Upper St. Clair swimmer commits to IU
Although he does not graduate high school until 2021, Josh Matheny of Upper St. Clair made a verbal commitment to continue his swimming career at Indiana University.
The U.S. National team member said that he is “extremely excited” about the announcement and wanted to thank his family, coaches and friends for their “support'” throughout his career.
Indeed, it has been an illustrious career so far.
During the World Junior Championships this summer in Budapest, Hungary, Matheny captured two gold and two silver medals and smashed national age group and world junior records in the process.
Dave Schraven, is excited about his decision to attend Indiana University. Schraven serves as Matheny’s high school coach. He also coaches Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics, the club for which Matheny swims.
“Coach (Ray) Looze and his staff have an unparalleled history of success with their breaststroke group,” he said.
Schraven noted the list includes World Record holder Lilly King, Olympic medalist Cody Miller and American record holder Ian Finnerty.
“Josh has very lofty goals he’d like to achieve during his swimming career,” continued Schraven, “and I believe Indiana is the best place for him to pursue those goals after he graduates from high school.”
In addition to his recent success at the World Junior competition, Matheny’s most recent achievements include third in the 200-meter breaststroke in a then 15-16 National Age Group record time of 2:11.02 and 12th in the 100-meter breaststroke in a time of 1:00.91 at 2019 U.S. Summer Nationals.
Matheny is the USA Swimming 2018 Junior Nationals East Champion in both breaststroke events.
A NISCA and USA athletic as well as academic All-American, Matheny is a two-time WPIAL and PIAA champion in the 100 breast, where he broke the National Federation of High Schools record time of 52.52.
The Upper St. Clair High School junior is the son of Jeff and Kristin Matheny. He has two older sisters, Megan and Abby, who is currently swimming at Williams College.