Stephanie Gabert

Rick Devereux

Amanda Beard swam for Irvine High and went on to become one of the

most prolific swimmers the United States has ever produced, winning a

gold, two silvers and a bronze in two Olympic games.

Corona del Mar freshman Stephanie Gabert could overtake Beard as

the best breaststroker in the country.

Gabert set a torrid pace last week at the CIF Southern Section

Division II preliminaries and finals, breaking and re-breaking the

division’s 100-yard breaststroke record, as well as swimming the

fastest breaststroke leg of the meet for the Sea Kings’ winning 200

medley relay team and finishing third in the 200 individual medley.

At the preliminaries May 14, Gabert set a CIF record in the 100

breaststroke, swimming 1:30.94. The next day, she swam 1:39.36. Coach

Doug Volding said if it was any other swimmer, he might have been

concerned that the athlete peaked one day too early and wouldn’t be

able to duplicate the feat in the finals. But Volding said he knew

Gabert would go out and break her own record to win the race because

of her competitive nature. He said he knew she was special from the

first time he met her.

“The very first time she swam in our pool, she swam on the medley

relay team that broke the school record,” Volding said. “That was one

of the oldest standing school records.”

Gabert, the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, knew she was going to

have a special day at the CIF finals because of how it started: a win

in the 200 medley relay.

Gabert’s 30.28 in the breaststroke gave the Sea Kings a lead they

would not relinquish, swimming 1:50.46, just shy of setting a CIF

Division II record.

“After the relay I knew I would do well [the rest of the day],”

Gabert said after winning the 100 breaststroke.

Gabert swam the second fastest butterfly and breaststroke legs in

the 200 IM and finished third at 2:08.95, a personal best.

Corona del Mar won its first CIF team title and Volding gives a

lot of the credit to Gabert and sophomore sensation Lexie Shue.

“To have a freshman and sophomore as talented as those two are, we

are going to continue in a positive fashion for many years to come,”

he said.

The Sea Kings were CIF runners-up last season, a fact other

members of the team impressed upon the freshman heading into the

meet.

“They told me that last year they did really well, but they said

they really wanted to win it this year,” Gabert said. Luckily, her

goals and those of her teammates coincided and the result was an

impressive team victory.

“My goal was to win CIF and my goal was to get the [100

breaststroke] record under 1:04,” she said. “Next year, my goal with

the team is to win [the CIF championship] again because we have some

talented girls coming back.”

Sparked by a relentless competitive desire to win, Gabert swam an

Olympic trials qualifying time of 2:35.94 in the 200-meter

breaststroke. Gabert also hopes to qualify for the Olympic trials in

the 100-meter breaststroke. Her best time is 1:12.95, slower than the

trials qualifying standard of 1:12.59, a time Gabert and her coach

believe she will achieve.

“She made an immediate impact on our team as soon a she arrived,”

Volding said. “She is three or four seconds faster than any swimmer

I’ve ever had in the breaststroke in all of my years of coaching.”

Beard tied the world record in the 200-meter breaststroke in

Barcelona on July 25, 2003, swimming 2:22.99. Volding thinks Gabert

has the ability to follow her role model into the upper echelon of

swimming.

“Stephanie definitely has that road ahead of her,” he said.