CHESTERTON | After more than a year of relentless e-mails and several months of persistent phone calls, Chesterton senior Kyle Whitaker finally made his college decision on Tuesday.

The six-time individual state champion and national record holder in the 200-yard individual medley announced that he will attend Michigan, where he will be coached by three-time Olympic coach Mike Bottom.

Whitaker will sign his National Letter of Intent when he returns from the FINA World Cup Championships in Stockholm, Sweden, in mid-November.

"I feel that Michigan has the right ingredients for my future career," Whitaker said. "They have some past Olympians that are there and some possible future Olympians that I will be able to swim against. I'm excited to contribute."

With the decision out of the way, Whitaker is happy to be able to concentrate on swimming his senior year. College coaches were able to send e-mails in September of his junior year, and they could begin calling on July 1 this year. The process was exhausting for Whitaker, his family and Chesterton coach Kevin Kinel.

"I'm not sure about Kyle, but I know that I'm happy it's over," Kinel said. "I think that he made a good choice. He's a good fit for the Michigan program, and the Michigan coaching staff really went above and beyond to let him know they wanted him."

After eliminating schools such as USC, Georgia and Purdue from his list, Whitaker was torn between Michigan and Arizona. Whitaker visited Michigan in late September and while touring the weight room, he bumped into former Chesterton multi-sport standout Zack Novak, currently a sophomore starter on the Michigan men's basketball team.

"We just talked about how much he liked Michigan," Whitaker said. "It's great knowing someone from here goes there."

Whitaker, who picked up five first-place finishes at the Junior Nationals in Washington over the summer, used a lot of the knowledge he picked up from sister Talor when she was being recruited. Talor ultimately chose Washington State, which doesn't have a men's program.

"Having a sister that went through the process definitely helped," Whitaker said. "She told me to stay calm and told me the questions to ask."

Aside from swimming on several continents in international competition, Whitaker has won the I.M. and the 100 butterfly every year he's been to the IHSAA state meet. He's also captured three championships on relay teams and led the Trojans to the 2007-08 overall team title.

PREP SWIMMING