Luka Mijatovic Talks Commitment to Texas, World Champs, & 500 Free Training

This GMM podcast with Caeleb Dressel is wild. Ninety minutes of raw honesty, humor, and pure fun. Dressel details how he departed the University of Florida pro group on great terms. He and coach Anthony Nesty are clearly very close. Dressel explains his new training team, headed by Steve Jungbluth at Sporting Jax Aquatic Club, with heavy strength support from Sean Kao at Aquatic Sports Performance.

On Friday, the #1 ranked recruit in the High School class of 2027, Luka MIjatovic, announced his commitment to the University of Texas. In this podcast, we discuss his decision to go train with Bob Bowman, his experience at World Championships, and training for mid-distance freestyle.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the final World Cup stop in Toronto plus look at the college swimming action from over the weekend.

Today on the GMM Podcast, we have Matt Hurst, head coach of Mercersburg Academy, one of the most storied high school programs in swimming. Mercersburg isn’t just another prep powerhouse. This Pennsylvania boarding school has produced 32 Olympians, who’ve earned 11 Olympic medals, including five golds, representing the United States and 12 other nations. Beyond the Games, Mercersburg swimmers have collected hundreds of High School All-American honors, captured nine National High School team titles, and won more than 20 Eastern Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships. But this conversation isn’t just about the past. It’s about the choices coaches make, the culture they build, and how swimming itself is evolving. Before taking over at Mercersburg, Hurst was the Associate Head Coach at Penn State. With that type of position, you might assume Matt’s next step would be a Division I head coaching job. Instead, he took a sharp turn choosing Mercersburg, and choosing to build a legacy in prep swimming rather than chase the collegiate grind. We talk about that decision, what motivated it, and how Mercersburg’s unique campus environment shapes athletes differently. Hurst digs into the academic-athletic balance of a prep school model, where swimmers don’t just train to win races but to understand the “why” behind excellence.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the second World Cup stop in Westmont and preview the final stop in Toronto. 

Today on the GMM Podcast, we have Samantha Barany, Executive Director of the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA).  For the uniformed, CSCAA is a nonprofit member-based organization made up of college coaches dedicated to serving and providing leadership for the advancement of the sport of swimming and diving at the collegiate level.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the first World Cup stop in Carmel and preview the second stop in Westmont.

Today on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we discuss the new changes to the NCAA Championship format, recap last weeks college swimming, and preview the upcoming World Cup stop in Carmel, Indiana.

Today on the SwimSwam Podcast we’re joined by Lucas Sallas-Cunha, head coach of Quicksilver Swimming in Santa Cruz. Lucas has spent his career building champions in the pool, but his latest chapter is about something bigger: access. He recently expanded his program into Watsonville, California, a largely Hispanic/Latino community where swimming participation and water safety skills have historically been limited. To truly understand the cultural and structural barriers, Lucas earned his Doctorate in Education and centered his dissertation on the topic: “Understanding Water: Values, Viewpoints, and Behaviors That Influence Swimming Participation in Watsonville, CA.”

Today on the SwimSwam Podcast we have Jeff Pease, a name that has been synonymous with San Diego swimming for over 40 years. Jeff is the founder, head coach, and team owner of North Coast Aquatics (NCA), one of the first coach-owned swim clubs in the United States, established back in 1979. What started as a bold idea has grown into the premier program in San Diego, consistently earning Gold and Silver Medal status from USA Swimming.