Upcoming Event: Men's Swimming and Diving versus Summit League Championships on February 18, 2026 at 10 a.m./5:30 p.m.
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10 a.m./5:30 p.m.
Men's Swimming and Diving
vs Summit League Championships
South Dakota State University Athletics
Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia
McGRATH TO CLOSE OUT CAREER IN HOME POOL
2/18/2026 3:30:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving
By Jason Hove, SDSU Athletic Communications
IOWA CITY, Iowa — For South Dakota State's Braxton McGrath, this week's Summit League Swimming and Diving Championships will be a full-circle experience.
The record-setting Jackrabbit senior will close his competitive swimming career in the same pool where it all began — the University of Iowa's Campus Recreation and Wellness Center. Starting at the age of 9 when he joined the Iowa City-based Iowa Flyers club team, McGrath has spent countless hours watching, training and competing in the facility.
"It's a pool that definitely holds a lot of history for me," McGrath said, noting the commitment of his parents, John and Lisa, to drive the nearly 90-minute round trip from their home in Amana to Iowa City for club practices and events.
Like most kids, McGrath dabbled in a number of other sports — basketball, baseball, soccer and football — and swimming was initially a challenge.
"It took me a while to get my sea legs, so to speak, and get comfortable with competitive swimming," said McGrath, who has two older sisters who also swam competitively.
As he stuck it out and continued to hone his craft, McGrath decided to make a full-time commitment to swimming as he neared high school.
"It was that point in my life where I started to see some real progress in swimming and some real success on the state level," McGrath said. "My coaches were urging me to consider taking it more seriously … as I realized that throughout that I summer I made the tough decision, but it was a decision that paid off, to just focus on swimming the rest of high school."
Clear Creek-Amana, the high school from which he graduated and earned the distinction of being class valedictorian, did not field a boys' swimming and diving team of its own so McGrath took his talents to nearby Williamsburg, where he was a four-time state qualifier in the 100-yard butterfly and a three-time qualifier in the 100 backstroke.
"I wouldn't have traded the experience for the world. I really enjoyed my teammates and coaches while I was there," McGrath said. "It was another experience that shaped the journey."
Achieving his ultimate goal of competing at the Division I level began to become more of a reality around his junior year of high school, when he attended a swim camp at SDSU.
"We saw something special in him and fortunately he saw something special in SDSU and chose to come here," Jackrabbit head coach Doug Humphrey said. "It has been a wonderful journey for him."
McGrath said he was sold on Brookings being the next destination in his academic and athletic path from almost the first moment he stepped foot on campus.
"As far as the level that I was at in terms of swimming and also what I wanted out of the rest of my life in terms of my degree, SDSU was just a great fit," McGrath said. "It's really something special when you have a team that is capable of providing such a positive culture to be around. Being on this team and being at this school in general, especially throughout my time in the engineering program, as well, everybody is really focused on making progress as a team and as a group."
McGrath made an immediate impact with the Jackrabbits during his freshman season, setting a school record and placing fourth in the 200-yard butterfly at the 2023 Summit League Championships. He lowered his school record in 200 butterfly at the league meet his sophomore season, but again came up one spot away from medaling in what has become his signature event. He also established a new program standard in the 100 butterfly at the 2024 Summit League Championships.
During his junior season, McGrath bettered his school record in the 100 butterfly by clocking a time of 48.15 seconds en route to a victory in the finals of the Tommie Invitational. As the conference championships were held in Iowa City for the first time, he also earned that elusive first Summit League medal with a third-place finish in the 200 butterfly.
With consistency as a calling card, McGrath has again shaved time off his school record in the 200 butterfly during his senior season, turning in a time of 1:48.09 at the Tommie Invitational in November. He enters the league championships seeded third in the 200 fly and fifth in the 100 butterfly (:48.40), and will round out his individual program in the 200 individual medley while also competing in several relays.
Success, McGrath says, ultimately won't be determined by the numbers on the clock or a medal draped around his neck.
"I struggle putting time goals on myself because I find that when you don't hit them it feels you feel like you didn't succeed," McGrath said. "My biggest goals, especially for the 100 and 200 fly, as I've worked on over the past four years, are the specific intricacies of every turn, every leg of the race, the start, the underwaters — everything that I can do for those two races to make myself the best possible swimmer I can be."
Those are sentiments shared by his coach.
"The great thing about Braxton is he's constantly challenging himself to be better than his previous self," Humphrey said. "He knows very well who his competition is and what he needs to do. I think if he goes out there and does what he's trained to do and what's he capable of, he's going to be just fine."
On track to graduate in May with a degree in mechanical engineering, McGrath plans to return close to home, where he has a job lined up. During his time as a Jackrabbit student-athlete, he has been honored each of the previous two seasons as a member of the Summit League All-Academic Team and has received Academic All-District recognition twice from the College Sports Communicators.
McGrath will put his previous accomplishments and future endeavors to the side for one final weekend of competition at a site that has already produced so many lasting memories. He expects a contingent of about a dozen family members, friends and former teammates to be in attendance throughout the week and sporting "Last Lap" T-shirts his mom had created in his honor.
"My entire career I've had incredible support from every aspect of my life," McGrath said. "I really feel that I've got what it takes to win a couple events; my goal is to just execute perfectly."
-GoJacks.com-
IOWA CITY, Iowa — For South Dakota State's Braxton McGrath, this week's Summit League Swimming and Diving Championships will be a full-circle experience.
The record-setting Jackrabbit senior will close his competitive swimming career in the same pool where it all began — the University of Iowa's Campus Recreation and Wellness Center. Starting at the age of 9 when he joined the Iowa City-based Iowa Flyers club team, McGrath has spent countless hours watching, training and competing in the facility.
"It's a pool that definitely holds a lot of history for me," McGrath said, noting the commitment of his parents, John and Lisa, to drive the nearly 90-minute round trip from their home in Amana to Iowa City for club practices and events.
Like most kids, McGrath dabbled in a number of other sports — basketball, baseball, soccer and football — and swimming was initially a challenge.
"It took me a while to get my sea legs, so to speak, and get comfortable with competitive swimming," said McGrath, who has two older sisters who also swam competitively.
As he stuck it out and continued to hone his craft, McGrath decided to make a full-time commitment to swimming as he neared high school.
"It was that point in my life where I started to see some real progress in swimming and some real success on the state level," McGrath said. "My coaches were urging me to consider taking it more seriously … as I realized that throughout that I summer I made the tough decision, but it was a decision that paid off, to just focus on swimming the rest of high school."
Clear Creek-Amana, the high school from which he graduated and earned the distinction of being class valedictorian, did not field a boys' swimming and diving team of its own so McGrath took his talents to nearby Williamsburg, where he was a four-time state qualifier in the 100-yard butterfly and a three-time qualifier in the 100 backstroke.
"I wouldn't have traded the experience for the world. I really enjoyed my teammates and coaches while I was there," McGrath said. "It was another experience that shaped the journey."
Achieving his ultimate goal of competing at the Division I level began to become more of a reality around his junior year of high school, when he attended a swim camp at SDSU.
"We saw something special in him and fortunately he saw something special in SDSU and chose to come here," Jackrabbit head coach Doug Humphrey said. "It has been a wonderful journey for him."
McGrath said he was sold on Brookings being the next destination in his academic and athletic path from almost the first moment he stepped foot on campus.
"As far as the level that I was at in terms of swimming and also what I wanted out of the rest of my life in terms of my degree, SDSU was just a great fit," McGrath said. "It's really something special when you have a team that is capable of providing such a positive culture to be around. Being on this team and being at this school in general, especially throughout my time in the engineering program, as well, everybody is really focused on making progress as a team and as a group."
McGrath made an immediate impact with the Jackrabbits during his freshman season, setting a school record and placing fourth in the 200-yard butterfly at the 2023 Summit League Championships. He lowered his school record in 200 butterfly at the league meet his sophomore season, but again came up one spot away from medaling in what has become his signature event. He also established a new program standard in the 100 butterfly at the 2024 Summit League Championships.
During his junior season, McGrath bettered his school record in the 100 butterfly by clocking a time of 48.15 seconds en route to a victory in the finals of the Tommie Invitational. As the conference championships were held in Iowa City for the first time, he also earned that elusive first Summit League medal with a third-place finish in the 200 butterfly.
With consistency as a calling card, McGrath has again shaved time off his school record in the 200 butterfly during his senior season, turning in a time of 1:48.09 at the Tommie Invitational in November. He enters the league championships seeded third in the 200 fly and fifth in the 100 butterfly (:48.40), and will round out his individual program in the 200 individual medley while also competing in several relays.
Success, McGrath says, ultimately won't be determined by the numbers on the clock or a medal draped around his neck.
"I struggle putting time goals on myself because I find that when you don't hit them it feels you feel like you didn't succeed," McGrath said. "My biggest goals, especially for the 100 and 200 fly, as I've worked on over the past four years, are the specific intricacies of every turn, every leg of the race, the start, the underwaters — everything that I can do for those two races to make myself the best possible swimmer I can be."
Those are sentiments shared by his coach.
"The great thing about Braxton is he's constantly challenging himself to be better than his previous self," Humphrey said. "He knows very well who his competition is and what he needs to do. I think if he goes out there and does what he's trained to do and what's he capable of, he's going to be just fine."
On track to graduate in May with a degree in mechanical engineering, McGrath plans to return close to home, where he has a job lined up. During his time as a Jackrabbit student-athlete, he has been honored each of the previous two seasons as a member of the Summit League All-Academic Team and has received Academic All-District recognition twice from the College Sports Communicators.
McGrath will put his previous accomplishments and future endeavors to the side for one final weekend of competition at a site that has already produced so many lasting memories. He expects a contingent of about a dozen family members, friends and former teammates to be in attendance throughout the week and sporting "Last Lap" T-shirts his mom had created in his honor.
"My entire career I've had incredible support from every aspect of my life," McGrath said. "I really feel that I've got what it takes to win a couple events; my goal is to just execute perfectly."
-GoJacks.com-
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