There will be local high school athletes who go on to achieve great feats this school year, like leading their teams to championships and producing record-breaking performances.
None of them, though, will likely even come close to what Josh Matheny just accomplished.
An 11th-grader at Upper St. Clair, Matheny traveled to Hungary last week to take on the world’s best junior swimmers. He arrived home Monday with two gold medals, two silvers, and holding the designation as being one of the elite young swimmers in the world.
“It’s kind of a crazy feeling. It hasn’t really sunk in yet. I’m still super pumped about it,” Matheny said Sunday from Budapest, shortly after finishing up his tremendous showing at the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships.
Individually, Matheny won gold in the 200-meter breaststroke and silver in the 100-meter breaststroke. His time of 2:09.40 in the 200 fell just 0.01 seconds shy of the World Junior (18 and under) record. Matheny, representing Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics, also helped Team USA win two relay medals: they won the 4x100 mixed medley and placed second in the 4x100 medley.
The ramifications of what Matheny achieved were huge:
• When the USA Swimming calendar year ends Saturday, Matheny will finish sixth among all American swimmers in the 200 breaststroke. What that means is that Matheny will have qualified for the U.S. National Team. That will earn him access to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
“It’s a pretty big deal for a 16-year-old to make the national team,” said Upper St. Clair coach Dave Schraven, who was also in Hungary as one of Team USA’s assistant coaches.
• Speaking of the Olympics, 2020 Tokyo is now on Matheny’s radar maybe more than ever before. He’s still a long shot to make the U.S. Olympic Team — only two swimmers qualify in each event — but he’s now in the conversation. The trials will be held next June in Omaha, Neb.
“There will be some meets to prepare me, but the trials will be the big one,” Matheny said.
As far as big meets go, Matheny competed in two of the biggest of his career over the past month, and he shined in each. He captured Under-18 titles in the 100 and 200 breaststroke at the U.S. National Championships at Stanford University. That earned him a trip to the World Championships, where he flourished yet again.
“I knew I was going to be faster than I was at Nationals, but I wasn’t sure how much faster. The times I put down were unbelievable,” Matheny said.
Matheny upset favorite Shoma Sato of Japan to win the 200 breaststroke. Matheny said it will “stick out for the rest of my life as one of my great swims,” while Schraven called it the most exciting race of the meet.
“It was an unbelievable race,” said Schraven. “He was seeded third in the final. The Japanese guy who was in the middle was the top seed and his heat time was almost the world record. He was the heavy favorite. And basically, Josh was behind the entire race until the last stroke, and he came from behind in the last 25 [meters] to win.”
So now, a kid from Upper St. Clair who has been a WPIAL champion, PIAA champion and U.S. champion can now add world champion to his name.
“It’s just been crazy,” Matheny said, “and it’s been one of the best experiences of my life.”
Brad Everett: beverett@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BREAL412.
First Published: August 28, 2019, 10:45 a.m.
