Summer 2007: Swam in the 800-meter freestyle at U.S. Nationals.

2006-07: Max swam primarily as a middle distance and distance freestyle swimmer and also swam a little bit of the 200 butterfly in his freshman season. He swam in the 200, 500 and 1650 freestyle at Big Ten Championships, with his best finish being 33rd in the 1650. All of his best times of the year in those three events were at Big Ten's. On the year, he had one first place finish and one third place finish.
Meet-by-Meet Highlights: Put up a fifth place finish in the 200 fly in his first collegiate meet, the dual meet at West Virginia....Finished fourth in the 200 free and won the 500 free at the Big Cat Invitational....Picked up points for the Nittany Lions in the 800-meter free (12th place) and also swam in the 400-meter free and 1500-meter free at the Bell Grand Prix....Placed third in the 1000 free at the dual meet vs. West Chester....Swam his fastest time of the year in the 200 free and also finished ninth in the 1650 free with his best time at the Shamrock Invitational.

High School: Max was a four-year letterwinner at Shawnee High School in swimming and also participated in tennis for one season. He was a three-time All-Burlington County selection and as a senior was named third team All-State and the Burlington County Swimmer of the Year. As a sophomore, he finished seventh in the 500 free at the state meet and then finished eighth in both the 500 and 200 free at states. He also broke the school record in the 500 free at states his junior year and set the school record in the 200 free his senior year.

Personal: Max is the son of Steve Strauss and Abby Ettore and was born on June 22, 1988. He has an older sister, Nikki, and an older brother Jake, who also currently attends Penn State. He lists sleeping, reading and eating as his hobbies. Max intends to major in international politics at Penn State.

Why I Chose Penn State: "Because I liked the swim team and I have always loved Happy Valley and everything about this magical place in Central Pennsylvania."