Just days after entering the transfer portal and less than a week after competing at the 2025 NCAA Championships, Macky Hodges has announced she will transfer to Indiana beginning in fall 2025. Hodges spent her first two seasons with USC and qualified individually for NCAAs in both seasons.
“I have always had a lot of respect for Coach Looze and the IU program. They have such a fun vibe surrounding them at all the meets i’ve seen them at, and that’s something you can’t help but want to be a part of. I just feel super lucky to be able to join the Hoosier family and see what I can really do with my swimming,” Hodges told SwimSwam.
Hodges will travel east after training with Sandpipers of Nevada during her club career.
Time Progression
| High School Best | Freshman | Sophomore | |
| 400 IM | 4:09.29 | 4:12.62 | N/A |
| 200 IM | 1:58.53 | 1:58.07 | 1:56.69 |
| 200 Back | 1:54.23 | 1:53.75 | 1:53.58 |
| 200 free | 1:45.69 | 1:45.06 | 1:44.77 |
In addition to her 200 free, Hodges adds depth to the 200 IM and 200 back. Her 200 IM would have been #3 behind Miranda Grana and Reese Tiltmann as Grana swam a 1:55.88 at midseason while Tiltmann swam a 1:56.68 at NCAAs. Grana led the team with a 1:48.73 200 back as she won the NCAA ‘B’ final while Peplowski was #2 in the event with a 1:51.13.
Grana notably transferred to Indiana last year after spending her freshman season at Texas A&M. This season, Grana dropped from a 1:51.06 to a 1:48.73 in the 200 back. Hodges will be able to train alongside Grana for the next two years as they both enter their junior seasons.
Other news: 4x NCAA A finalist Rachel Stege from UGA retires from competitive swimming at age 21. Pan Am’s gold medalist (1500 free), silver medalist (800 free), and 2x finalist at olympic team trials in 2024 (5th: 800, 6th: 1500).
USC losing a few seniors and 5Ys…. and now this…
Strange decision, Looze must be really good at sugarcoating the unfortunate culture that has taken control on the IU women’s team. Hope she knows what she’s getting herself into.
Taken control? That culture has always been around dating back to Lilly King’s arrival, possibly even before that
True! It’s sad to see all these kids walk into it unknowingly. Hopefully, more light will be shed on it so future recruits can be aware and make informed decisions.
All you’re doing is saying that “bad culture makes good swimmers,” which would be an absolute travesty. Indiana women swam really, really well last week.
Some people are very good at figuring out what you want to hear and telling you exactly that. Ray Looze is the reigning champion in that event.
how is there a bad culture?
Yeah, can someone please explain?
Ella ristic swam for indiana before transfer to USC no?
That’s correct, she transferred from Indiana to USC to use her 5th year of eligibility/start grad school.
She transferred to start a specific grad program in the city she wants to line and work in. It was a career/life decision.
I’ve never heard “fun vibe” and “Ray Looze” in the same discussion. That’s a first,
swimming fast is fun, and that’s what IU is doing right now.
I’m not saying IU aren’t, but there are unfortunately lots of examples of programs which were swimming fast whilst the swimmers were, we now know, miserable.
Does grimes even like uva? Haven’t heard any comments on that
https://staging.swimswam.com/katie-grimes-on-competing-for-virginia-it-was-definitely-worth-the-wait/
#worthit
Swimming fast may be fun, but grossly mistreating athletes is not. If the coach and athletes are willing to do anything to others in order to get the ‘fast swimming fun,’ do you want to be a part of that? Are these the people you want to surround yourself with, and is this the college experience you want for yourself? What if you end up not being as fast as they all want you to be, what can you expect from a coach and fellow athletes who are only looking for ‘fast swimming fun’?
Instead of cooking up worst case scenarios for this girl maybe stop and consider why she’s transferring in the first place.
leaving a program after 2 years must’ve been a difficult decision. she probably has lots of good relationships there with her teammates.
Her end of season swims were rough but other than that she was trending the right way with best times in all her 200s. If she really was upset with her swimming why didn’t she go last year where she had a very similar performance at NCAAs
To me it looks like more than just swimming was the issue for her to decide to leave as a sophomore.
She should know what she’s getting into with IU. There are other options available, IU isn’t the only alternative to her current college, regardless of her reasons for leaving.
I am sure she saw how much fun they had at B1G’s and NCAA’s and knows what she is getting into Saul. IU is magical right now and you are just stirring the pot.
Indeed, Maleficent magical!
what happened with indiana swimmers? i’m unaware of what’s going on; do you mind summarizing the situation/putting some links?
I am in the same boat i do not get what they are referring to
People make comments like this about Ray all the time and never post specifics.
Can you give some examples of the mistreatment?
Bingo!
The transfer portal group mostly freshmen who weren’t good enough to make BIG team and if if IU looking to stay in Top 6 those ladies would be cut so let’s not overstate based on transfer portal of large team that will shrink with House and league rules. Those ladies mostly B/C relay swimmers and wish them happiness on new teams.
Hope she knows what she’s getting into. The constant turnover of athletes coming and going doesn’t exactly foster the best team culture.
There are currently 14 graduating women seniors and 17 men that have been there since Freshman year – so constant turnover isn’t a thing. And everyone needs to be honest about the roster limits and athletes in the portal. It is effecting every swim team. So by saying they are leaving because of the culture is totally delusional.
Sounds to me, “General”, you know exactly why they are leaving, and so do I, and so does everyone on the team. You’re delusional if you think the mistreatment will continue to go unnoticed or be covered up by “cuts” and other fabricated excuses. How long until every club coach becomes aware and starts warning their athletes?
IDK who you think you are to be judging this kids decision. She probably came to this decision with the help of her club coaches and parents, why can’t u be supportive and move on it’s absolutely none of your business.
Put this on the tombstone when they officially bury the last NCAA varsity swimming program. “It was none of our business.”
how does that have anything to do with one persons decision to go to IU. I’m not saying the state of D1 swimming right now isn’t great but I am not wrong in saying that anyone outside of Macky’s inner circle has no business saying she made a bad decision.
Though nobody said it directly it is pretty apparent that is what most of these commenters seem to think.
Because what you’re saying is that you don’t want swimming to be treated like any other spectator sport in the world would be, which is “when a top swimmer transfers, people want to talk about it.”
If swimmers want folks to stop speculating about why they transfer, then they should just be honest about why they transfer (they never are). Until then…this is the game. Or at least the game that makes folks interested in the sport. And if folks aren’t interested in the sport, the sport will continue to be cut.
It’s not rocket science. IDK why swimmers think that their fans should just shut up unless they’re politely clapping at a swim meet where one interesting thing happens… Read more »
How honest do you think they can be? Are you expecting swimmers to rake their old programs through the coals and move on? Seems kind of unrealistic especially considering they will have to see those coaches again on deck at various swim meets.
But their entire women’s freshman class either transferred or quit the sport. If that’s not indicative of a negative team culture idk what is
You are totally off base. This has been happening to IU classes FAR before the House law suit took place. I graduated off of the IU swim team less than 5 years ago. Every day you were getting screamed and cursed at by (most of) your coaches, and if you were a woman, you would be informed of how you need to lose weight. Almost every swimming class – even by sophomore year – had less than 50% of its starting freshman. Again, not from House lawsuit. This was before. You literally would have coaches being arrested (Westphal) for intimidation, who Looze endorsed before and after the event. I understand why, but they were a heck of a 1-2 punch… Read more »
How do they keep recruiting so well? And is it the same for the men’s side?
That is interesting because my daughter is one of the graduating seniors – so you two have had polar opposite experiences being on the same team at the same time. What class did you graduate in and what was your stroke?
Did you know that different people can get treated differently by the same person?
Yes but the team culture isn’t different
Not sure if you noticed but that the going to be the new for pretty much every one!! Between coaches wanting the fastest swimmers and swimmers wanting a better deal. Rosters are going to chance every year!! GET USE TO IT
yikes. hope she won’t be mistreated considering how rotten the culture is for two freshmen to quit and the rest to transfer. especially when only 2-3 of them had to actually be cut. good luck!
Being a junior transfer is difficult. I hope she finds the community and success she is looking for at Indiana.