July 27, 2018
Results
IRVINE, Calif. - Penn State rising-senior Ally McHugh (Philadelphia, Pa.) is the U.S. National Champion in the women's 400-meter individual medley after a dramatic finish Friday evening at the 2018 USA Swimming Phillips 66 Nationals at the William Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine, California.
McHugh overcame a nearly half-second deficit after the final turn, passing both Brooke Forde (Stanford) and Olympic medalist and defending national champion Leah Smith over the final 50 meters to touch the wall first in a personal-best 4:34.80. Forde trailed in second by 0.29 seconds.
McHugh's time ranks her third in the world year-to-date and was 3.68 seconds shy of the American record of 4:31.12. She shaved nearly five seconds off her prelims time of 4:39.67, which was also a personal best.
Asked by NBC Sports how she did it, McHugh said, "Just focusing on having fun, staying in my own lane, doing my own race and just having fun."
McHugh has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past two years rising from an NCAA Championships participant as a sophomore in 2017 to a U.S. National Team member by the end of the summer of 2017. She then medaled twice at the 2018 Big Ten Championships and won silver in the 1650-yard freestyle at the 2018 NCAA Championships leading up to this year's national championships.
"I think it's just being more confident in myself, trusting my training and my abilities," said McHugh. "My coaches and my support system have been amazing, so that's a big part of it."
Penn State head coach Tim Murphy was proud of her tremendous race.
"I said, `Ally that was all you, and when you keep yourself in the race, you can race with anybody in the world'," said Murphy. "That's what she did tonight.
"She's the national champion, she outraced two gold medalists. She just vaulted herself a quantum leap. It was fun. We had a lot of fun watching that one."
School pride was not far from McHugh's mind immediately following the race. McHugh is Penn State's first women's swimming U.S. National Champion.
"It's awesome to represent Penn State at this meet and win for them, so that's awesome."
With the win, McHugh will be making her first trip to Japan, as she will be a member of the U.S. national team at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo August 9-14.
McHugh is slated to compete again twice more at Nationals in the 400m free (Saturday) and 1500m free (Sunday).
Friday's swim was her second of the meet. McHugh was less than a tenth-of-a-second shy of medaling Wednesday, placing fourth in the 800m freestyle in a personal-best 8:24.22, which also ranks her in the Top 10 in the world.
McHugh was not the only Nittany Lion in action Friday. Maddie Hart (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) also swam, competing in the prelims of the 100 butterfly (1:01.26) and 50m back (30.25). She also swam in the 50m fly (28.08) Thursday. She will complete her Nationals experience Saturday in the 100m backstroke.
Penn State men's swimmer Robbie Dickson (Greenwich, N.J.) also competed Wednesday, placing 29th in the 1500m free in 15:35.63, a personal best time. Dickson will swim again Sunday in the 800m free.
The Phillips 66 Nationals serve as the selection event for the USA National Teams competing at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships, 2019 World Championships, 2019 World University Games, 2019 Pan American Championships and 2018 Jr. Pan Pacific Championships. The meet does not count towards 2020 Olympic Trials qualifying.
The entirety of the meet is being streamed between USASwimming.org and NBCSports.com, while the Olympic Channel will broadcast finals live Wednesday-Saturday. NBC Sports Network and NBC will air portions on tape delay. Consult USASwimming.org for a day-by-day schedule.
Check GoPSUSports.com for coverage of the Penn State swimming and diving teams. Follow the team on Twitter at @PennStateSWIM and on Facebook at http://facebook.com/pennstateswimminganddiving.