DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL MALE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:Tall order to out-touch Peotter

At the beginning of Corona del Mar High’s swim meet at University on April 18, boys’ coach Barry O’Dea had the right to be a little tense.

He figured that the meet would go down to the final relay and probably only be decided by mere points.

CdM senior Brian Peotter wasn’t as worried.

“I remember him saying, ‘Hey coach, make sure we have everything else going. I’m going to take care of the 50 and 100,” O’Dea said.

As he has been doing all year, Peotter backed it up. His victories in those 50- and 100-yard freestyle events helped the CdM boys to a 96-74 win, which wrapped up a perfect 4-0 Pacific Coast League dual meet season for CdM.

It’s been a while coming for the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week. Last year, Peotter, who stands 6-foot-6, was on varsity but didn’t get to race the sprint freestyle events like he wanted. Instead, he primarily swam the 100 butterfly.

He swam the event again in this year’s season-opening meet at Newport Harbor, but once the Sea Kings faced Beckman in their first league dual meet, the 50 and 100 free were his.

He hasn’t lost in either race since.

“I surprised my coach,” Peotter said. “I surprised everybody. I surprised myself, actually. I think a lot of it is my ability to out-touch people, because I’m so tall. In the shorter events like the 50 and 100, it makes a big difference.”

Peotter is used to making a big difference. He has swam since he could walk and, after moving from Irvine in eighth grade, joined the Harbor View Swim team, where he was instructed by longtime coach Ted Bandaruk.

More recently, he stepped in as the varsity goalie for the Sea Kings water polo team last fall, which also won the Pacific Coast League championship.

It probably wasn’t a surprise to those who know Peotter’s competitive nature. He now wants to top the CdM 50 freestyle record, which is 21.12 seconds and was set by Jeff Thomason in 1986.

Peotter’s fastest time in the event so far this season is 21.61, set in a dual meet against Irvine and easily a CIF Southern Section Division I automatic time.

“I definitely feel after I get out of every race that I could have done something better, that I’ve missed something here or there,” Peotter said. “I was late on the start, or I had a bad flip-turn. It’s like a blink of an eye or snapping your fingers, the difference between the record and my time.”

O’Dea said its been easy to see Peotter’s improvement.

“He’s kind of grown into his body, and his stroke is so much better,” O’Dea said. “I watch him in practice, and it’s like he’s on top of the water instead of in the water. His size is great, especially for the start. The next thing you know, he’s got his whole body pumping and moving. It’s quite impressive, really.”

Peotter, whose younger sister Allison also swims and plays water polo for CdM, isn’t normally that vocal. But, before CdM’s dual meet at Uni, he kept reminding his teammates that it had been a long time — the last time was 1995 — since the Sea King boys have won the league swimming title.

With Peotter in the sprint freestyle events and also strengthening the relays, they have a great shot this year.

“I wanted to encourage everybody because we owe it to ourselves to win league,” said Peotter of his senior-strong team. “We might as well go out with a bang, put our names up in the team room.”

O’Dea, for one, appreciates Peotter’s efforts headed into the Pacific Coast League finals at Beckman on Friday. He compared his senior’s efforts to those of Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Jeff Kent.

“I’m a big Dodger fan, and Jeff Kent is kind of like Brian,” O’Dea said. “Kent does his job day in and day out and never complains, and it’s the same with Brian. That also brings respect, and everyone has a lot of respect for what Brian’s doing for this team.”

Kent may be headed to the Baseball Hall of Fame when it’s all said and done.

But Peotter, who plans to swim collegiately and/or play water polo at either Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or in the Air Force, is also making a name for himself.

BRIAN PEOTTER

Hometown: Newport Beach

Born: August 14, 1988

Height: 6-foot-6

Weight: 170

Events: 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle

Coach: Barry O’Dea

Favorite food: Pizza

Favorite movie: “Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail”

Favorite athletic moment: “Sophomore year, playing in the semifinals of the [water polo] Charger Cup against El Toro. There was about 12 minutes of overtime. That was the most fun I’ve ever had.”

Week in review: Won the 50 and 100 freestyles and was in the winning 200 medley and 400 free relays in a Pacific Coast League dual meet at University. The resulting win helped the Sea Kings finish a perfect 4-0 in league dual meets.