Dan Kelly and Justin White are shining examples of how athletes don’t always peak in high school.
Four years after they last competed together, the former Fenwick swimmers will be teammates again next summer after both qualified for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials, which begin June 26 in Omaha.
It is an amazing accomplishment for two men who were not standouts in high school. Even more incredible, Kelly and White qualified for the trials in the same event, the 50-meter freestyle.
Neither Kelly, a senior at Boston College, or White, a Lehigh junior, foresaw this happening.
“Olympic Trials weren’t on my radar until freshman or sophomore year of college,” Kelly said. “I’d say sophomore year was the first time I realized it might be a possibility.”
While Kelly never imagined growing up that he’d swim in the Olympic Trials, White has wanted it for a long time.
“It’s always been a goal for me to hit that, but it never became in my crosshairs until this past summer, when I dropped sixth-tenths in the 50 long course,” White said. “(Club) Coach Kathy (Rigali) said it finally became an attainable thing rather than just a lofty childhood goal that every swimmer has.”
Kelly made the Trials cut of 23.29 seconds during the summer of 2014 while training at California-Berkeley with Olympic medalists Nathan Adrian, Anthony Ervin and Tom Shields, while White got it Dec. 5 at the Winter National Championships when he timed 23.16. White is the first Lehigh swimmer in at least 40 years to qualify for the trials.
Kelly and White are the first Fenwick male swimmers to qualify for trials since Tom Martensen in 2000. Only one of the other 143 swimmers who have made the cut thus far in the 50 is from Illinois.
So how do two guys from River Forest do this?
“Fastest car pool ever, that’s what we say,” White quipped.
In reality, it was a long time coming. Kelly and White were better known as water polo players in high school. Both played on at least one state championship team at Fenwick.
But neither won an individual state medal in swimming, though White won three relay medals and Kelly one. They were a part of the 200-yard freestyle team that finished fifth in 2012, Kelly’s senior year.
That winter lit a spark in Kelly, who decided to continue his career in college.
“It’s kind of a fun story,” Kelly said. “When I was in high school I had no interest in swimming in college. I was into water polo.
“But I started to fall in love with it late senior year, with my sister helping to convince me. At Boston College I started to see a lot more success.”
Kelly, whose former Fenwick schoolmates Maureen Barron and Grace Gibbons swim for Boston College’s women’s team, set pool records in the 50-yard free (19.80) and 100 free (44.80) in a Dec. 7 win over Williams College.
Meanwhile, White’s career took off at Lehigh, where he swims with former Fenwick teammate Zach Tieke. White was fourth in the 100 free and fifth in the 50 free at the Patriot League championships last season.
The former Friars, who spent the week before Christmas training at Fenwick’s pool before resuming their college seasons, credit their high school coaches for setting the stage for greater success.
“Fenwick is a great program,” Kelly said. “It really gave Justin and I a good base, but I think especially with guys, it really takes a collegiate weight lifting program and collegiate training to take the next step.
“Justin and I are late bloomers but we got a good base with Coach Kathy and Luke McGuire here at Fenwick.”
Rigali, who coaches the Team Millennium club, finds a moral in their success.
 “It says that swimming isn’t over in high school,” Rigali said. “One of my favorite stories is Matt Krzemienski, who graduated from here. He has a picture from (Junior Olympics) when he was 12. He won the 200 free and in fifth place was Matt Grevers. So you just can’t define yourself.”
Grevers, a Lake Forest native, is a world record holder and has won multiple Olympic gold medals. So, too, has Conor Dwyer, who never finished higher than 10th at the IHSA state meet during his career at Loyola.
“Connor Dwyer is definitely one of Justin and I’s idols,” Kelly said. “We actually had the opportunity to work with one of his trainers and to meet with Connor. It’s fun to see how Connor went from not one being one of the best Illinois swimmers to being among the elite Olympic swimmers.”
Illinois is generally considered to be one of the top 10 states for high school swimming.
“I think it shows a lot about the competitiveness of the state and of a program like Fenwick, where it’s instilled in you at a high school age that you’re going to compete even after your four years are done,” White noted.
Kelly and White are realistic about their chances of making the Olympic Team. Only the top two finishers in each event will swim in Rio, but that isn’t their main focus.
“I definitely just want to get an opportunity to get off the blocks with this kid again,” White said. “We’ve been trying to find a time to get together something unofficial in some raggedy swim meet but we’re finally getting it at the highest level of US Swimming.”
White has one more year of swimming at Lehigh, but the trials will likely be the last major competition for Kelly, who like White plans to hang up his swim trunks after college.
 “I don’t really expect to make the Olympic team,” Kelly said. “I just want to do my personal best.
“The way I look at is either it will be a miraculous continuation to Rio, which I obviously hope for but do not realistically expect, but what I hope to do is just really bring attention to Illinois swimming and Fenwick swimming and Team Millennium and how much you can improve if you continue into college and beyond.”
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