Gabert rebuilding again

A disturbing phone call came for Stephanie Gabert last week that left her speechless.

She didn’t know what to say. The former Corona del Mar High standout didn’t want to believe that men’s and women’s swimming and diving had been cut at UC Irvine.

The news was delivered by UCI Coach Brian Pajer, who has known Gabert since she was 9, swimming for his club, the Irvine AquaZots. He told her that the program had to be eliminated because of the state budget crisis.

“I was absolutely shocked,” said Gabert, 19. “I just had no words. I just started crying. I was speechless. That was the most awful news I’ve had in a long, long time.”

While the news crushed all the UCI swimmers, it especially came down hard on Gabert, who had transferred in from Arizona a year ago.

While at CdM, Gabert suffered from pain in her knees. She needed orthoscopic surgery in January of 2007. After graduating later in June with the Sea Kings, she soon noticed she was out of place with the Wildcats coming back from surgery.

She felt overwhelmed and believed going back home would be the right call, back near Corona del Mar, back with Pajer. Last year, Gabert’s first with the Anteaters, went smoothly. As a sophomore, Gabert quickly found her place on the team as she continued to build back strength in her knees.

In 2009, things would only get better, or so she thought.

But she has wiped away the tears and has turned the page.

“The plan now?” she asked. “I’m not giving up swimming that’s for sure. I plan to swim for the Zots and the master’s program at UCI.”

Gabert wants to stay in shape because she believes the swim teams can be reinstated. At least that’s the plan for the UCI swimmers and their coach, who have come together determined to raise enough money to get the program back within Anteater Athletics.

Leaving Arizona for UCI was enough for Gabert. UCI, which will honor scholarships this school year, has offered to assist with transfers. But Gabert doesn’t want to leave. She wants to stay and hopefully swim for the Anteaters again.

“I’m definitely going to be active with the fundraising,” said Gabert, who posted information to help UCI swimming on her Facebook page. “I’m going to do whatever I can to help out. I’m more than happy to help out in any way.”

The announcement that the swim teams were cut along with men’s and women’s rowing, and sailing came July 29. Pajer, also a UC Irvine alumnus, quickly went to work, forming a fundraising board and helping build a website, www.anteaterswimminganddivingfoundation.org.

The fundraising team finalized the office members Monday night.

“After the meeting we had [Monday] night, I’m really excited to raise money out there, even in this environment and the way the economy is,” Pajer said.

Pajer and the swimmers are trying to raise $2.2 million, the UCI coach said. That would fund the program over the next 8-10 years. They hope to raise at least money into the six figures by the end of this month so they won’t miss the upcoming season.

No swim season at UCI surprised Pajer, although he knew the program had been taken hits amid the financial struggles. Back in April, he was told that 65% of the program’s scholarships had been cut. He hoped that was the final blow.

“Charlie Schober, who is now the Director of Aquatics, was my coach when I was first here,” Pajer said. “I’ve been here since 1985. This is my 25th year that I’ve been pretty closely connected with UCI. That makes it tough, even harder. We’ve had a lot of success over the last 10 years.”

Pajer also said he had a tough time delivering the news to his swimmers and was particularly disappointed to tell Gabert because he had known all what the swimmer had been through.

“It was tough,” he said. “That was one of the harder ones for sure.”

Pajer is hoping he can deliver good news in the future.