McGlaughlin named to USA Swimming National Junior Team

IOWA CITY – No swim club in the state has more athletes officially qualified to swim at the 2016 Olympic Trials than Iowa City's Iowa Flyers. Now one of their own has earned an additional honor from USA Swimming.

Iowa City West senior Mark McGlaughlin is one of 114 swimmers named to the 2015-16 National Junior Team, comprised of the country's top-six swimmers in each event age 18 and under.

McGlaughlin was selected in the 50-meter freestyle (22.95 seconds) after reaching the first of two Olympic Trials time standards at the University of Iowa Recreation Center in June.

'It's been a goal to make the junior team,” McGlaughlin said. 'Getting two of those (Olympic) Trials' cuts, it made it clear that it was a bigger possibility.”

McGlaughlin also qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 100-meter freestyle (50.45), then added a third cut in August in the 100-meter backstroke (57.06).

A spot on the National Junior Team means McGlaughlin could be selected to compete in national and international junior meets as a member of USA Swimming. McGlaughlin will also be able to attend USA Swimming camps at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he'll be exposed to the latest in training techniques and technological tools.

'He's a consistently hard worker,” Iowa Flyers Coach Robert Pinter said. 'I think that is the thread that is common among all swimmers here.”

The announcement capped an exciting week for the eight-event state champion from West. McGlaughlin recently committed to swim collegiately for North Carolina State.

'It's a very young coaching staff,” McGlaughlin said. 'They just took over the program four years ago and they've been making great strides with the progress of their team. … I like being part of a program that's building itself up.”

Between training with the National Junior Team and preparing for the 2016 Olympic Trials next summer in Omaha, Neb., it remains to be seen how available McGlaughlin will be for the Iowa City West boys' swimming team, which has won the last two team state championships. His Iowa Flyers and West High teammate, Aidan Keen, is also an Olympic Trials qualifier (200-meter freestyle).

Neither, however, can match the number of cuts earned by West sophomore Ruby Martin. Martin, 15, had a very productive spring and summer that included a memorable trip to the Irish Open Swimming Championships in Dublin, Ireland, where she earned cuts with victories in the 400-meter freestyle (4:16.57) and the 200-meter butterfly (2:12.69).

'It was such an honor to even make it to that,” Martin said. 'I'm very happy I made it, it was a great experience and I made a lot of friends that I still see at meets and compete with today.”

Martin – who earned two Olympic Trials' cuts last year in the 200-meter individual medley and the 400 IM – added her fifth with a 2:01.82 in the 200-meter freestyle at the Iowa Swimming Long Course Championships in July. That will give Iowa Flyers Swim Club three participants in nine events at the Olympic Trials – and possibly more to come.

'We challenge them, sometimes daily,” Pinter said. 'They step up to the plate and just do the work and often times … they just surprise the heck out of me.”

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