To say Matt Hutchins has had a whirlwind of a last few weeks is a major understatement. The junior swimmer nabbed three top-10 finishes at Big Tens, two top-six finishes at NCAAs, and was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Year. The icing on the cake came last week when he learned he qualified to represent New Zealand at the Olympic Games this summer in Rio de Janeiro.
“It’s been a reality check coming back,” Hutchins said. “I’ve got a lot of school to catch up on, you know. Back into training and hurting a lot more than I was before going to the big meets.”
Thoughts of history essays and upcoming finals should put Hutchins’ mind at ease in the wake of all the media attention he’s been getting both at home in New Zealand and here in the United States.
“I can just sit in class and no one knows who I am, so that’s pretty nice. That’s one of the joys of being in swimming, [the general public] can’t really tell what I look like without a cap and goggles on,” Hutchins said with a chuckle.
Hutchins is on an intense training schedule leading up to August’s Olympics, but it really isn’t all that different than what he’s been doing during the season.
“Training is pretty much the same as it normally is,” Hutchins explained. “Once we get out of classes it’ll probably take another step up, but at the moment it’s just back into spring training — a lot of mornings and just kind of chilling in the afternoons, getting back into the swing of things and getting that fitness base back up before we get into the heavy training once school finishes and finals are done.”
Hutchins will swim the 400-meter freestyle in Rio. He may add a second event, the 1500-meter freestyle, if the New Zealand Olympic Committee decides to send a representative in that event.
Hutchins is hoping to bask in the relative anonymity a little bit longer, perhaps until he graduates next year.
“People might recognize me [after Rio],” he said. “I’m not too bothered by that at all, but the more I can go to class without people trying to talk to me, the better.”