Blue White Illustrated

P enn State swimming coach Tim Mur- phy likes to tell Ally McHugh that she is capable of competing with anyone at any level. Lately, the Nittany Lion senior has been proving him right. McHugh became the first Penn State athlete to claim a U.S. national champi- onship in women's swimming, taking first place in the 400- meter individual medley July 27 at the USA Swimming Phillips 66 Nationals in Irvine, Calif. McHugh overcame a nearly half-second deficit after the final turn, passing both Brooke Forde of Stan- ford and Olympic medalist and defending national champion Leah Smith over the final 50 meters to touch the wall first in a personal-best 4 minutes, 34.80 seconds. Forde finished second, only 0.29 seconds off the winning pace. "I said, 'Ally, that was all you, and when you keep yourself in the race, you can race with anybody in the world,' " Murphy said. "That's what she did. … 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." McHugh's time ranked third in the world this year and was 3.68 seconds shy of the American record of 4:31.12. She shaved nearly five seconds off her time in the preliminaries (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, a Philadelphia native who at- tended Little Flower Catholic High, has enjoyed a meteoric rise since arriving at Penn State in 2015. She chose PSU because of its academic reputation and because she enjoyed the atmosphere on campus and around the team. "I knew that Penn State would be a perfect fit for me, both academically and athletically," she said. That has indeed proven to be the case. As a freshman, she competed in six meets for the Nittany Lions and also qual- ified for the U.S. Olympic Trials, finishing 68th in the 400 IM and 80th in the 200 IM. As a sophomore, she was a two-time honorable mention All-American, setting a school record and finishing 10th at NCAAs in the mile with a time of 15:58.92. In 2017, McHugh was named to the U.S. National Team in the 400 IM and 1,500- meter freestyle. She won silver medals in the 400 and as a member of the 4x200 freestyle relay team at the World Univer- sity Games, becoming the first Penn State medalist since Kristen Elias in 1989. McHugh medaled twice at the Big Ten championships this past February, captur- ing first place in the mile by setting another school record (15:43.34) in what Murphy called "a monster swim." She went on to win silver in the 1,650-yard freestyle at NCAAs leading up to this year's national championships, in which she finished sec- ond in the 1,500-meter freestyle event in addition to her victory in the 400. Earlier this month, McHugh took part in the Pan Pacific Swimming Champi- onships, posting top-10 finishes in the 400 IM, 400 freestyle and 1,500 freestyle. McHugh, who is majoring in biobehav- ioral health, said preparation has been the key to her recent success. "I think it's just being more confident in myself, trusting my training and my abil- ities," she said. "My coaches and my sup- port system have been amazing, so that's a big part of it." There's also been a bit of school pride involved. As she said after her victory at the national championships, "It's awe- some to represent Penn State at this meet and win for them." ■ HIGH WATER MARK Swimmer Ally McHugh continues her rise with a 400 IM crown at the U.S. championships VARSITY VIEWS McHUGH W. SOCCER PICKED 1ST Penn State was selected to win the Big Ten regular-sea- son title in a poll of the league's coaches announced Aug. 13. The Nittany Lions have sat atop the Big Ten preseason coaches' poll every season since it began in 2003. In addition, three Penn State players were included on the conference's pre- season honors list: Maddie Nolf, Emily Ogle and Kaleigh Riehl. The Lions return 16 letterwinners and welcome seven freshmen to the team for the 2018 season. Penn State opened its season ranked fourth in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll. Defending national champion Stanford was atop the poll with 34 first-place votes. Last year's runner-up, UCLA, was second, followed by Duke. South Carolina followed Penn State to round out the top five. The Nittany Lions were one of three Big Ten programs ranked in the presea- son poll, as Ohio State was 23rd and Rutgers 24th. The Lions are slated to welcome five ranked teams to Jeffrey Field during the 2018 campaign. W. VOLLEYBALL 6TH IN POLL Penn State opens the 2018 season as the No. 6 team in the nation according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association preseason poll that was announced Aug. 8. The Nit- tany Lions came in behind Stanford, Ne- braska, Texas, Minnesota and Kentucky. The Big Ten makes up 40 percent of the AVCA preseason top 10, as Wiscon- N O T E B O O K

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