UPDATED:

​Reece Whitley​ demolished his own 100-yard breaststroke National Independent High School record of 52.35, which he set earlier Saturday, by dropping the hammer with a 51.84 in finals at the 2017 Eastern Championships.​ That time is almost a full second faster than any other high school swimmer has been in history -- unbelievable.

Whitley's splits in finals: 24.79/27.05 - 51.84

ORIGINAL POST:

Representing Penn Charter, breaststroke phenom ​Reece Whitley​ OBLITERATED the National Independent High School record in the 100-yard breaststroke on Saturday at the 2017 Eastern Championships in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with a time of 52.35. Whitley split the race beautifully like a veteran, taking it out in a 25.00 and bringing it home in a 27.35. With only a 2.35 second differential between his first and second 50, Whitley is poised to have a strong 200 the next time he swims it.​

​Jacob Molacek​, who is currently in a gap year after transferring from Auburn last spring, owned the previous Independent high school mark of 52.92 from 2014. Of note, Molacek will compete for North Carolina State beginning in the fall of 2017. The overall record and still-standing National Public School record belonged to Chandler Bray​, now a freshman at Florida, who swam a 52.65 in 2016.

Whitley's time was done in prelims. Will we see a sub-52-second time from him tonight in finals? Stay tuned.