Former Indiana University celebrity Mackenzie Ruth retired from competitive swimming and plans to pursue a master’s degree in speech-language pathology at the MGH Health Professions Institute in Boston this fall.
The 23-year-old recently completed her fifth year of NCAA credential swimming for her father, a longtime Hoosiers head coach. Ray Ruth. At the 2023 Big Ten Championships, young Ruth finished 3rd in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:08.58), 7th in the 200 IM (1:57.38), and 8th in the 400 IM (4:11.78). In all five seasons she spent at Bloomington, she reached multiple A-finals in conference championship competition.
Ruth placed 16th in 400 IM (4:12.54) at the 2023 NCAA Championships, earning her first national honors at the event since the 2019 freshman season, and also anchored the Indiana 800-meter freestyle relay. rice field. A 1:45.23 split put the Hoosiers in seventh. Her best NCAA results were her last year’s 12th in the 200m chest (2:07.04) and 13th in the 200m track and field (1:55.54), and she was also a member of three relay teams.
On the long course, Roose had a promising climb trajectory, especially in the chest 200m. She finished sixth in last year’s International Team Trials in 2:27.60, then slashed her career best by more than two seconds to win the U.S. title last July in 2:25.35, making her the 25th fastest American ever. became. Ruth has competed in international competition representing Team USA at the 2022 Duel in the Pool in Sydney, Australia.
Loose’s personal best in the chest 200m (2:25.35) earned her the sixth seed at this week’s U.S. Championships and was in the running for the United States for the second year in a row, but she told SwimSwam: rice field. She’s also unlikely to qualify for next summer’s 2024 Paris Olympics as long as she remains the 26-year-old defending world champion. lily king and a 21 year old genius Kate Douglas All cylinders are firing.
“I would have pushed through, but that would mean putting off graduate school for a year to try and make it to the Olympic team,” Ruth said. “Life without swimming called for me to live it. It’s time to start living my life by my standards, following my passion for academics.”
“Swimming was great and taught me a lot, but it kept me from doing a lot of things like travel, school, relationships, self-discovery, and putting all of myself into it,” she continued. rice field. “I couldn’t put off these things for even a second, so I retired. I know it was the right decision for me.”
At the 2022 International Team Trials, held just about a month after the NCAA, Ruth advanced to the A-Finals in all four events. She finished 4th at 200IM (2:13.28) for 12th seed this week, 5th at 400IM (4:44.95), 6th at 200IM (2:25.35), 7th at 100IM (1:08.83) .
Ruth also competed in the most recent Olympic trials in 2021. She finished 10th in the 200m chest (2:27.85), 17th in the 200m chest (2:14.76), 18th in the 100m chest (1:09.05) and 27th in the 200m chest. 400 IM she (4:49.24), 35th in 200 fly (2:16.88).
