Captain Reece Whitley Soars in Leadership Role

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

By David Rieder.

Reece Whitley had put up one of the best swims of his young career, securing his second straight silver medal in the men’s 100 breast at the World Junior Championships and nearly breaking the 1:00-barrier in the event for the first time.

Less than an hour later, he did split under 1:00, leading the Americans to a silver medal in the mixed 400 medley relay. What a night.

When Whitley had finished second behind Anton Chupkov in the 100 breast at the 2015 edition of the World Junior Champs in Singapore, his time had been 1:01.00. In the two years after that, he improved his lifetime best a mere five hundredths—before dropping all the way down to 1:00.08 in Indianapolis.

Nicolo Martinenghi — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

That swim would be getting a lot more props if not for the consistent excellence of Italian teenager Nicolo Martinenghi, who has taken the World Junior Record in the event all the way down to 59.01 in the semi-finals in Indianapolis.

But Whitley didn’t want to talk about any of that—not at first, anyway. Sitting down to react to the evening session, the 17-year-old from the Philadelphia area first brought up Kieran Smith, who had won a silver medal in the men’s 200 IM and broken 2:00 for the first time in the process.

“I know he was really wanting that two-minute barrier,” Whitley said. “And then it really starts with the boys’ 200 free.”

As a reminder, the Americans won no medals in that race, but Whitley insisted that Patrick Callan and Trey Freeman each deserved massive credit for going under 1:48 for the first time and finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

“For them to go really fast and to not be on the podium, it’s unfortunate, but going into this week we knew that things would be crazy from the start to the very end, and to have three 1:46s on the podium at a junior-level meet is unheard of,” he said. “I couldn’t be prouder of those boys.”

Remember, this is the guy who had spent years hyped up as the future of American men’s breaststroke, only to come to Olympic Trials and not make the final in either breaststroke event. Whitley had again fallen short of the top eight at U.S. Nationals in June. Shouldn’t he be over the moon with his time drops, with his return to the medal podium and with his relay split?

It took a few moments, but eventually, Whitley did get around to discussing his own performances, and he detailed one conversation he had before the final with a certain Olympic gold medalist. That swimmer had recently found herself entering a major final as a massive underdog, just like Whitley did for his race against Martinenghi.

“I talked to Simone Manuel—she’s here helping us out—and I asked to talk to her, just because of what she did in Budapest,” Whitley said, referring to Manuel’s World Championship upset of Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom in the women’s 100 free.

pernille-blume-den-simone-manuel-usa-sarah-sjostrom-swe-medals2-2017-world-champs

Sarah Sjostrom (left) and Simone Manuel (right) — Photo Courtesy: SIPA USA

“It’s kind of like the same situation. Sarah did that 51.7 a couple nights before, world record-holder, same situation. Nico is the Junior World Record-holder, has broken it by like eight tenths at this point, and he’s broken it, like, eight times so far. I just asked her how she did what she did, and she told me all the right things. I never counted myself out, which is really important.”

Whitley will have Friday off from racing—he admitted he plans to play some ping pong on his day off—before returning to the pool for his signature 200 breast Saturday.

After posting the quickest back-half split in the 100-meter final (31.68) and particularly after his 59.46 relay split (“with a 0.3 reaction time,” he pointed out), there’s plenty of reason to believe Whitley’s two-year-old lifetime best of 2:11.30 could be toast come Saturday.

But he won’t be thinking too much about that or really any of his swims—not until a few weeks after the meet is over, he said. Whitley’s focus in Indy, without a doubt, has been his role as co-captain for Team USA. It was a role he had spent two years craving after seeing the role the captains played at first World Junior Champs in 2015.

“After having Grant Shoults and Maxime Rooney in 2015 be such great role models for our special team that summer, I even wanted it last summer in Maui (at Junior Pan Pacs),” Whitley said.

“I couldn’t be more thankful to the group of guys for putting me in this position, for putting Michael (Andrew) and me in this position. I really feel like – at this point – I have a lot of experience in terms of ups and downs, and these types of meets. That’s all it is, ups and downs. I just try to help everyone in the best way possible.”

On that mixed medley relay, Regan Smith and Whitley gave the Americans a huge advantage with their early legs—Smith’s 58.95 backstroke leg was quicker than her own World Junior Record set earlier in the night—but the two swimmers on the back end faced a daunting task in trying to hold off Canada, which had Penny Oleksiak swimming the fly leg.

Grace Ariola — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Oh, and butterflyer Nick Albiero and freestyler Grace Ariola were each swimming for the third time in the finals session. They each gave valiant efforts, but it was not quite enough. Canada’s male anchor, Rusian Gaziev, overhauled Ariola to win by four tenths a, despite Ariola posting career-best 54.77 split.

Immediately after the race, Whitley wanted both Albiero and Ariola to know that even if they were not the superstars of the squad, even if they had surrendered the lead, that he had their backs.

“I was telling Grace and Nick that they’re studs and they don’t need to be overlooked by Regan’s split or my split,” he said. “They really put it out there for us tonight, and I couldn’t ask for more.”

That’s the sound of someone fully embracing his veteran role with the American team—and perhaps not thinking too much about his own swimming? He was pumped with his efforts, thrilled to break through his own plateau, but Whitley seemed most pumped up about Kieran Smith, Patrick Callan and Trey Freeman.

He’s a captain, all right. And maybe that obligation—perhaps even distraction—of thinking team-first nonstop has translated into the best two days he’s put together for a long course swim meet in two years.

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Michael Maloney

6 years ago

Why Can’t he win a RACE is the QUESTION you should be asking him….or are the HYPE MASTERS afraid to question his short comings

Dan Smith

6 years ago

Good gracious! Reece Whitley is improving, and like all teenagers growing physically, maturing, and still gaining experience. He made at least one PB at this meet. Like any other swimmer or athlete, let him grow and develop. Rush to judgment on any 17 year old, or any swimmer at a juniors or age-group meet is premature.