BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Union County High School junior Eva Whitehead faced pressure and her own expectations like a champ, and in the end that’s exactly what she ended up being — a champ.
Whitehead won the 200-yard individual medley at the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 1A state finals in swimming on Nov. 15 at Ocala’s Florida Aquatics Swimming and Training center, making her the first UCHS student to win a state title in the sport.
“It feels pretty good,” said Whitehead, who earned the school’s first region-level championship the previous week.
Whitehead, who has competed at state in each of her three years at UCHS, swam a time of 2:00.01, which bettered her Region 1-championship time of 2:01.45 the previous week.
It was an impressive performance considering that Whitehead was 22nd in the event at the 2023 state finals. She wasn’t happy about that and said she worked hard at being more than just good. She focused even more on the work she put in at the pool, what foods she was eating and the amount of sleep she was getting.
Still, was she expecting going from 22nd to state champ?
“I was not — not that big of a jump,” Whitehead said. “I was hoping to get top eight.”
UCHS Coach Brad Whitehead, who is Eva’s father and Union County’s sheriff, said, “We knew she was getting stronger and getting faster.”
Eva Whitehead said she was looking to improve in all areas of the IM, which includes 50 meters of four different strokes — butterfly, back, breast and freestyle. One particular stroke, however, seemed to be the difference maker.
“My breaststroke has improved drastically since last year,” she said.
In fact, Whitehead also competed in the 100-yard breaststroke at state, earning a medal with a fourth-place finish.
Whitehead placed third in the 200 IM at the District 1 meet, finishing behind Bolles swimmers Ella Gotham, a fellow junior, and Gracyn Lanning, a senior and Notre Dame commit. She beat both at the Region 1 meet, which meant she was the event’s number-one seed going into the state finals.
She admitted she was nervous in the days leading up to state, but once the day arrived, the focus turned to swimming. She stayed close with the Bolles swimmers during the first four laps and began creating a little separation toward the end of the fifth lap (the first in the breaststroke). When Whitehead made her turn into the sixth lap, she began pulling away and held a lead until the end.
Gotham was second with a time of 2:02.36, while Lanning was third with a time of 2:02.39.
Whitehead, a club swimmer since the age of 6, knows the two Bolles simmers well and has been competing against them for a while.
“I was really happy to beat them,” she said.
According to her father, a crowd of approximately 30 people from Union County cheered her on. Whitehead said it was “really cool” to see the people there to support her and enjoyed giving them the number-one sign after her race.
“I’ve been lucky to have the community support,” she said.
Whitehead had already earned All-American status for the 200 IM time she swam at the Region 1 meet. At state, she became an All-American in the 100 breaststroke with a fourth-place time of 1:03.25. She was the event’s sixth seed going in and improved upon her Region 1 time, which was 1:03.93, and her sixth-place time of 1:04.23 in the prelims at state.
Victoria Edgar of Bolles won the event with a time of 1:02.48. Addison Bitel of Windermere Prep and Bolles’ Lanning placed second and third, respectively, with times of 1:02.65 and 1:02.81.
Coming in behind Whitehead in fifth was Bolles’ Savannah Branon, who had a time of 1:03.43.
Whitehead said she was grateful the 100 breaststroke occurred after the 200 IM.
“There was less stress going into my second event,” she said.
This was Whitehead’s first year competing in the 100 breaststroke after competing in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke her freshman and sophomore years.
During her sophomore year, she became UCHS’ first-ever district champ in swimming, winning the titles in both the 200 IM and 100 backstroke.
Whitehead, who’s a USA Swimming Scholastic All-American, had already been receiving interest from collegiate swim programs, but that interest increased after her region and state performances.
“I’ve had a lot of SEC and ACC schools reach out to me,” she said.
She’s still got one more year of high school to go, though, so the goal is to win another state championship.
Or two.
“That’s what I’m hoping for,” Whitehead said.
One thing for sure is that she’ll put in the work to put herself in position to win. Whitehead swims from 6 until 7:30 every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning and then puts in an additional two hours in the evenings. She also swims three hours on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
On the Nov.18 broadcast of Tiger Talk, Brad Whitehead said, “It’s just pure dedication and motivation.”
Tiger Talk and the state 200 IM race can be watched via the “Union County Tigers” Facebook page.
