Sandy Cruttenden

Bryce Alderton

Having all the talent in the world doesn’t mean much when the

desire recedes.

Sandy Cruttenden (formerly Sandy Zubrin) had the talent -- she

claimed the CIF diving championship during her freshman, sophomore

and junior years at Corona del Mar High, where she graduated from in

1995, and was a five-time junior national champion and a member of

the senior national team for three years. In 1991 at the age of 14

she won the junior world championship crown.

She started diving at the University of Miami during her freshman

year, but then something ticked in her head. During her three years

at Miami she had qualified for the United States Olympic Trials for a

shot to go to the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, but suffered an

illness and took a break from diving when the Olympic trials began.

“I didn’t have that desire in me anymore to justify the amount of

training,” Cruttenden said when asked why she quit diving. “I didn’t

have it in my heart anymore to continue. I was satisfied with the

level I had until then, reevaluated my Olympic aspirations and

decided I was fulfilled with what I had accomplished. I was happy

with my retirement and ready to try something new.”

Cruttenden majored in elementary education while at Miami, but

didn’t get her degree and said she doesn’t know if and when she would

go back to school.

“I’ll have to see how things work out in the future with whether

to finish school,” said the 25-year-old Corona del Mar resident.

Thoughts of returning to Miami have sprouted in Cruttenden’s head

as well. Sandy and husband Ryan married in Miami in March 1999, and

moved back to Corona del Mar because of Ryan’s job working for an

investment firm.

Much of what Cruttendon does revolves around her family, which she

doesn’t mind at all. Her parents, Jay and Bonnie Zubrin live in

Corona del Mar, and her older brother Larry coaches girls swimming

and water polo and is the assistant boys water polo and swimming

coach at Laguna Beach High.

“Everything is family related, that’s my biggest hobby,”

Cruttenden said.

Cruttenden helped coach the El Modena High diving team for one

semester in the spring of 2000 when Larry was the head coach of boys

and girls water polo and swimming at the school.

“(Larry) had been approached by a couple of kids interested in

diving and they had a diving board at the pool, which is rare, so I

was happy to do it,” Cruttenden said. “I really enjoyed coaching and

the kids had a good time with it as well.”

Her first attempt at coaching has inspired Cruttenden to consider

returning to coaching, possibly with the Mission Viejo Nadadores,

where she swam from the ages of 11 to 18. She has been in contact

with Janet Ely-Lagourgue, her coach at Mission Viejo who left for a

brief period but now is back at the helm of the Nadadores.

“I’ve coached with her during the summers in college when I came

home from Miami,” Cruttenden said. “Coaching with her would be a lot

of fun.”

Having a 1-and 3-year-old doesn’t leave much time for much else,

as Cruttenden now involves herself in a nonprofit organization that

offers stay-at-home mothers with children a chance to meet on a

weekly basis and participate in activities with their children.

The mother of William, 3, and Benjamin, 1, acts as the

administrative vice president charged with forming fundraising

committees and helping form the policies of the Moms Offering Moms

Support Club, a nonprofit national organization that came to Newport

Beach in 1995.

Children and their parents meet weekly at various locations such

as parks, Disneyland, Fashion Island, libraries and zoos, any

attraction that appeals to kids and their mothers, Cruttenden said.

“(MOMS) was formed so moms could get together to form friendships

and connections to people in the community, for people to be an

active part of the community,” Cruttenden said.

Cruttenden also attends a parent education class at Orange Coast

College with Benjamin, which teaches her and the other 15 mothers in

the class about various aspects of child development. “There are

informative discussions between parents as well as kids playing with

kids, it’s fun,” Cruttenden said.

Cruttenden often spends any free time she has playing golf at

Newport Beach Country Club, usually with her husband of three years,

Ryan, whom she knew in high school and also attended the University

of Miami with.

“I try to be optimistic and pick out the good things about it

despite when my game is going bad,” Cruttenden said. “I’m happy to

play there as much as I can.”