Tiger star trains hard for shot at Olympics

Only 17 years old, Jesuit's Kris Wiebeck wants everything to be perfect in time for the U.S. trials.

By TERRY JONES

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 8, 2000

TAMPA -- Winning a state title last November seems in the distant past, and next month's Olympic trials seem to be coming much too fast for Team New Tampa swimmer Kris Wiebeck.

But he is training hard daily to achieve an almost impossible goal of making the Olympic swim team at age 17 and with a year of high school remaining. Wiebeck will be a senior at Jesuit in the fall, but on the first day of school, Aug. 9, he will be in Indianapolis competing for a spot on the team. The sprinter already has qualified to try out in the 200-meter backstroke, and in the next three weeks, will be working to trim his times in the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke.

Last year, Wiebeck won the Class 2A state championship in the 100 backstroke and placed second in the 200 freestyle.

"To be an Olympic swimmer requires a lot of hard, physical and mental work for any athlete," said Mitzi Kremer, one of Wiebeck's coaches.

"Kris has speed and endurance, but he needs to put his race strategy together.

"Mark (Tighe, his other coach) and I work together watching every move when Kris is in the water. We watch his streamlining, stroke, push off and turn. He is real close on the 100 backstroke and could qualify for the trials in the 200 freestyle."

Wiebeck is a full second off of a qualifying time in the 200 freestyle and only four-tenths of a second away in the 100 backstroke. He hopes to meet both qualifying times, and to accomplish that goal, he trains daily.

From 9 to 11 a.m., he is in the pool working on every part of his stroke and building up endurance. Then from 11:30 to 12:30, he is in the gym working with the weights.

After a brief rest, he is back in the pool again from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

"I am taking every move of every lap in every swim very seriously at each practice," Wiebeck said. "I trust Mitzi and Mark to give me the right tips to cut my times a hundredth of a second at a time. When I am doing my best, I am not focusing on each of my moves, but just the clock.

"I concentrate on everything moving correctly as I race the clock. If any one move is not working the way I want, believe me, I am aware of it instantaneously."

Without the Olympic-level competition available for his daily practice, Wiebeck uses his mind and imagination to challenge the best.

"I pull up the most recent times and wins by the best swimmers around the country," he said. "Then when I am going all out, I focus on their time on the clock and swim hard to challenge it."

Although he wants to qualify for the trials in two additional events, he knows he is already in for the 200 backstroke and wants to trim five more seconds off of his best time of 2 minutes, 5.52 seconds.

Wiebeck hopes to enter the trials with his time down to less than two minutes. "My goal at the trials in any or all events I qualify for is to make the final eight," he said "If I make it that far, anything can happen."

Wiebeck does not have an easy road ahead.

He will be competing with exceptionally fast youth swimmers in competitions between now and the trials.

However at the trials, he will be competing against the best college swimmers and some former Olympians. "For Kris to qualify at 17 and still in high school is quite an accomplishment for him," Kremer said.

"A high school swimmer has not faced the same level of challenges and competition faced by a college senior. "But he is an excellent swimmer. He has a decent chance."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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