Evan Witte of Minnetonka

When Evan Witte first dove into Minnetonka’s pool his freshman year, he already had people talking.

“I have a lot of friends in the swimming community, and [during his freshman year] they were like, ‘Do you realize how good Evan is?’ ” Minnetonka swim coach John Bradley said.

Bradley did realize. And soon everyone else would too.

Now a Minnetonka senior and state champ multiple times over, Evan Witte is the Star Tribune’s All-Minnesota Boys Swimmer of the Year.

Tack it on to the list of accolades for the swimmer that Bradley said is “faster than anyone I’ve ever been around.”

Witte proved to be the best sprinter in the Class 2A boys swim meet earlier this month after winning the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 20.06 seconds and the 100-yard freestyle in 44.05. Both times are considered automatic All-America worthy.

The Skipper has picked up five individual state titles in his high school career and led Minnetonka to back-to-back state runner-up finishes the past two years.

It took hard work to reach those peaks. It also required support from the people around Witte.

“The support of people around you can uplift you in ways that you can’t help yourself,” Witte said. “Ultimately, it’s a team sport. Your life is kind of a team sport as well. You can’t do it alone.”

The next stop on Witte’s swimming journey is the University of Pittsburgh, where he’ll be reuniting with his older brother, Carson, on the swim team. The brothers have been swimming together since Evan was 6 and Carson was 9, including one year of overlap on the Minnetonka swim team. Back then, Carson was the one picking up state titles.

Was there some brotherly competition when they were younger?

“Oh yeah,” Witte said with a laugh. “He was always that bigger brother that was so much faster, so much stronger. He was just pushing me to be my best.”

Their college reunion was in the works long before they competed for the Skippers.

“It’s everything. We’ve been talking about it for years,” Witte said. “Even when we were in elementary school, we were like, ‘We should just keep swimming together forever.’ ”

Forever couldn’t be arranged, but the brothers will get to share the pool again in Pittsburgh this fall.

Before his college career begins, Witte will say his goodbyes to a decorated swim career at Minnetonka that Bradley said has been impressive to watch. For student-athletes these days, he said, there’s a lot to juggle — and Witte has done so impressively.

“Evan’s managing a lot of things, and I think people sometimes lose track of how hard it is to do that, you know?” Bradley said. “In addition to being a great student, great kid and great friend to all these people, he can do these things in the water that are really special.

“There isn’t a whole lot more that he could do to get more out of this sport,” Bradley continued. “He really left it all in the pool.”