Jun 26, 2021 5 min read

Josh Matheny learned to swim at age 5 so his family could enjoy their seashore vacations. Ever since, the sport has taken him beyond the beach.

“I learned to swim like everybody else,” said the son of Kristn and Jeff Matheny. “I enjoyed it and it seemed to come natural to me.”

Because Matheny was “pretty good” at swimming he switched from playing ice hockey and lacrosse. “I never looked back,” he said.

By the time he reached his teen years, Matheny already was a Junior Olympian. He made the national team and competed at the World Junior Championships. During that event two years ago, he won two gold and two silver medals in Hungary.

Recently, he returned from Omaha where he successfully competed in his first U.S. Olympic Trials. Matheny, 18, hit a best time of 1:00.06 when he qualified for the finals in the 100-meter breaststroke and moved into second all-time in the 17-18 age group, edging past Reece Whitley (1:00.08) and trailing only Michael Andrew’s 2016 National Age Group record of 59.82. He eventually finished fifth in the finals with a time of 1:00.22. Matheny also competed in the 200 breaststroke.

Although he did not finish in the top two in either event to qualify for the Summer Games to be held July 23-Aug. 9 in Tokyo, Matheny is being groomed for the 2024 Olympiad in Paris. By then, he will be a seasoned veteran competing for Indiana University in the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers have produced Olympic medalists in Lilly King and Cody Miller, whom he defeated in a sectional meet prior to the Olympic Trials.

“Josh is going to a program that is known for developing great breaststrokers,” said David Schraven, who doubled as his high school and swim club coach. “He is going in as a great breaststroker. My hope is that when all is said and done, he will be one of the best ever. That’s my hope for Josh. I think he’s well on his way.”

Somehow Matheny performed well while battling an up-and-down swim year interrupted by the COVID pandemic.

“It’s definitely been a roller coaster year for Josh,” said Schraven. “He managed to train hard.”

Despite many meets being canceled or postponed in 2020, including the Olympic trials and the Summer Games, and pool time difficult to schedule during the peak of the pandemic, Schraven was able to “cobble” a training regiment for Matheny that included travel to Arizona to train with elite swimmers.

“One way or another we kept him swimming straight and training hard,” Schraven said.

This winter, the training paid off handsomely as Matheny dominated the district and state action.

At the PIAA Class 3A Championships, he ran away with Swimmer of the Meet honors after a three-gold-medal performance.

“I wanted it,” he said of the award. “To actually win it was the perfect way to end my high school career. It’s special. You go into every race with the attitude that you want to win and you wish you will do well, but when it happens it’s amazing. I did my best times and swam as fast as I could.”

For the fourth year in a row, he won the 100-yard breaststroke. He won the event in 51.84 and shattered his PIAA and NFHS record in the process.

Winning four straight state titles was “definitely something special,” Matheny added.

“It feels very neat,” he said. “I was excited to see what I could do and breaking that record was the icing on the cake.”

Matheny also won the 200-yard IM in 1:47.54, and swam the breast stroke leg on USC’s gold-medal medley relay team at the state finals. The win in the IM was vindication for his disqualification on the start in his preliminary heat last year and for his runner-up showing in the WPIAL finals this year.

Matheny dubbed his IM win as “sweeter” than his domination in the breaststroke.

Because he is such a standout in the breast, Matheny helped USC win the 200 medley relay at states twice in his career. Schraven noted that one great swimmer cannot win a relay at states but when teammates see the effort an individual like Matheny gives on a daily basis, it makes them work harder to achieve great things.

“A swimmer like Josh makes the whole program better because he sets a high standard that raises everybody’s level,” Schraven said. “Yes, Josh is very talented. But he’s also the most committed, hardest-working swimmer in the pool. His teammates see that and it motivates them to up their game.”

At their home pool at USC, Matheny guided the Panthers to their first WPIAL team championship in 10 years. He shattered his WPIAL record in his signature swim, winning the breast in 54.50. He also helped the medley relay smash a pool record and win the race in 1:33.33.

“Out of everything that I have done in high school, to win WPIALs as a team means the most to me,” said Matheny. “I imagine it’s every team’s goal to bring home the trophy. It’s kind of exciting.”

Matheny, who capped his scholastic career with another All-America honor, is thrilled with his past but is eager to embark on his next phase of swimming.

“I’m very happy where I am right now,” he said. “The only place to go is up.”