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Michael Linnihan of Elmbrook Swim Club has verbally committed to the Northwestern Wildcats for 2020. Linnihan completed enough credits to graduate from high school in spring 2019, after the conclusion of his junior year, and he’s using the 2019-20 season as a gap year to train before joining NU in fall of 2020.
Linnihan’s older brother, Ryan, is a sophomore who competes for Harvard.
I am thrilled to announce my commitment to continue both my swim and academic careers at Northwestern University. This would be impossible if I did not have such amazing parents, family, coaches, teammates, and friends. Thank you so much for your support. Go Cats!
TOP TIMES
- 50y free – 20.60
- 100y free – 44.88
- 200y free – 1:38.43
- 100y fly – 49.31
- 200y fly – 1:50.36
The defending 100 and 200 free Wisconsin D1 HS Champion, Linnihan went from 46.4/1:40.2 at the 2018 state championships to 44.9/1:39.0 just one year later, representing Brookfield Central High School.
Linnihan is a strong sprint addition for Northwestern, coming off of a big summer with Elmbrook Swim Club in long course. In the 100 fly, he hit a lifetime best 54.27 this past August at the 2019 Speedo Junior National Championships, where he placed 4th overall. He also made finals in the 50 free, going 23.69 to take 20th (his best is a 23.59 from 2018). Linnihan has also been 51.27 in the 100 free, 1:53.33 in the 200 free, and 2:04.58 in the 200 fly in LCM.
He’s not quite at B1G Champs scoring speed in his best events right now, but no Wildcat swam under 20.0 in the 50 and 44.0 in the 100 at the 2019 B1G Championships, so he figures towards the top of the roster already with a year of training still to come. Liam Gately leads the Wildcats in the 200 free with his 1:35.17 last season, and he’ll have a year of overlap with Linnihan in 2020-21.
This is the second 2024 commit for NU on the men’s side. Linnihan joins Jacob Rosner, an NCAP distance swimmer who’s also 1:38-mid in the 200 free but has distance speed (4:21.3/15:59.9) and a nice 200 fly (1:48.9).
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Y’all must have been taking a ton of melatonin because you are sleeping on the ‘cats.