How Jake McIntyre went from not considering Villanova to the school’s all-time record holder in the 1,000-meter free
McIntyre, whose high school in Vermont didn’t even have a swim team, initially only toured Villanova as a favor to his father.
By a stroke of luck for Villanova, Jake McIntyre accidentally put himself on the recruiting map.
This proved to be a godsend for the Wildcats’ swim team, as McIntyre has emerged as one of the team’s top swimmers. Now a junior, he set the school record for the 1,000-meter freestyle in November in 9 minutes, 12.19 seconds at La Salle.
However, his journey to Villanova was unorthodox. In fact, Villanova was not initially on McIntyre’s college tour list. He only visited after some badgering from his father while the Vermont native was in Pennsylvania to tour Bucknell and Penn State. Villanova, for him, was an afterthought. “I can’t do any more college tours, I’m sick of this,” he told his dad.
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Despite his initial protests, McIntyre walked around the campus unofficially and decided to go check out the pool. It was there that he ran into former assistant coach Ed Pretre, who asked McIntyre what his times were. McIntyre is from Essex, Vt., where swimming is such a rare sport that his high school did not even have a team. Pretre told him that Villanova never even thought to recruit up there, and had McIntyre not stumbled across the pool, he would have never been on the Wildcats’ radar.
After a little more discussion about the program, McIntyre suddenly became interested in Villanova, despite his hesitation about touring the campus in the first place. By the following year, he knew Villanova was the place for him.
“Once I came on my official visit in the fall of my senior year, I eventually was just sold because of how the team environment was and how supportive the men’s team was of each other,” McIntyre said.
This observation has held true for McIntyre. Since choosing Villanova, McIntyre has evolved into a competitive member on a team filled with best friends. For him, the closeness of this team set it apart from other colleges.
“I think it’s very important to know your teammates on a personal level, more so than just being teammates,” McIntyre said. “It’s one thing to show up to practice and train with someone. But it’s another to just kind of sit around, chill out and just really get to know someone.”
Teammate Ryan Maher, who is also his roommate, knows firsthand how McIntyre’s approach to the sport, coupled with his competitive nature, has given McIntyre an edge. Maher says that as a business student, McIntyre seems to mentally file his laps like a Microsoft Excel sheet.
“He brings a genuine sense of reason to the team,” Maher said. “His goals are ambitious, but they’re achievable. He brings that sense of possibility that’s inspiring to those around him.”
This strategy has helped McIntyre become a three-time All-Big East competitor and a Big East champion in the 800-yard freestyle relay. It also led him to the record-breaking time in the 1,000 free in November. To McIntyre, the support of head coach Rick Simpson was essential.
“That was just not possible without the people around me,” McIntyre said. " Rick just has all the faith in the world. And Rick just truly believes in all of his athletes. So I have to attribute a lot of my success and the rest of my teammates’ success to him and his ability to coach.”
Maher also got to be a part of McIntyre’s big record-breaking race. He has been McIntyre’s counter since freshman year, so he quickly realized that this swim was on pace to be a special one. Maher was replacing the lap count quicker than usual, and McIntyre was swimming faster than he himself even seemed to realize.
“His reaction was the best thing ever,” said Maher. “When he touched he broke both the pool and the team record, and he was just completely shocked.”