Steve Whittington, a chemistry and forensic science teacher at WHS, graduated St. Joseph’s High School (Metuchen) in 1992 and was a three-year varsity swimmer at Rutgers University.
Whittington said that, as a Falcon at St. Joe’s, “I broke three school records.” He continued and jokingly said, “Way back when things were a little easier, I guess.”
Those three records were in the 100-meter backstroke, the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard free relay.
“I was also a three-time All-American,” Whittington subtly said.
Since Whittington was such a competitive swimmer, he only focused on swimming in high school and decided to not play any other sports. “I think that when you’re at that elite level, all of your time and all of your eggs need to be in one basket,” he said.
Whittington highlighted the importance of having a strong swimming time in order to be recruited for college. “Time speaks volumes,” he emphasized. Back then, when highlight tapes were not created, Whittington emailed all his best swimming times to all of the schools that were interested in him.
When the time came for Whittington to make his decision on where he would swim collegiately, he at first leaned toward committing to West Virginia University. However, at the same time, his dad unfortunately had a stroke, which made Whittington second-guess his thought-process.
“[My dad] went to Rutgers and he wanted me to go to Rutgers and I was just like, maybe that’s a sign,” Whittington said.
So ultimately, Whittington decided to stay home as a “local hero,” as he described it, and stayed in-state to attend Rutgers.
When Whittington arrived at Rutgers, he struggled to get on the same page as the Rutgers coaching staff. Since he was on scholarship, he believed that the coaches felt as if they owned him and, because of this, academics came second and swimming came first.
“I didn’t quite agree with some of the philosophies of the coaching staff… they would say that academics comes first, but they didn’t,” Whittington said.
This ultimately led to Whittington taking a hiatus from swimming during his junior year so he could improve himself mentally.
Whittington then explained that he had to return to swim for his final and senior year at Rutgers because of the love he has for the sport and, fortunately for Whittington, “the head coach at that time had left and there was a new interim head coach who wasn’t super knowledgeable but made an attempt to do the right thing.”
Now, as the head coach of the powerhouse girls swimming team here at WHS, Whittington is able to connect with his athletes on a personal level.
As a competitive and Division I swimmer, Whittington said, “I am certainly more sensitive to people’s injuries. I’ve had those injuries, I know what those injuries feel like.” He also said, “I know the responsibilities of what it takes to do a club team and a high school all at the same time, and it’s a lot of pressure.”
When asked what advice he has for student-athletes, Whittington stressed the idea of doing something that makes you happy.
“To make sure that you get excited about something, to enjoy what you’re doing because if you are not finding joy in what you’re doing, then it becomes work, then it becomes a job,” he said.
He added, “Have fun with it, because you only get so much time.”
