When rising senior Maxime Rooney dropped the bombshell news in April that he would be heading from Florida to Texas, it was unclear exactly what his plans were going to be, swimming-wise.
One thought was that he might join Texas’ pro group, and forgo his final year of NCAA eligibility. Another was that he would sign with Texas, then take an Olympic redshirt and finish out his college career after the Olympics. The final option was a straight-up transfer, with Rooney making an immediate impact; SwimSwam had confirmed that this is the case.
Texas tweeted in May that Rooney had officially “signed” with the Longhorns, eliminating the professional route.
It's official.
Not rebuilding. Just reloading. 🤘🤘🤘😏😏😏🖊🖊🖊 pic.twitter.com/B9SVogqQLd
— Texas Men's Swimming & Diving (@TexasMSD) May 7, 2019
That left the options that Rooney would either take an Olympic redshirt, or compete on behalf of the team right away. Texas head coach Eddie Reese confirmed that Rooney will race in the NCAA in the upcoming season.
The 21-year-old is a versatile multi-time NCAA qualifier. As a freshman, he qualified in the 400 free relay, 800 free relay, 100 free, 200 free, 500 free. As a sophomore, he went in the 400 medley relay, 800 free relay, 100 free, 200 free, 200 IM.
He showed off his butterfly at the 2019 SEC Championships when he won the 100 in 45.06; and was 2nd in the 200 in 1:40.87. He swam the 100 free at SECs as well and was 3rd in the 100 free in 41.74. This year thus marked a massive NCAA event shift, as he entered the 100 fly, 100 free, and 200 fly individually. He finished fourth in the 100 fly in Austin, as well as 30th in the 200 fly and 12th in the 100 free.
He also anchored Florida’s fifth-place 800 free relay, going 1:31.60.
Rooney is a huge “get” for Texas after the team fell to Cal at the 2019 Men’s DI NCAA Championships in March. Rooney will join an elite 200 free group that graduated former American record holder Townley Haas (though he’ll presumably stick around as a pro), and still includes Drew Kibler (1:31.76), Austin Katz (who was 1:31.45 on the 800 free relay) and Jake Sannem (1:32.43). Additionally, Harvard’s 200 free American record holder Dean Farris trained with the pro group last summer and is taking an Olympic redshirt to continue under Reese in the run-up to Tokyo.
At the 2018 Phillips 66 National Championships last July, Rooney finished seventh in the 100 free and 10th in the 200. He holds a best time of 1:47.10 in the 200 LCM free from 2015, and 48.27 in the 100 from last summer. Rooney was in line to make USA Swimming’s World University Games roster in the 100 free or 800 free relay, but appeared to decline his spot when final rosters were released without him listed.
Really curious to see how he adapts to Texas program. Freshman take a while to settle in at UF – I think their program is so intense / they do so much volume that it takes time for the athletes to convert hard work to time improvement. There’s no doubt Rooney is very fit having swam for Troy et al. Wonder if his fitness level will allow him to jump right in at UT and see some improvement / if there will be some sort of adaptation period that we often see with freshmen.
That being said, he was improving at Florida, and had a great butterfly year.
I think it’s easy to think of different programs as just… Read more »
You’re right about all the little behind the scenes, diff characters, diff personalities being able to work together as a team. There could be things that only he and his former team will ever know.
As long as he can finish off his college career on good terms with himself, I believe that’s what is important.
He should transfer to Saginaw valley I heard there on the up and up
Traitor
How dare he do what he deems best for himself!
Your supposed to finish what you start.
I don’t think people are as upset with the fact that he did it as much as they are with HOW he did it. He didn’t announce it to his teammates until right before he posted it on social media, and then he proceeded to delete pretty much any trace of his teammates or UF on his Instagram with the exception of the picture he took with Albert the Alligator when he verbally committed.
I’m sure he has his reasons. Perhaps for him a fresh start includes removing visual reminders of a place/ program where he was not achieving his personal goals? Do people forget how dominant Maxime was before Florida? I just think that he’s “all in” with UT. Good for him!
Dude if he feels that transferring is the best decision for himself in his career, then let him do him
It should make for an interesting March in Indianapolis…but those Bear Juniors will be pulling their weight!
Haha he’s ring chasing. Didn’t want to go through college without winning the title.
He won’t find it at UT.
Any Cal fans want to comment on this please.
Go bears!🐻
Hugo says it’s no big deal
Our incoming freshmen + Hugo will be able to take the heat
Hugo who?
lol
Wonder why he turned down WUGs
Smart!