A second National Age Group Record has been broken on Saturday in the finals’ session of the 2014 Tom Dolan Invite at the University of Maryland pool.
As widely expected, Reece Whitley swam a 1:55.52 to break the 13-14 boys’ National Age Group Record of 1:57.87 that he set in prelims. (Watch Whitley’s prelims swim here.)
The time would’ve placed Whitley in 25th-place at last year’s NCAA Championship meet – about a second away from what it would have taken to score at that meet last year.
Whitley now holds the three fastest 200 yard breaststrokes in history, and five out of the six best.
- 1:55.52, Reece Whitley, 2014
- 1:57.87, Reece Whitley, 2014
- 1:58.39, Reece Whitley, 2014
- 1:59.63, Michael Andrew, 2014
- 2:00.12, Reece Whitley, 2014
- 2:00.14, Reece Whitley, 2013
- 2:01.17, Curtis Ogren, 2010
- 2:01.52, Curtis Ogren, 2010
- 2:01.67, Curtis Ogren, 2010
- 2:01.72, Michael Andrew, 2014
Whitley’s splits in finals as compared to prelims:
Prelims – 26.61/29.60/30.34/31.32 = 1:57.87
Finals – 26.79/29.42/29.52/29.79 = 1:55.52
Whitley went out about at the same speed as he did in prelims – indicative of his size that limits the number of strokes he can take in any given length, and therefore creates a non-discrete amount of time drops possible over a short distance.
Coming home, however, as compared to prelims, Whitley didn’t lose any speed whatsoever on his last two 50’s, which allowed him to easily break the record. If there were a 300 or 400 yard breaststroke, one might imagine that Whitley would be able to stretch his impressive length and timing out to nearly any distance as well as anybody.
Other tall breaststrokers, like Kevin Cordes and Breeja Larson, have shown that height doesn’t just play well in a short course pool. In fact, for breaststrokers like Whitley, things almost get more interesting in a long course pool, where there’s more room to tweak technique and speed, rather than putting so much focus on hitting turns as efficiently as possible.
That is an incredible photo!
Decent swim, too.
RACE VIDEO LINK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moqHgGxBwUc
😎
Shoulda played basketball.
I dunno, man. Seems like swimming is working out pretty well for him so far.
You’re the second person today to make a reference to him possibly playing basketball. Yet, I don’t remember anyone ever making that comment about Michael Andrew.I wonder why that could be?
Interesting – I would imagine that it could be because you weren’t looking as hard for a gripe.
Lots of people made the same suggestions about Michael Andrew.
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G
At this pace he will break the American records in the next 2 years. 🙂
OMG! I found my prediction of last year.
http://swimswam.com/reece-whitley-sets-13-14-200-breaststroke-age-group-record/
Congrats to Mr Whitley.
Bright future for USA breaststroke. How are his other 3 strokes? Any potential to be an elite 400imer or backstroker maybe?
The potential is certainly there. I read an article about him recently where he talked about changing his outlook on the other strokes. He basically says that before, fly/back/free were just filler events to him so that he wasn’t just doing breaststroke every meet, but that now he’s trying to really develop them more.
His 400 IM is already 3:55, so if he gets his other strokes anywhere near where his breaststroke is at he could be a major factor in the IM’s by Tokyo. His coaches seem willing to help him branch out instead of just labeling him a breaststroker and hammering that every day, so I think that attitude combined with his desire to round himself out a… Read more »
He swam a 50 point in the 100 fly in this meet and a 52 in the 100 back.
If he can make some good drops in the fly and back over the next few years then he has a shot at the IM’s. I’m not sure about his free though. We will have to see. If he develops like Phelps did (Phelps dropped a lot of time in his 100 back and 100 breast from ages 14 to 18), then Whitley has a shot at the IM’s.
Before Whitley, the record was 2:01.17 (Lasting from 2010). Last year, Whitley was 2:00.13. Pretty amazing!
Wtf…
Part of me almost thinks that on the improvement curve that he’s on this kid might make it to Rio. I expect him to at least make the final at trials in both breastrokes.