State swimming: Winfield’s Witte learns to love pool
When Keiser Witte’s parents started him in swimming at 11, it was purely to immerse him in a sport that would demand focus while taking at the same time suck away a chunk of his energy.
The Wittes had tried other sports, including soccer, but nothing was intense enough for Keiser. Until they discovered swimming.
“I didn’t want to do it,” said Witte (pronounced Wit). “I told my dad I wanted to quit, but he said once I got a first place in something, he’d let me quit. Once that happened, I didn’t want to quit.”
Winfield’s Witte will swim the 50-yard freestyle and 100 free at the Class 5-1A meet Thursday through Saturday at Topeka’s Hummer Sports Complex. Witte won the 200 and 50 as a junior.
He has made an oral commitment to Missouri.
But those first few years of swimming were a struggle. Swimming requires focus and devoted workouts.
“He kept bugging me, saying, ‘When can I quit? When can I quit?’ ” Witte’s dad, Jim, said. “ He’s the type of child who needed a goal. Once he got there, I told him he could do what he wanted. Once he got there, it was too late.”
Since first diving into swimming, Keiser (6-foot-6, 220 pounds), has matured physically and embraced all that goes into swimming. He practices three or four days a week in Wichita, enduring hour-long drives and countless practices. He also practices with his team.
After taking four fourth places through his first two years of high school swimming, Witte wanted more.
He took the next step in his development by turning his attention to building muscle and strength. Until the high school season started, he lifted weights before school.
It paid off.
“He passes the eye test for about any sport,” Winfield coach Dustin Durbin said. “The basketball coach wants him, wrestling, football, track coaches want him. We had to tell all the others that he’s a swimmer and not anything else. He’s as good as he is in swimming because he made the commitment to it.”
Such a willingness to commit all his effort and focus on swimming has resulted in what his friends call a lack of a life.
When he’s not at school or swimming, he’s doing homework. The only TV shows he watches are “Supernatural” and “Workaholics.”
“I don’t have a life as far as high school, socializing all the time out of school,” Witte said. “(Friends) don’t think I have much of a life, but from my perspective, I think they’re wrong. I enjoy it.”
What matters to Witte, who will compete in junior nationals during the summer, is his times. As he got stronger through his weight-lifting regimen, his times started to drop.
Ask him when he got his first victory and he has no idea. But he knows when and where he got all his best times.
Heading into the state meet, Witte has his sights squarely on not just winning, but on setting records.
The 5-1A record in the 50 free is 21.11 seconds, while the 100 is 45.94. He thinks his times could be even better than the 6A records. The 6A 50 record is 20.74 and was set in 1994.
“This weekend, the people I’m competing against are all good friends of mine,” Witte said. “I need to push myself if I’m going to get those times and state championships. I don’t want to say it’s easy. What I mean is, it’s attainable. It’s within my abilities.
“It’s going to be extremely hard to go 45 or 20-low. I’m going to have to go faster than I ever have before in the 100 free. I’m confident, I’m prepared and if I give the maximum effort, there’s no reason I shouldn’t do it.”
State high school swimming
Where: Hummer Sports Complex, Topeka
When: 2 p.m. Thursday (diving prelims and semifinals), Friday, 10 a.m. (6A prelims), 1:30 p.m. (diving finals), 4 (5-1A prelims); Saturday, 10:30 a.m. (6A finals), 3 p.m. (5-1A finals)
This story was originally published February 13, 2013 at 5:26 PM.