Out of the shadows: Jackson swimmer ready for the spotlight

Reflecting on some of his early moments in the water as a youngster, Justin Limberg remembers chasing his father in the pool.

Even at that young age, he gravitated to the breaststroke.

“That’s always been my go-to stroke,” the Jackson High School swimming standout said. “Ever since I was in the water, my dad (would have me) chase him around, and I’d always be doing the breaststroke kick. … I guess I just had a feel for breaststroke a lot earlier than I had for other strokes.”

After years of hard work and honing his technique, Limberg has gone from chasing his father to chasing top times.

The Jackson junior has developed into one of the state’s top high school swimmers, having already earned four top-10 individual state finishes by the midway point of his prep career — including two in the 100-yard breaststroke.

As a freshman, Limberg placed ninth in the 100 breaststroke at the 4A state meet. He then claimed a fourth-place state medal in the same event last year, posting an All-American consideration time of 57.14 seconds.

“Technically he does so many things right, and that’s something that’s really just built over time,” Jackson coach Drew Whorley said. “He has incredible work ethic and attitude toward training, and those things are necessary in order to continue to make improvements.

“He’s incredibly efficient and he’s got a great kick, and those are things that separate the good breaststrokers from the great ones.”

Yet while the breaststroke is Limberg’s main event, he also excels in other races. Over the past two seasons, he’s earned a pair of ninth-place state finishes in the 200 individual medley and has helped the Timberwolves to four top-five state medals in freestyle relay races.

“In a high school swim meet lineup,” Whorley said, “I can put him in anything and he’s going to find some success.”

Limberg, ranked by CollegeSwimming.com as the 11th-overall junior recruit in the state, has grown up surrounded by supremely talented swimmers.

His older sister, Nicole, was a five-time individual state champion at Jackson who also excelled in the breaststroke and IM, winning three state crowns in the former and two in the latter. Nicole, who was The Herald’s Girls Athlete of the Year in 2017, now swims for Rice University.

“When I was younger I didn’t realize it, but she is probably hands-down the hardest worker I’ve ever met in my life — probably not even human at some points,” Limberg said.

“Even on the Sundays when we were supposed to take a break, she’d be like, ‘Justin, let’s go to the gym.’ I hated it, but now I appreciate it a lot. She definitely motivated me a lot, and she’s definitely a role model that I look up to.”

Limberg also was high school and club teammates with former Jackson standout Jonathan Cook, who now swims for Stanford University. Cook won three state titles in the 100 breaststroke and three in the 200 individual medley — the same two events Limberg has competed in at state.

Limberg said that being the younger sibling or younger teammate of such accomplished swimmers has been both a challenge and a blessing.

“It’s incredible, but at the same time it’s brutal,” he said. “People put you at that much higher of a standard, (and) it’s really, really hard to keep up with legends like that. But overall, it’s probably pushed me a lot further, because it’s so much motivation to be … as fast as them.

“I definitely want to be able to write my own path in this,” he added. “I’m definitely trying to get people to know (me) not just (as) Jon Cook’s follow-up or Nicole Limberg’s younger brother. I just want them to know (me as) Justin Limberg.”

Earlier this month, Limberg competed in the USA Swimming Winter Junior Nationals West meet in Austin, Texas. Limberg qualified for the meet this past summer, which he said erased the disappointment of not qualifying for last year’s junior nationals.

“Sophomore year was kind of hard, because I wasn’t really dropping a lot of time and wasn’t really going as fast as I wanted to,” Limberg said. “But (last February’s state meet), with the energy and such, it helped me to break out of that mold a little bit more. And then it finally just cascaded during the summer, when I was able to drop a lot more time.”

Limberg is hoping to carry that momentum into a strong junior campaign.

“Now he has the opportunity to kind of shine himself,” Whorley said. “He’s looked great (this season). He had a really terrific summer. He’s in exceptional shape.

“He’s emerged as a leader for us both in and out of the water, and we’re excited to see what will happen as we progress into the season with him.”