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Fenwick High School senior Connor McCarthy will cross the state line from Illinois to Indiana next fall to begin competition for the Purdue Boilermakers.
In spite of geographic proximity, Purdue doesn’t recruit Illinois that heavily. Their 2020-2021 roster, in fact, doesn’t have any swimmers from Illinois on it.
I’m very proud to announce my decision to continue my swimming and academic career at Purdue University. I would like to thank my parents, family, coaches, teammates, and friends who have helped me to get here. Boiler up!!🚂🚂 @FriarAquatics @PurdueMSwimDive @fenwickfriars pic.twitter.com/G7NDE3Mxyb
— Connor McCarthy (@ConnorMac2021) October 30, 2020
McCarthy was a Illinois High School Sectionals Champion in the 100 fly in February of this year, where he also placed 2nd in the 200 IM. That qualified him to swim both events at the Illinois High School State Championship meet a week later, though he added time and missed scoring in both events there.
Best Times in Yards:
- 50 free – 21.39
- 100 free – 46.71
- 200 free – 1:43.82
- 100 back – 53.50
- 200 back – 1:57.87
- 100 fly – 50.92
- 200 fly – 1:57.42
- 200 IM – 1:54.94
- 400 IM – 4:07.04
His best times in the 100 fly, 200 IM, and 400 IM are all Futures Championships qualifying marks based on the 2019 standards. The Futures Championships are designed as a stepping-stone for swimmers to advance from Sectionals to Junior Nationals events.
The Purdue men finished 7th out of 10 teams at last year’s Big Ten Championship meet, just 10 points behind Iowa, which is entering the final season of that program’s history.
The Boilermakers did well in the 200 IM at those Big Ten Championships last season, scoring 30 points, but struggled in the 100 fly, with just 4 points thanks to a 47.68 for 21st place by then-junior Nathan Barsanti.
Purdue had 3 swimmers go sub-48 in the 100 yard fly last season, and they return every swimmer that swam a 100 fly for them last year.
McCarthy returned to racing for FMC Aquatics post-quarantine 2 weeks ago, where he swam near-best times of 47.0 in the 100 free and 51.0 in the 100 fly.
He joins a class for the Purdue men that includes Chandler Lipp, Nick Kale, Brady Samuels, Idris Muhammad and Luke Fortner. Samuels, a 20.54/44.53 freestyle sprinter, is the headliner of the class so far.
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