Muscle Shoals swimmer Reese Shirey is off to the Olympic trials

SHEFFIELD

Just before his 10 a.m. workout Wednesday morning, Reese Shirey took a few minutes to enjoy his celebrity status.

Making sure to please all his fans, the 17-year-old from Muscle Shoals signed autographs and flashed smiles to a crowd of aspiring young swimmers at the park and recreation department's indoor pool.

"Never done that before," Shirey said between laughs. "It's not worth anything anyways."

For now.

Shirey will compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials next week in Omaha, Neb., in hopes of qualifying for the Summer Olympics in Beijing. He'll be one of the youngest swimmers in the 100-meter backstroke event, which begins with preliminary races Monday at 11 a.m.

Should he be one of the top two qualifiers in his event, Shirey's signature would be worth a little more.

"I've been swimming for 13 years, and I've been dreaming of going to the Olympics," he said. "That's every swimmer's dream."

Before he can pack his bags for Bejing, he'll have to outduel some of the nation's top swimmers.

Michael Phelps and defending trials winner, Aaron Piersol, dubbed the "backstroke king," are among the favorites to qualify.

"I've been around them once before last summer at nationals, which is pretty much the closest thing to the Olympic Trials," said Shirey, who attends Baylor School - a private school in Chattanooga, Tenn., which features one of the nation's top swimming programs.

"It's impressive to see what they're like. You can tell they've put in a lot of hard work to get where they are at."

Shirey said he expects the time to beat will be under 53 seconds.

His current time in the 100 back is 57.6, just a shade under the trials standard time of 57.99.

"This year is going to be more of a learning experience since there are going to probably be about 45-50 people in my event," he said. "I guess I'll have a better shot when I'm in college."

Shirey is coming off a fourth-place finish at the junior nationals in April. He also broke the national high school record for the short-course 100-meter backstroke this year; the Olympic Trials follow a long-course format.

Unlike many other athletes, Shirey has decreased his workouts in order to get better results at next week's big event.

"Going into a big race, it's called going on taper," he said. "You back down and rest your body from the big-risk workouts. Backing off yardage and intensity of your workouts, gives your body time to recover.

"During the season, you'll train twice a day and you'll wind up beating your body. It's very tiring. When you taper and give your body time to rest, you can race better."

Shirey competed with the Sheffield Swim Team for several years before he left for Baylor.

"He has been one of the most focused swimmers I've ever coached, and I've been in the business since 1969," said Sheffield Swim Team coach Jerry Mills. "We've had All-American and numerous scholarship swimmers, but Reese has taken it to the highest level."

Cody Whitlock can be reached at 740-5727 or cody.whitlock@timesdaily.com.