Two-Time NCAA Champion Maggie MacNeil Enters Transfer Portal | SwimSwam

By James Sutherland on SwimSwam

Two-time NCAA champion at Michigan and recently-crowned Olympic gold medalist Maggie MacNeil has entered the NCAA’s transfer portal.

MacNeil, entered in the portal under her full name, Hannah Margaret McNair MacNeil, has had a standout three-year career thus far with the Wolverines.

The Canadian’s entry in the portal indicates her transfer would be in order to be a graduate student, and that she plans to graduate after the 2021-2022 academic year. Reading between the lines, this means that she wouldn’t transfer until her fifth year of eligibility in 2022-23—giving her another season at Michigan as she completes her undergrad degree.

If MacNeil were to transfer for only the 2022-23 season, she would only have one season left, the extra year granted to student-athletes after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the end of the 2019-20 season, and her scholarship would count against her new team’s total.

SwimSwam has reached out to MacNeil to ask more specifically about her plans, though she didn’t immediately respond from Tokyo – where she likely has multiple swims left on her Olympic program.

The 21-year-old was the NCAA champion this past season as a junior, winning titles in the women’s 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly, setting a new NCAA and U.S. Open Record in the latter.

Having had such immense success under Rick Bishop, an associate head coach at Michigan for the last eight seasons, the first school that comes to mind that MacNeil could potentially transfer to would be LSU, where Bishop was recently named head coach.

However, with the added wrinkle that MacNeil wouldn’t transfer until 2022-23, LSU is less of a slam-dunk than if she was planning to move schools in the upcoming season, though it’s certainly still in the play.

It’s also important to note that a student-athlete entering the portal doesn’t necessarily mean they will transfer to another school, it just alerts coaches that they are considering a move.

MacNeil is also a 19-time All-American, 14-time Big Ten champion, and was the 2021 CSCAA Women’s Swimmer of the Year.

On the international stage, MacNeil won Olympic gold just days ago in the women’s 100 butterfly, and added a silver medal for Canada in the women’s 400 freestyle relay.

MacNeil is also the reigning world champion in the women’s 100 butterfly, having won gold at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.

A native of London, Ontario, MacNeil is enrolled in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts at Michigan.

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