Rex Maurer’s Dream NCAAs Cause of Celebration for USC coach Lea Maurer
There were no USC swimmers in the fastest heat of the 1,650 freestyle at the NCAA Men’s Championships Saturday night. You wouldn’t know that if your eyes were fixed on coach Lea Maurer and Trojans fifth-year Luke Maurer.
Planted near the timing table at the Weyerhauser King County Aquatic Center, Lea Maurer’s arms flailed as she kept splits on her watch. Luke got most of a plyometrics exercise in, standing a stride behind his mom.
The exhortations and gesticulations were aimed at Rex Maurer, the Texas sophomore, and more pertinently, the son and younger brother.
“The front table was like, you guys worked through that whole mile,” Lea said Saturday night.
Lea Maurer; Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Rex Maurer finished second in the mile, to go with NCAA titles in the 500 free and the 400 individual medley. That provided moments to celebrate, even in very different school colors, for Lea. Despite their elite pedigrees, Lea Maurer doesn’t see the dynamic as all that much different with Rex than for most parents and their high-achieving swimmers, deck access notwithstanding.
“It’s probably the same as every parent,” Lea said. “All you’re doing is just hoping that they feel all their power and are proud of all their effort. So I just stay really positive. I want to be my best self. I want him to be his best self. I just think positive things and positive affirmations, and when he touches the wall, I just think about how proud I am.”
Experience doesn’t much change that. The former Lea Loveless is a two-time Olympic medalist, winning bronze in the 100 backstroke and medley relay gold in Barcelona in 1992 to go with a World Championships in 1998. She’s just completed her third season at USC, leading the Trojans’ men’s team to its best NCAAs finish since 2018, after a half-decade leading the Stanford women’s team.
But on deck, she’s just mom, admitting that Erik Maurer is the one more likely to provide harsh coaching at home. Her interactions with Rex at a meet like NCAAs are fleeting – a little nugget of positivity before a race, a hug after medals, a catchup after sessions sharing stories from their days.
“He came up before the mile and got a hug,” Lea said. “I was like, you’ve got great turns; just give us 65 of them.”
Rex Maurer was one of the stories of the week in Federal Way. A top recruit with an obvious pedigree, he struggled as a freshman at Stanford, with NCAAs a particular blow, where he finished 31st in the 500 free and 30th in the 400 IM.
A year later, with his confidence rediscovered and a new voice in his ear via Bob Bowman, he has flourished.
Bowman thinks being a coach’s son informs Rex’s work ethic and his receptiveness to new information.
“Rex is an amazing trainer, so that was my first wonderful discovery, that he can do anything,” the Texas boss said. “And he’s fast all the time, and he loves to work. So I think that’s the biggest part in his improvement. I also think doing a mile helps his 500, so him being willing to do the mile was a good thing. He’s just a very hard worker.”
Luke Maurer scored for USC on two relays, including the 12th-place 800 free quartet. His best individual finish was 19th in the 200 IM. Lea says the relationship between her sons is close if in the stereotypical ways of boys.
“Luke and Rex are incredibly close, and they borrow from each other,” she said. “They give each other a hard time, and sometimes that’s uncomfortable for me, but my husband assures me that that’s how boys show love for each other. But I couldn’t be more proud and they are their best supporters. They’re very yin and yang, but they bring out the best in each other.”
Rex Maurer’s recovery from last year’s disappointment, which included an American record in the fall in the 500 free, has been one of the revelations of the NCAA season. It’s something that Lea Maurer can appreciate as both a coach and a mom.
“I just think he is so open about the struggle that he had, and he leaned into it and learned from it,” she said. “And what more could you ask for? You get knocked down and you figure out what to do. I think he got back to work right away and owned every day.”
