Thomas Finello, USC’s #2-Returning Sprinter, Medically Retires

The USC men are in rebuilding mode under new full-time head coach Lea Mauer, and that effort has taken another blow with the medical retirement of one of the program’s top sprinters.

Thomas Finello tells SwimSwam that he made the decision to medically retire three weeks ago after recovering from his fourth concussion. Finello said that he sustained one concussion in a car accident and that some were “swim related.”

Concussions are relatively-rare, but not unheard of, in swimming, but Finello declined to elaborate on how he was concussed in swim-related activities.

Finello emphasized that he is pleased with the way he finished his college career and gave a vote of confidence to the coaching staff.

“It was a happy ending to my career,” Finello told SwimSwam on Friday. “I had a great Pac-12 meet last spring and the coaches couldn’t have been more supportive of this decision.

“I really do see a positive future for the team. This coaching staff is outstanding and knows what they are doing.”

In yards, he carried flat-start bests of:

• 50 free – 19.61
• 100 free – 43.62
• 100 fly – 47.26

All of those best times came from the 2022 Pac-12 Championships, where he was a member of the Trojans’ non-scoring roster.

In spite of his exhibition status, his time in the 50 free would have placed him 12th in prelims of the scoring field. All three of his exhibition swims ranked him first among exhibitioned swimmers.

Time Drops at Pac-12s:

Finello had a good freshman season at USC, though that season, and especially at the mid-season Art Adamson Invitational. His times stagnated after that, though; he didn’t get close to most of them again until the 2021 Art Adamson meet.

But at the 2022 Pac-12 Championships, he got back on track and finished the year as the team’s 3rd-best 50 freestyler. After the graduation of Nikola Miljenic, Finello would have been USC’s #2 returning swimmer in both the 50 and 100 yard freestyles from last season, and would have had a likely spot on at least two relays awaiting him.

Finello is a native of Westlake Village, California, where he attended View Point High School and trained with Class Aqauatics. In high school, he was the 5th-place finisher in the 100 free at the 2018 USA Swimming Futures Championships.

The USC men finished 4th out of 6 teams at last year’s Pac-12 Championships. They were 25.5 points ahead of 5th-place Arizona, and 203 points behind 3rd-place Arizona State. The team has lost a number of its top swimmers to transfers in the off-season, including NCAA qualifiers Alexei Sancov and Daniel Matheson, and former NJCAA superstar sprinter Billy Cruz.

USC’s Top Returning Sprinters from Last Season

50 free:

1. Artem Selin – 19.38
2. Nikola Miljenic – 19.39
3. Alexei Sancov – 19.07 (rolling start)
4. Thomas Finello – 19.61
5. Max Saunders – 19.66
6. Mateo Parker – 19.99
7. Ronald Dalmacia – 20.08 (incoming freshman)
8. Danny Syrkin – 20.09
9. Billy Cruz – 20.14
10. Ryan Peterson – 20.19

100 free:

1. Nikola Miljenic – 42.25
2. Alexei Sancov – 42.34 (rolling start)
3. Max Saunders – 42.79
4. Thomas Finello – 43.62
5. Jan Collazo – 43.76
6. Artem Selin – 44.01
7. Mateo Parker – 44.15
8. Vaggelis Makrygiannis – 44.25
9. Ronald Dalmacio – 44.27 (incoming freshman)
10. Dominic Margarino – 44.39

Finello most recently swam at July’s long course Los Angeles Invitational. Among his results from that meet was a new best time in the 100-meter fly (54.56).

What does ‘Medical Retirement’ mean?

In the NCAA, ‘Medical Retirement’ is a program for athletes who have suffered severe injuries that don’t allow them to participate in collegiate athletics. Under the program, the school’s athletics director has the option to continue paying for an athlete’s scholarship (or providing them with other financial aid) without that counting against a team’s scholarship limit.

The rub is that if the athlete’s circumstance changes and they resume competing for the institution where the injury occurred, their scholarship money would have to retroactively count for the seasons they received it. In general, this means that athletes who medically retire don’t usually return to competition, especially at their prior institutions – though neither is explicitly forbidden.