Matheny finishes seventh in Olympic swim event

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Young fans, including Ashley Tingley as well as Adani and Cole O'Connor, cheer during a watch party for Upper St. Clair Olympian Josh Matheny.

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Adani and Cole O'Connor, who just started taking swim lessons, wave their American flags for Josh Matheny. Their mom, Meghan, said that it is really important to come out and support people from our community that have succeeded and that hard work pays off and this is an example of that.

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Megan Whiteford hangs red, white and blue lights at the entrance of the Upper St. Clair High School auditorium in preparation for the Josh Matheny watch party.

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Josh Matheny prepares for his start in the 200-meter breaststroke final.

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Fans cheer on Josh Matheny.

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Fans of Josh Matheny gathered in the auditorium of his alma mater July 31 to watch the 2021 Upper St. Clair graduate realize a dream of competing in the finals of the 200-meter breaststroke event during the Summer Olympics in Paris.

Matheny clocked a 2:09.52 and finished seventh at the Paris La Defense Arena. It was the first Olympics for the 21-year-old son of Kristin and Jeff Matheny. Taking the Gold Medal was France’s Leon Marchand, with a time of 2:05.85.

Matheny was one of 25 swimmers from 20 countries entered in the race, which featured five different prelim races. Matheny’s Heat 3 time of 2:10.39 thrust him into the semifinals. He qualified for the finals with a 2:09.70 by finishing sixth overall in the semifinals.

An All-American swimmer at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., Matheny was a record-setting, multi-WPIAL and PIAA winner at USC as well as a champion on the global stage, medaling most recently at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, in 2023.

“This was icing on the cake for Josh. He finished faster than yesterday, and that is all we could ask for,” said his former high school coach Dave Schraven. “Hopefully, he will be back in four years.

“Going into it, making the final was the primary goal. He was seeded 10th going in, so he succeeded that.

“He was awesome. It was a great experience for him. In four years, he will be more in his prime and having this under his belt, it won’t be so much about the nerves, because he will already have done it. He can focus more on his performance.”

Schraven also thanked the community for coming out and supporting Matheny.

“The outpouring was fantastic,” he said. “People really wanted to come out here and support him.”