Junior Nationals Qualifier Max Cahill Commits to Indiana

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Max Cahill, a junior at reigning state champion Loyola High School in Los Angeles, California, has verbally committed to Indiana University for the 2023-24 school year. 

A butterfly and backstroke specialist, Cahill helped break a pair of CIF State Meet Records last month in the 200 free relay and 200 medley relay along with teammate Rex Maurer, the No. 2 recruit in the Class of 2023. Cahill split 21.50 on the fly leg before Maurer’s 19.57 freestyle leg sealed the new standard of 1:28.53. In individual events, Cahill hit two personal bests in the 100 back (48.30) and 100 fly (48.06), placing 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

Top Times (SCY)

• 100 fly – 48.06
• 200 fly – 1:46.29
• 100 back – 48.30
• 200 back – 1:50.63

Cahill also swims club with Maurer at Rose Bowl Aquatics, which was ranked as the top bronze medal club in 2021. At a Rose Bowl Aquatics Intrasquad just two days before the state championship meet, Cahill set a new personal best by more than a second in the 200 fly with a 1:46.29. With more than a year still left to develop before arriving in Bloomington, that 200 fly mark would have made the ‘C’ finals at this year’s Big Ten Championships. Although four Hoosiers went faster in the event, only one – sophomore Tomer Frankel – is an underclassman. 

Cahill’s best 100 back time would have already made the ‘C’ final of the Big Ten Championships, as well. His best 100 fly time would have barely missed the ‘C’ final, but if he can cut down another two seconds like last year, it’s possible that Cahill could make the ‘A’ final as a freshman. 

Cahill made an impressive leap during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic despite locked down conditions without meets. When he returned to action at St. George Sectionals in March of 2021, he set five new personal bests. He shaved a second off of his previous best in the 100 back, two seconds off of his previous best in the 200 fly, and a whopping four seconds off of his previous best in the 100 fly. In the process, he qualified for the Winter Junior Championship West meet last December, where he was a finalist in the 200 fly with a 1:47.73. 

This year, he’s a Junior Nationals qualifier in the 100 fly, 200 fly, and 100 back. His 200 back didn’t progress as much as his other signature strokes during the first year of the pandemic (.91-second improvement), but he has dropped nearly two seconds in the past year.

Cahill is the first California recruit in Indiana’s Class of 2027, though it is an area that the Hoosiers are no strangers to: four current members of the men’s team and three current members of the women’s team hail from the Golden State. He joins Maryland’s Toby Barnett, Florida’s Elliot Weisel and Dylan Smiley, and the local Indiana crew of Lucas Byrd, William Raches, and Sean Sullivan as Indiana commits in 2027.

This past season, the Hoosiers edged Ohio State for the Big Ten title before placing 5th at NCAAs. It was the Indiana men’s fifth conference championship during head coach Ray Looze’s 17-year tenure and the team’s third top-5 finish in the past four NCAA Championships. Cahill figures to be pushed if he has a chance to train with soon-to-be-senior Brendan Burns, the reigning NCAA champion in the 200 fly.

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