Double 2014 NCAA Champion diver Michael Hixon has been granted a release by the University of Texas, he confirmed today. This means that he plans to transfer and will be eligible to compete at his next institution immediately if he chooses to do so.
Hixon, who shared the news on Thursday, says that “nothing is official” about where he’s going next year.
The sophomore-to-be from Amherst, Massachusetts had one of the more impressive freshmen seasons in recent NCAA diving history in 2014. He was a big reason why Texas finished 2nd at the 2014 NCAA Championships and remained in contention through the 3rd day for the overall team title.
He begin the meet by winning the 1-meter and 3-meter titles in the meet’s first two days; his biggest contribution toward the team effort, though, truly could be the platform: an event in which he’s still very green and where he is on a big learning curve. Headed into the 3rd day, with a lot of pressure and Texas needing a big performance, he finished 7th. It ultimately wasn’t enough, as Cal would win the meet, but his 52 points for the Longhorns were an astonishing performance.
Nationally, Hixon was 3rd in 2013 at the USA Diving National Championships on the individual 3-meter and was 2nd in the three-meter synchro event. His partner at Nationals was Darian Schmidt, and while Hixon says he can’t comment yet about where he might transfer to, Schmidt dives at Indiana.
At Worlds, he teamed up with former Texas diver Troy Dumais to place 5th in the 3-meter synchro event. Hixon is also a three-time Junior National Champion and was a part of the first-ever USA Youth Olympic Games contingent in 2010.
Sad day to the Horn fans around here. We really enjoyed watching Hixon at NCAAs. I will know more on Saturday…
Per a former Longhorn teammate he is transferring to Indiana. Done deal.
This is rather significant news. Hixon had a fantastic NCAA meet this past March, as Braden noted, and was one of the most successful UT athletes at the big meet…53 individual points. Bowersox, Adnerson and Chandler are all very good divers and should help Texas out next year, of course…but this is a big loss for the Longhorns.
Any ideas which schools Hixon is considering? He’ll make a huge impact wherever he goes. All the best to him.