for Maurer, who blazed a 4:12.33 to win the 500 free at the Winter Junior Championship meet last December. That performance tied him with Michael Phelps as the second-fastest swimmer in the U.S. boys’ 17-18 national age group (NAG). At last year’s CIF-SS Division I Championships, Maurer clocked a 4:13.90 to become the fastest 17-year-old American ever in the event.

Maurer also won a CIF-SS individual title in the 200 free, firing off a personal-best 1:33.54 that came just .28 seconds shy of the meet record set by Shoults in 2016 — which was a national high school record at the time. Maurer dropped .15 seconds off his previous best from last December. The national high school standard now belongs to Cal commit Aaron Shackell, who went 1:32.85 in February. That mark could be threatened again at the CIF State Championships on May 13.

Loyola’s Rex Maurer comes 28 milliseconds away from breaking Grant Shoults’ Division 1 200 free record of 1:33:26, set in 2016 with Santa Margarita. Still a dominant performance by Stanford commit Maurer, who’s been sick most all week. pic.twitter.com/mScJALUn5L

— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) May 5, 2023

Maurer capped off his evening with a 20.19 leadoff split on Loyola’s 200 free relay that snuck past Santa Margarita for the title.

Making Maurer’s double even more impressive is the fact that he was coming off the flu, unshaved, and not fully rested.

Rex Maurer just went 1:33.5 in the 200y free at CIF-Southern Section D1:
-Coming off the flu
-Not fully rested
-Not shaved

K.

— Braden Keith (@Braden_Keith) May 5, 2023

The No. 2 recruit in SwimSwam’s rankings for the high school class of 2023, Maurer committed to Stanford last October. His mother, Lea, is the head coach at USC.