{"id":654266,"date":"2026-09-26T16:20:36","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T23:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=654266"},"modified":"2026-09-26T16:20:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T23:20:36","slug":"southern-methodist-starts-2028-recruiting-with-verbal-from-backstroker-karly-whitehead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/southern-methodist-starts-2028-recruiting-with-verbal-from-backstroker-karly-whitehead\/","title":{"rendered":"Southern Methodist Starts 2028 Recruiting with Verbal from Backstroker Karly Whitehead"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Southern Methodist Starts 2028 Recruiting with Verbal from Backstroker Karly Whitehead<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>NEW COMMIT:\u00a0<\/strong>Southern Methodist University has scored its first public verbal commitment for Fall 2028 from in-state standout\u00a0<strong>Karly Whitehead\u00a0<\/strong>of Boerne, Texas. Whitehead is Junior National qualifier who excels in backstroke.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding her commitment, she said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong>&#8220;I am beyond blessed and overjoyed to announce my commitment to continue my academic and athletic career at Southern Methodist University! This opportunity would not be possible without the endless support of my family, coaches, and everyone who has helped me along the way. A huge thank you to my mom and dad for your unconditional love and support. Thank you to Coaches Aaron Moran, Daniel Roa, Dave, and Stephanie Barnes for helping me grow as both a swimmer and a person. I\u2019m also incredibly grateful to Coach Ozzie, Coach Lisa, and the entire SMU coaching staff for this amazing opportunity. I\u2019m so excited for what\u2019s ahead. PONY UP!!&#8221;<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Whitehead trains year-round with Alamo Area Aquatic Association and most recently competed at Junior Nationals in August after earning bronze in the 50m back at Austin Speedo Sectionals in July. She earned silver in the 200 back and bronze in the 100 back at the Southern Zone Championship in December before going on to final in all three backstroke distances at Justin Speedo Sectionals in March.<\/p>\n<p>Her best times include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>50 back &#8211; 26.18<\/li>\n<li>100 back &#8211; 55.01<\/li>\n<li>200 back &#8211; 2:01.16<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Currently a junior at Samuel V. Champion High School, Whitehead was the 100 back runner-up at the 2026 Texas UIL 5A State Championships, also helping her 4&#215;50 medley and 4&#215;100 free relays win the state title. She finished sixth in the 100 back and 12th in the 200 free at the state meet as a freshman in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Whitehead&#8217;s best time in the 50 back and 200 back would&#8217;ve ranked second on the Mustangs&#8217; roster last year while her top 100 back time would&#8217;ve been third. Southern Methodist placed 14th at the 2026 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships.<\/p>\n<p><i>If you have a commitment to share, please send a photo and quote via email to hs@swimmingworld.com.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Southern Methodist Starts 2028 Recruiting with Verbal from Backstroker Karly Whitehead NEW COMMIT:\u00a0Southern Methodist University has scored its first public verbal commitment for Fall 2028 from in-state standout\u00a0Karly Whitehead\u00a0of Boerne,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":654267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[61683,138402,43068,127546],"class_list":["post-654266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-high-school","tag-agon-high-school-recruits-page","tag-karly-whitehead","tag-smu","tag-southern-methodist"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - 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