How Noblesville swimmer went from outside top 1,000 teens to Olympic trials contender
FISHERS – There are rapid rises in swimming, as in any youth sport. Then there is the rocket trajectory of Luke Whitlock.
Check the numbers. The 18-year-old need not do so. He knows the numbers.
Whitlock can recite his own times — all the way back to the Noblesville Enchanted Forest age-group meet — as well as those of teammates, competitors and Olympians.
Soon, the latter could include Whitlock.
It helps he is double-jointed. He has that in common with Michael Phelps.
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Except Whitlock is nothing like Phelps. Phelps, at 15, was setting world records. Whitlock, at 15, had not yet qualified for a winter junior nationals — something 1,000 youths do every year.
To go from outside the top 1,000 American teens all the way to world rankings — in less than three years — sounds like a hydroplane in the water, not a spindly 145-pounder.
“The only pressure I have is the pressure I put on myself,” Whitlock said.
Heading into the Olympic Trials, which open Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Hoosier ranks third in the United States in 2024 in both 800- and 1,500-meter freestyles. Two qualify for the Paris Olympics.
No one expects anyone to beat Bobby Finke, who won gold medals in both distances at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. After that?
“It is in the back of my mind to get the second spot, and that’s what we’re working for every day,” Whitlock said. “I know the training we’re putting in is good, and I’m getting a lot of confidence from it.”
Because of that training, he could be characterized as a high responder, according to the book “The Sports Gene,” written by David Epstein. Whitlock, after representing Noblesville High School as a freshman, joined Fishers Area Swimming Tigers. He thrives at long races, including open water, and there is nothing in high school longer than a 500-yard freestyle.
“The kid just outworked everybody,” said Tony Young, executive director of Indiana Swimming, the governing body for clubs in the state. “He’s like a little machine.”
Whitlock has thrived on up to 70,000 meters a week — 44 miles, or 120 lengths of Geist Reservoir. Not enough, he told his coach: Let’s go 100,000 meters, or 62 miles.
He did so in one week over Christmas break, then became ill. Lesson learned. Still, it wasn’t all wasted. Those 70,000-meter weeks feel so much shorter now.
“We’re kind of in a partnership,” said Joe Keller, coach at the Fishers club. “I think that’s empowering to them.”
Whitlock does not come from a swim family. His parents, Trent and Kara, went to small Indiana high schools that don’t even have pools.
Their son has been surprising others since he was a 5-year-old refusing to put his head in the water. He could not get past level 1 in swim lessons. He did not swim a race until he was 10.
Now, he loves it. He must, considering the hours and effort.
“It just takes my mind off everything else,” he said. “When I get into a rhythm, it’s just fun.”
He was once obsessed with basketball, according to his mother. She bought him a book about NBA history, and he absorbed all the records and results. That was manifested in swimming, too.
Teammates ask him what their best times were, and Whitlock knows.
“This guy lives and breathes swimming. He knows everybody and what they’re doing,” Keller said.
It wasn’t always so. Whitlock came into this sport late.
In his only high school state meet, at 5-6 and 115 pounds, he was 15th in the 500-yard freestyle. There are podium photos of him standing next to swimmers nearly a foot taller. He has grown to 5-11 but acknowledged he looks smaller because of his frame.
Looks are deceptive.
At December’s U.S. Open, Whitlock was in lane 8 of a 1,500-meter freestyle that included Charlie Clark, who swam in the 2023 and 2024 World Championships, and Finke. Through 600 meters, the leader was . . . Whitlock.
Keller heard coaches wonder about the “rabbit,” a swimmer who goes out fast but inevitably fades, in the outside lane.
“I’m just standing there, not saying anything,” Keller said.
He didn’t need to say anything. Whitlock’s swim spoke for itself.
With 150 meters left, he was still within about one second of first. He finished third, 2.5 seconds behind Clark.
Among those coming up to speak to Keller was Anthony Nesty, the University of Florida coach whose training group includes Katie Ledecky, Finke and Carmel’s Jake Mitchell. Soon, Whitlock will join them.
“That was the first meet when people said, ‘Ah, this kid’s legit,’“ Keller said.
It took time, and times, for Whitlock to feel legit.
In last year’s nationals at the Natatorium at IUPUI, he qualified for the under-19 World Junior Championships. His results at August’s junior nationals disappointed him, so he was unsure about September’s junior worlds.
In Netanya, Israel, he finished fifth in the 800 freestyle in 7:55.00, five seconds out of the medals but a six-second personal best. In a matter of months, he had dropped 14 seconds.
“When I finished and turned around and saw 7:55, I was like shocked,” Whitlock said. “That was the turning point.”
In a May meet at the Natatorium, he further lowered his time to 7:50.20, fastest by an American 18-year-old in 17 years. He nearly matched the long-standing age-group record of 7:48.09 set by Larsen Jensen in winning a silver medal at the 2003 World Championships.
Whitlock has broken Indiana 17-18 records held by Mitchell, a 2021 Olympian. Coincidentally, vying for a spot behind Finke is another Hoosier Olympian, Michael Brinegar of Columbus.
Whitlock opens competition Saturday (June 15) in the 400 freestyle, although he is not necessarily aiming at the Olympics in that distance.
He is not necessarily aiming at the 2024 Olympics, either. His greatest opportunity is the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, his coach said.
“For Luke, whatever he achieves here is gravy,” Keller said. “Because at the end of his college years at Florida, he’s going to be in great spot for L.A.”
Hometown support in Noblesville is reflected in a banner displayed at the aquatics center in Forest Park. Yet much can happen in four years, and Whitlock is ready now.
Young is convinced. The swim executive, a former Carmel coach, said he was once with Drew Kibler at an Arizona training camp for teens. Kibler’s goal was the Olympics, something he made happen in 2021.
“It was really clear in his mind what he wanted,” Young said. “Same with Luke Whitlock. I see the same look in his eye.”
He is the wild card, his coach said.
He will be swimming in an NFL stadium, and seven wild cards have won Super Bowls. It is a number Luke Whitlock probably knows.
Contact IndyStar correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Noblesville teen Luke Whitlock has shot at USA Swimming Olympic Trials
