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National Swim Meet Reiterates Success of YMCA Doorfin Program

Max and Connor McHugh had impressive finishes at the 2013 YMCA Long Course Nationals on Aug. 2.

“Bittersweet” was how Doorfins Coach Mike McHugh described the feeling of his 17-year-old son Conner after breaking the national record in the 100-meter breaststroke in the preliminaries of the 2013 YMCA Long Course Nationals on Aug. 2 with a time of 1 minute 3.33 seconds, and then losing in the finals to longtime swimming nemesis Eric Ronda, 19, of Greenwich, Conn., who finished with a time of 1:02.80 to Conner’s second-place finish of 1:03.11.

But that’s OK, McHugh said, because both his sons, Conner and 13-year-old Max, did very well.

On July 30, Conner broke the national record he had set the previous year on the 50-meter breaststroke by a full second, winning the event this year with a time of 28.70, while his time last year was 29.47.

Conner also took third in the 200-meter breaststroke.

The elder McHugh was also mighty proud of his 13-year-old son Max, who was competing against swimmers around his older brother’s age. Despite having some technical problems with his goggles and cap during the meet, McHugh said Max proved “He’s way ahead of the curve.”

Earlier this year, Max broke four state records at the Wisconsin YMCA Championships and Conner won all of his events at state with three best times and one state record in the 100 breast.

McHugh says the Doorfins swim program keeps expanding because of the successes of the entire team, pointing out that 20 swimmers have won college scholarships in the last dozen years.

“The program is working extremely well,” he said.

Conner will be a senior at Sevastopol High School and Max will be an eighth grader at Sevastopol.