Whitacre, Lew lead Colonels to new heights

Longtime friends Whitacre, Lew help Colonels reach new heights
January 27, 2012
By Robert Niedzwiecki
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER- Alex Lew couldn't believe it.

It had taken nearly two months of the season, but on Jan. 27 of last year, the James Wood swimmer had finally achieved the state-qualifying time she needed in the 50 freestyle in a meet against St. Maria Goretti in Hagerstown, Md.

There was a catch, though. Because the person timing her hadn't reset her watch before Lew jumped in the pool, her time didn't officially count, even though James Wood had recorded her in state-qualifying time.

Lew was so upset by the news that she didn't want to swim again for the rest of the meet. Fortunately, Kaye Whitacre didn't let that happen.

"Kaye was the one who talked to me," Lew said. "She said, 'Get it out of your head. Go swim your 100 [free], it's coming up soon, and go get your state cut,' and I actually did. She was the one pushing me to get it."

James Wood seniors Lew and Whitacre have been supporting each other since they became best friends on the first day of Kindergarten. And throughout their swimming career, their relationship has taken them to great heights.

"When one of us has a big race, the other is right behind the block with them, saying, 'You're going to get this time, you're going to do it,'" Lew said. "We definitely motivate each other. I think our friendship is very beneficial."

Few area swimmers qualify for the Group AA/A state meet in each of their four years of high school. But if Whitacre can achieve a qualifying time in the 100 breaststroke at tonight's Northwestern District meet at Jim Barnett Park's War Memorial Building (7:45 p.m. start) or qualify at the Region II meet on Feb. 4, both Lew and Whitacre will be in that select group.

Lew and Whitacre have played a huge role in James Wood's successful year. The Colonels' finished second to Sherando in the district regular season, finished with a winning overall record (8-2) for the first time since 2009, and helped a James Wood girls' relay qualify for the state meet for the first time in second-year head coach Kristy Hartbauer's four years with the program.

And they feel they've put in the work - both made adjustments in their training this year - to go out with a bang in the postseason. Heading into tonight's district meet, Lew ranks second in the district in the 50-meter freestyle (28.78 seconds), 100 free (1:03.80) and 200 free (2:25.43), all career-best times. Of those events, she's garnered state-qualifying times in all but the 200 free.

Whitacre ranks second in the district in the 100 breaststroke (1:22.39). And while she hasn't qualified for states yet, she feels she's on the verge of putting up her best time in that event since she was a freshman, when she had a season-best yard time of 1:11.91 (1:19.82 in meters) and placed 13th in the state in that event.

One of the first things Whitacre remembers about swimming her career-best breaststroke time, which came during the state meet preliminaries at George Mason University's Freedom Aquatic Center in Manassas, was looking up and seeing Lew's amazed reaction before she herself saw her time.

From the start, if there's been a big moment in their life, it seems like the other's always been around.

That first day of Kindergarten just so happened to be Lew's birthday, which prompted her to bring cupcakes she had made to school. But oddly enough - Lew figures everyone was probably scared about their first day of school - Whitacre was the only person who took one.

"That's how we became best friends," Lew said. "She was the only one who ate a cupcake."

"I wasn't going to pass that up," Whitacre said.

Since then, they've said they've pretty much done everything together, and that definitely includes swimming.

They've almost always been on the same team. Lew started with Clearbrook's swim team at age 5 before Whitacre joined a year later, and after a couple of years of that, they've bounced around between the Winchester Swim Team and Valley Swim Team Phoenix out of Strasburg for their USA Swimming training. Since starting high school, Lew has worked exclusively with Winchester while Whitacre has opted for Phoenix.

As much as they like each other, Whitacre said it's probably for the best that they've limited their partnership to just their high school team.

"Especially when we were younger, we were really competitive with each other," Whitacre said. "I think swimming on different teams helps us and saves our friendship. We're not tearing each other apart."

Instead they motivate each other, push each other and give each other advice.

The advice is made easier by the fact that each swimmer's current strengths used to be the other's strength. Lew said before they got to high school, she focused on the breaststroke and Whitacre (whose second best event is the 200 individual medley, a combination of all the strokes) focused more on the freestyle.

"Over the years, I think your body changes," said Hartbauer, a former swimmer at Division II Saint Vincent College. "Growing up I was a backstroker, and now I can't swim backstroke to save my life."

Once Lew and Whitacre settled into their roles their freshman year, they starred quickly. They were two of only seven local girls to qualify for the state meet in 2009. Lew did so in the 50 and 100 free, and only Clarke County's Annie Bosacco had a higher state finish among local swimmers than Whitacre's 13th in the 100 breaststroke.

They didn't expect success right away, but it's been their ambition to make it to the state meet every year since.

"It's been the goal all throughout high school, just to maintain that level of swimming," Whitacre said.

There have plenty of highlights en route to state meet trips the past two years - Whitacre was district champion in the 100 breastroke in 2010, and Lew was district champion in the 50 free last year - but the hope is that this year will be truly special.

In the past, Lew has always achieved her state cuts at the end of the season, but she achieved a state-cut in her first attempt at the 50 free this year, a feat she attributes to a new training approach.

"This is the first year, instead of training for a team in the summer, I actually just went to the Wellness Center and lifted every single day, then I got in and swam on my own," Lew said. "I definitely gained a lot of muscle, and I think that's really helping me this year to achieve those times."

As for Whitacre, she feels a commitment to being more technically sound - as well as swimming against Millbrook junior Katie Kozlowski, who's posted the area's fastest times in the 100 breaststroke the last years - will get her down to the 1:21.39 meter time or 1:13.19 yard time she needs to qualify for the state meet, which will take place on Feb. 11 in Christiansburg.

"I actually feel like my stroke technique is the best it's been since my freshman year," Whitacre said. "I kind of dipped down for a while, and I finally have it back."

No matter what happens in the the future, Lew and Whitacre have enjoyed themselves immensely up to this point.

The addition of freshman Sara Fergus (the district's best time in the 400 free and 100 butterfly) has helped James Wood qualify its 200 medley relay team (which also features sophomore McKenzie McNemar) for the state meet and made the Colonels a contender for tonight's district meet team title.

In addition to Fergus, Lew said boys' freshman Conor Babington has had a similar impact in pushing the boys, and overall, everyone's taking a serious approach to swimming and working hard to be their best. Team bonding sessions in which James Wood has had pasta dinners, a hip-hop dance lesson at a studio, and a scavenger hunt at Jim Barnett Park have helped the attitude in the pool as well.

Hartbauer said the freshmen have been big, but there's no question that the senior leadership from Lew and Whitacre is irreplaceable.

"I think when they came in their freshman year, they didn't really know their place on the team," Hartbauer said. "But over the last four years it's been really great watching them become confident with their own skills, and using that confidence to build the team's confidence and help other individuals.

"It's been great watching them go from where they started out as freshmen to the mature seniors that they are now."

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