[1] In the summer of 2019, he was a survivor in a drive-by shooting, receiving a bullet to his right leg and recovering from the wound to return and continue competing collegiately.

[13] The following year, McHugh competed at the 2020 Big Ten Conference Championships in February in Bloomington, Indiana, winning the gold medal in the 100 yard breaststroke with a pool record time of 50.67 seconds and becoming the most recent male Minnesota Golden Gopher winner in the event at a Big Ten Championships since 2009.

[16] However, he was unable to compete at the 2020 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships as they were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[16][17][18] Competing at the 2021 Big Ten Conference Championships in March 2021 in Columbus, Ohio, McHugh split a 22.40 for the breaststroke leg of the 4×50 yard medley relay, which was the fastest 50 yard breaststroke relay split in the history of the NCAA and contributed to an eighth-place finish in 1:25.40.

[27] At the 2020 US Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, and postponed to June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, McHugh swam a 59.93 in the prelims heats of the 100 meter breaststroke and qualified for the semifinals ranking fourth.

[32] McHugh earned the honor of being team captain for his senior year competing with the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

[1] In a meet against three other colleges in January 2022, McHugh won the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 50.58 seconds, which ranked him first overall in the NCAA for the season.

[34][35] The second day, he was declared a false start, a form of disqualification, in the prelims heats of the 50 yard freestyle and was disqualified in the 4×100 yard medley relay when a swimmer other than McHugh registered a negative reaction time, -0.10 seconds by the butterfly swimmer.

[39][40] He swam a 1:52.92 in the prelims heats of the 200 yard breaststroke on the fourth day, qualifying ranked first for the final with a time 0.24 seconds ahead of second-ranked swimmer Josh Matheny of the Indiana Hoosiers.

[50] In the 200 yard breaststroke final, he placed second with a personal best time of 1:48.76 behind Léon Marchand of the Arizona State Sun Devils.

[54] Approximately two weeks later, on the first day of the 2023 Big Ten Conference Championships, McHugh split a 22.57 for the breaststroke leg of the 4×50 yard medley relay to help place sixth in 1:24.21.

[53][55] The relay's time lowered the Minnesota Golden Gophers men's swim program record in the event by 0.04 seconds.