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PHILADELPHIA – Reece Whitley didn’t put in a full rest for last week’s Eastern Interscholastic swimming championships, which makes his 53.66 in the 100 breaststroke more impressive. In this video interview, Whitley talks about the meaning of breaking Nelson Diebel’s 25-year-old record and why he’s looking to shake up his event schedule in future years.
Whitley said he had been working on “taking the race out a little bit slow,” which meant Carsten Vissering was able to lead with a blistering pace after 50 yards. But Whitely said he was confident in the back half of the race, and though he had expected a best time, he’s happy with the win.
Whitley will compete in the Easterns meet for three more years, and he talked about the possibility of changing up his event schedule to try for several team records at William Penn Charter School. But, he said he’ll definitely consider putting in a full shave and taper by his senior year to give himself a chance to break the national high school record.
Nelson Diebel went to Princeton where he was when he won gold in the Olympics. Reece should go there, too, and challenge the school record of Jon Christensen ’12, which is 52.86.
When Diebel was later an assistant coach at Princeton, he invented something that came to be known as the “Diebel set,” which is an excruciating 10,000+-yard workout. You can read about it (and also more about Diebel himself) in my history of Princeton swimming here: https://scholarsphere.psu.edu/files/8623j551k#.VOymWLPF9q4