Summer Juniors Qualifier Max Nielsen Commits to WVU for 2022

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Maxwell Nielsen from Tempe, Arizona has announced his commitment to continue his academic and athletic careers at West Virginia for fall 2022.

“I’m beyond excited to announce my commitment to further my academic and swimming career at West Virginia University. Thank you coach Vic and the rest of the staff for making me feel right at home” I can’t thank my family, friends, and coaches enough helping me get to where I am today. Let’s go Mountaineers!!!”

Nielsen swims for Gold Medal Swim Club out of Phoenix, AZ. At the end of March, Nielsen competed at Austin Sectionals. There he earned spots in finals in all but one event. His highest finishes were fourth in the 200 freestyle (1:38.60) and sixth in the 100 freestyle (45.17). He was slightly faster in prelims in the 200 freestyle as he went a 1:38.10 there earning him his first Summer Juniors cut. This was also a huge drop from years prior as his best prior to this season had been a 1:42.43.

Nielsen graduated high school in 2021 but “decided to take a gap year due to some a lot of health issues I was having my senior year. Unfortunately, I was diagnosed a medication that cause me to have a serious iron deficiency.  It took our family a year to find out and by that time, I had missed many of the championship meets my senior year.  I wanted to swim in college and I wanted to see what I could do when I was healthy.  It took most of last year for me to get back in shape. During the gap year I’ve been able to stay healthy and train my butt off and push myself to a higher level.”

His best short course yards times are:

  • 50 free: 20.94
  • 100 free: 45.17
  • 200 free: 1:38.10
  • 100 back:  50.97
  • 100 fly: 50.14

West Virginia University is a public university located in Morgantown, WV. The school is a member of the Big 12 and the men finished third out of three teams at the 2022 Big 12 Championships.

Nielsen has the potential to boost the team’s sprint/mid-distance freestyle program that had 0 ‘A’ finalists in the 100 freestyle at the 2022 Big 12 Championships. Nielsen’s best 200 freestyle time would have finished seventh at the 2022 Big 12 Championships, and his best 100 freestyle time would have finished 15th.

Nielsen also has the potential to boost the team’s relays as Nielsen’s flat-start 200 freestyle time is already faster than all three of WVU’s flying start splits from the 2022 Big 12 Championships.

Nielsen will arrive on campus this fall as a member of the class of 2026 along with Christian Simpson.

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NM Coach
1 year ago

This is a great pickup for WVU!!!! CONGRATULATIONS MAX! You are going to LOVE Morgantown…Country Roads BABY!!!

About Anya Pelshaw

Anya Pelshaw

Anya has been with SwimSwam since June 2021 as both a writer and social media coordinator. She was in attendance at the 2022 and 2023 Women's NCAA Championships writing and doing social media for SwimSwam. Currently, Anya is pursuing her B.A. in Economics and a minor in Government & Law at …

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