Now the former Texas Longhorn will transfer to IU in the fall, IU Head Coach Drew Johansen announced Monday. Hixon will have three years of eligibility remaining for the Hoosiers, starting this coming season.
“Hixon is one of the best divers in the world and is going to make an immediate impact on the team,” Johansen said. “I am excited to start working with Michael, and I know he is going to thrive here as a Hoosier.”
At 2013’s NCAA Championships, Hixon won both the 1-meter and 3-meter titles. His score of 443.5 on the 1-meter was a new Big XII record and surpassed 2012 Olympian Kristian Ipsen.
With his back-to-back wins, Hixon contributed 52 points to Texas’ final score of 417.5, helping the Longhorns to a second-place finish in the Championships.
Since 2008, Hixon has had success competing on an international level, both individually and in synchronized competition.
He teamed up with Troy Dumais to finish fifth in the 3-meter synchro at the FINA Diving World Series in June.
The duo also earned a fifth-place finish at the 2013 FINA World Championships.
Hixon also finished second alongside former Hoosier Darian Schmidt in the 3-meter synchro at the USA Diving World Cup Synchronized Trials in April.
Among a multitude of accomplishments during his high school years, Hixon was the USA Diving Junior National Champion in 2012.
The same year, he placed third on the 1-meter at the FINA World Junior Diving Championships.
Hixon is a native of Amherst, Mass., where his father is the head men’s basketball coach at Amherst College and his mother is the diving coach at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
