It’s Everybody Into the Pool for Stanburys : Nancy, at 40, is on the El Camino College team. Her husband, Corey is the coach and daughter Ashley “swims like a fish.”

Nancy Stanbury prepared for swim practice at El Camino College earlier this week. She had her 11 month-old daughter Tracy in one hand and a bottle of milk in the other.

Ashley, Stanbury’s 5-year old daughter, pranced around the pool’s perimeter screaming, “Mommy! mommy! mommy!” as she waved a Mickey Mouse sweat shirt.

Stanbury waited for the baby-sitter, who arrived at 2 p.m., before changing into her own bathing suit. Adjusting a bathing cap, she jumped in the water and proceeded to swim warm-up laps.

The children watched for a moment, then went on doing their own thing. Stanbury’s husband Corey, however, watched intensely for the duration of the demanding two-hour practice.

Corey Stanbury, a well-known national junior swimming coach, is in his second year as the men’s and women’s coach at El Camino. He brought a wealth of experience to the Warriors’ struggling program.

Before taking over in Torrance, he coached numerous elite swimmers at Class Aquatics, one of the largest age-group swimming clubs in the San Fernando Valley.

Despite a scarce roster, he led the El Camino women to a 3-3 South Coast Conference mark last year. This year he’s blessed with a crop of talented newcomers.

His wife is one of them.

Every afternoon it’s a Stanbury family affair at the El Camino pool, but it’s no picnic. Mom has a strenuous workout, swimming up to 5,000 yards a day, and Dad paces pool side while yelling phrases of encouragement to his predominantly young swimmers.

Sometimes Ashley greets her mother at the end of the lane during timed workouts. She cheers enthusiastically while jumping up and down; “go Mom, go, go, go, go!”

Stanbury, 40, is the team’s oldest athlete and also one of the top breast strokers. She always keeps up with the swimmers in the neighboring lanes, though the majority of them are half her age.

“She does pretty well against most of them,” said Corey, 38. “This is a good level for someone like her to compete in. I think she has an outside chance of qualifying for state.

“Nancy is a very self-motivated person. I never have to push her. She gets in and really wants to go. I think she’s a good example for the other kids.”

Warrior assistant coach David Clark says Stanbury’s technique is better than that of most junior college swimmers. Like Corey, he believes Stanbury will qualify for the state meet in May. “She’s probably more consistent than the younger kids,” Clark said. “She always makes workouts . . . and she always gives 100%.”

A top Masters swimmer in the early 1980s, Stanbury returned to competition to get in shape after her second pregnancy.

Two years after the couple’s first daughter was born, Stanbury competed at Ventura College where she was an all-conference breast stroker.

Corey said jokingly: “It’s something she does in between kids.”

Stanbury competed for the Park Terrace swim club while growing up in Sacramento and says she wanted to see how far she could go this time.

“I was very frustrated with the shape I was in after having the baby,” she said. “I had to do something. Plus I wanted to find out something about myself. ‘Do I still have it at 40?’

“And I must say I’ve surprised myself. I’m surprised that I could still get back in shape. I’ve already lost 14 pounds. Plus it’s one way of getting to spend time with my busy husband.”

Stanbury says grueling practices and lengthy swim meets aren’t the toughest part of being on the team. Switching gears from mother to competitor is more difficult because her mother role is flexible and submissive. The opposite, she says, is required to succeed in the sport.

“One of the biggest challenges of doing this,” Stanbury said, “actually the main challenge, is getting the kids to cooperate with coming here. Convincing Ashley that ‘yes, we’re going to El Camino again’-- for the fourth time this week.”

After practice Corey rewards Ashley by taking her in the pool. “She swims like a fish,” Stanbury said. “She’s been around pools for so long and she’s picked it up. She really loves it.”

Maybe it’s a genetic thing. As a child and adolescent swimming was the happiest part of Stanbury’s life. She competed in age-group events from the time she was 5 until she was 17.

There was no collegiate women’s swimming at the time, so Stanbury remained active by competing for swim clubs. In 1970 she took a job with General Telephone in Santa Barbara and joined a swim club there where Corey had coached for several years before moving to Los Altos.

In a short time Stanbury dominated the Masters’ breast stroke events. She broke every Southern California Masters record in her age group (30-33). She placed first in the 50, 100 and 200-meters as well as the 50, 100 and 200-yards.

In 1984 she competed in the first Masters International meet in New Zealand, placing fourth in the 200 breast stroke despite a nagging back injury.

In 1983, at the Masters National meet in Indianapolis, Stanbury broke the 200-meter record with a mark (3:01.70) that has since been broken.

A mutual friend introduced her to Corey at the Masters National meet in Portland, Ore., in August of 1982. Corey was a former swimmer and water polo player at UC Santa Barbara and the winner of five national Masters titles (50, 100 and 200-yard backstroke).

“We were set up,” Stanbury said smiling. “They (friends) thought it would be a good match.”

They were married in May, 1983, and so far they’ve proven their friends right. The coach-athlete relationship only exists during practices and meets. At home in Torrance, they’re a typical family.

“Once I get in the pool,” Stanbury said, “he ceases to be my husband. He’s strictly my coach. And I get no breaks. He doesn’t cut me any slack because I’m 40 or I’m his wife.”

Ronona Smith, another top El Camino competitor breast stroke, says Stanbury works harder than most. Smith, 29, was a swimmer at El Camino in 1980 when Corey was a part-time coach. In three years as a part-timer he led the Warriors to a conference title, two second places in conference and a third-place state finish.

“There’s no partiality,” Smith said. “She (Stanbury) gets no special treatment even though she has a really hectic schedule.”

Stanbury’s day starts at 6:30 a.m. She feeds her daughters, takes the oldest one to preschool and attends class through television courses at home.

She gets Ashley from school at noon and goes home for the kids’ snack before heading to El Camino for a 2-4 p.m. practice. Then she rushes home to make dinner for the family. Her only free time is after 8 p.m., when both children are in bed.

“That’s when I get to talk to my husband,” she said laughing.

Stanbury says swimming is seldom the topic of conversation at home. She says occasionally they’ll discuss training strategies, but it’s unusual.

“Sometimes I’ll ask him questions,” Stanbury said. “Like on the days I feel beat into the ground I’ll ask him ‘did we have to do so much breast stroke today? We did over 3,000 yards!’ And he’ll say something like ‘this will make your 200 breast stroke awesome.’ He really doesn’t play coach with me at home.”

After El Camino Stanbury will go back to competing in age-group events. She’s using the season to prepare for this year’s Masters short-course (yards) nationals at USC. There she’ll compete at the low end of the 40-44 age group.

She laughed again as she observed, “I’ll be a youngster again!”