The Cardinal Aquatics 11-12 boys relay set a new Kentucky state record in the 200 freestyle relay tonight at the 2016 12 and Under Kentucky State Championships.
John Hayes, Blake Whiteley, Zacaria Nouri, and Charlie Blevins posted a 1:50.81 to win the event by nearly five seconds. The top three teams all finished under the old state record of 1:56.09 set in 2013.
The splits were:
Hayes- 27.51
Whiteley- 28.24
Nouri- 28.55
Blevins- 26.51
As of the start of this weekend, that time is the fastest in the nation this year. The boys, who are all 12, had been ranked second with a 1:52.53 swum earlier this summer.
The Cardinal quartet was two seconds away from the National Age Group record of 1:48.80 set in 2011.
Full results available on Meet Mobile: “2016 KY 12& U LCM State Championship”
Wonder if Blake Whiteleybrelated to Reece.
Swims for a different club some 509-plus miles from Philly so,it could be purely coincidental.
Speaking of siblings, at this year’s European Junior Championships boy named Joe Litchfield won the 200 IM in a pr 2:01.07 — not bad. Two months earlier at the British Olympic Trials Max Litchfield won 400 IM in a pr 4:12-plus and punched his ticket to Rio.
Coincidence? doubt it. With Phelps, Lochte, Hagino’s and Cseh retired by time Tokyo rolls around in four years maybe look for the Litchfields on the Victoryn Podium. Lower rungs however as Kalisz and Sean Grieshop will have gone one- two in BOTH!
I’m at this meet with my son Reece(coincidence? Lol). I can say Blake and Reece Whitely are not related?