USC freshman Daniel Matheson, who competed in the 500 free, 400 IM and 1650 free at this year’s NCAA Championships, has entered the NCAA transfer portal.
A native of Peoria, Arizona, Matheson joined the Trojans from Scottsdale Aquatic Club as a highly touted distance recruit. In high school, Matheson was a finalist at USA Swimming Junior Nationals and competed at the 2021 Wave II Olympic Trials. Matheson was also named to the USA Swimming National Junior Team in both the 800 and 1500 free last fall.
Matheson saw significant improvement during his first season in Los Angeles, dropping nearly 6 seconds in the 500 free, 22 seconds in his mile and nearly 3 seconds in the 400 IM. He qualified for the NCAA Championships in all three events at the Pac 12 championships, where he finished 5th in the 500, 11th in the 400 IM and 4th in the 1650. Matheson added in all three races at NCAAs and finished outside of scoring range.
| Pre-USC Best | USC Freshman Best | |
| 200 free | 1:35.90 | 1:40.47 |
| 500 free | 4:20.64 | 4:14.87 |
| 1650 free | 15:13.94 | 14:51.59 |
| 400 IM | 3:47.69 | 3:44.71 |
Matheson was USC’s highest-scoring swimmer at Pac 12s this season, scoring 35 individual points. Only junior diver George Korovin, who scored 46 points, scored more individually. USC finished 4th at Pac 12s with 449 points and finished 26th at NCAAs with 25 points. USC’s NCAA squad was led by 5th year Trent Pellini, who scored 14 points. The Trojans’ only returning scorer is freshman Chris O’Grady, who finished 16th in the 200 breast.
This season was marred with controversy for the Trojans, as then-head coach Jeremy Kipp was placed on a leave of absence in the fall. Lea Maurer stepped in as interim head coach for the season, and she was named the permanent head coach on April 1st.
UVA has already started their Instagram recruiting of following Baron, Parker, Davis, Pineda, and Matheson after announcing their entry to the portal
Daniel was committed to Northwestern when Kipp was coach there and when Kipp left for USC Daniel followed suit. I’m almost certain this has something to do with that. Best of luck to Daniel in the future.
Serious improvements over at SMU should be appealing. Rhodenbaugh has turned the program around and will continue to do so. I believe the program went from 18 NCAA B cuts in 2021 to 41 in 2022 and qualified 3 for NCAAs. Looking at the roster and rising talent, it’s likely that they will bring a much larger team next year. Distance program will be much deeper in the future and would certainly welcome Daniel.
Absolutely. The Rhody effect is real.
DUMB move on Lea’s part! Huh?
Being from Scottsdale, ASU seems like a good choice.
Freshman swimmers transfer all the time and for every reason under the sun.
Best of luck Mr. Matheson and I hope you find the right program for you.
Should go to the east coast. UVA, UNC, FSU would all be good fits.
I just don’t see her style working for young college guys. There may be a reason there are few women coaches on the men’s side. Society might not like it, but, young men are different from young women. In their training, their approach to training, what motivates them. This coming from a mom that was a college swimmer and has two boys who swim too. Mike Bohn took the easy route. There is no way Lea Maurer did NOT know what was going on and did absolutely nothing to stop it.
It’s weird to me how much sexism there is among the USC fan base.
The only way you could take what I said as sexist is because that is how you view the world. I did not say anything sexist.
Yet somehow young women have been successfully coached by men for centuries…the idea that swimmers can’t be coached by the opposite sex is ridiculous.
Contrast to middle aged men and young women, who are identical in their training, their approach to training, and what motivates them.