Orange County Prep Review/ Mike Cornwell : Swimmer Remains True to Form : Woodbridge’s Hundeby in Japan: It’s Business as Usual

Chad Hundeby is the kind of guy who thinks the best route to North Carolina is via Japan. But what else would you expect from a guy who swims so much that he almost needs to use scientific notation to figure out a day’s workout.

At the Southern Section’s 2-A swimming championships, the 16-year-old Woodbridge sophomore swam the 200-yard freestyle in 1 minute 38.71 seconds, breaking the Southern Section 2-A record of 1:39.50 set by Alex Mlawsky of Moreno Valley in 1983, and approaching the Olympic trials mark of 1:37.69.

Then he swam the 500-meter freestyle in 4:25.92, bettering Walter Beddeo’s seven-year record by more than 2 1/2 seconds, and automatically qualifying as All-American in that event. His 100-yard split of 46.61 in the 400-yard relay was the second fastest at the finals in all classes.

Sunday, Hundeby and 10 other members of Irvine’s Novaquatics swim club returned from a 10-day session in Japan, during which Novaquatics Coach Flip Darr was presenting coaching clinics. Hundeby was swimming 6,000 meters in the morning and another 3,000 in the evening in exhibitions and practices.

“I’m happy with the progression,” said Hundeby, exhausted after a 24-hour flight from Japan. “My time in the 500 has gone from about 4:30 last year to 4:24 now. I’ll be going 9,000 meters at night now to get into shape.”

In July, Hundeby will be going to Chapel Hill, N.C., where he will compete in the 18-and-under Nationals. His goal is to make it to the Pan-American Games.

“I’d like him to go to the Games,” said Darr, who can tell you the date of his prodigy’s next meet by touching a button on his watch’s memory.

Hundeby has already proven himself at a national level. Swimming in the 15-18 age group, he placed seventh in the 500-meter freestyle at the 1986 U.S. Nationals at Boca Raton, Fla., swimming a full second faster than he did at the Southern Section championship. He was 13th in the 1,000-yard freestyle and 23rd in the 1,650. Hundeby, whose coach believes his swimmer’s goals are realistic, remains cautious.

“You can never count on anything,” he said. “You can be on top one day and on the bottom the next. And there’s always somebody out there faster than you are.”

True, but Woodbridge swimming Coach Pat Bangs doesn’t think there are that many.

“He has a great chance of going to the Olympic trials; ’88 is about the time he can peak,” Bangs said. “He’ll be right, age-wise, the statistics tell us.”

For now, Hundeby is just enjoying all the excitement.

“It was a lot of fun,” Hundeby said. “I hope to go to Japan again some day.”

He might catch a connecting flight from Seoul.

Decisions, Decisions. He may have been hit by two pitches. He may have wound up with only half the glory. But Capistrano Valley’s Tommy Adams says baseball is always foremost in his life.

The junior elected to play in Capistrano Valley’s 2-A quarterfinal baseball game against Central Union Friday instead of running second leg on the school’s 400-yard relay team in the Masters Meet at Cerritos College, where he was replaced by Steve Lawrence. The Cougars won the baseball game, 4-3, but the relay team did not place in the top six.

“There was no way I could have made it,” said Adams, whose baseball game at El Centro was nearly 200 miles from the track meet site. “I told everyone before the season started that baseball was going to come before track. I had a fun year doing both. I ended up with league championships in both baseball and track.”

The timing hasn’t always been so impossible. Earlier in the season, Adams played in an afternoon game in which the Cougars earned at least a tie for the South Coast League baseball championship. Later that evening, he won the 100- and 200-yard dashes and ran second leg on the winning 400-yard relay team.

The Honored Aged: Paul Hoover figured there was something wrong with not having a “seniors only” all-star game for high school basketball players. After all, the Mater Dei assistant basketball coach says there hasn’t been one for three years. So he decided to do something about it.

Hoover has put together a game pitting Orange County’s finest against those of Santa Barbara. The game, featuring eight players who will play at NCAA Division I universities next season, is tentatively scheduled at Dos Pueblos High School June 27 at 7:45 p.m.

Starring in the Orange County lineup will be Mater Dei’s LeRon Ellis, who will be going to Kentucky, and Ocean View’s Ricky Butler, who has signed with Kansas. Other players for Orange County include: Richard Lucas (Katella), Jeff Herdman (Mission Viejo), Mark Georgeson (Marina), Vince Bryan (Woodbridge) Chris Patton (Mater Dei), Dezi Hazley (Ocean View), Rog Middleton (Tustin), Gene Altanerano (Los Amigos), John Boyle (Mater Dei), Marcus Muller-Stach (Corona del Mar) and Juan DeAnda (Mater Dei).

Prep Notes

Esperanza tight end Robert Conner has been named to replace Whittier Christian running back Chris Martin on the North team that will participate in the Orange County All-Star football game July 17 at Orange Coast College’s LeBard Stadium. South selections Marcel Durand of Capistrano Valley and Doug Blanchard of Edison have decided not to play in the game, but no replacements have been named by South Coach Greg Shadid. . . . Bob Wilton, athletic director at Cypress since the school opened in 1973, announced his resignation, effective the end of the school year. . . . Pacifica Coach Bill Craven has 17 players missing from spring football drills who are academically ineligible. Pacifica moves into the Garden Grove League in the fall.

Steve Nishimoto, newly appointed football coach at Fullerton High, is accepting applications for varsity assistants and sophomore coaches in a walk-on capacity. Interested parties should contact Fullerton athletic director George Van Vliet at 870-3738. . . . Pepperdine basketball Coach Jim Harrick will be the guest speaker at the Orange County All-Star basketball game tipoff dinner June 15 at the Costa Mesa Community Center. Reservations can be made by telephoning Vern Vegso at 533-6820. . . . Former Edison trainer Randy Williams has been named to replace Dave White as the Chargers’ girls’ basketball coach. White, who led Edison to the 4-A division title this past season, resigned to concentrate on coaching football. . . . Kennedy High’s faculty will meet members of the Los Angeles Raiders in a benefit basketball game at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Irish gymnasium. Tickets, priced at $4 for adults and $2 for students, will be available at the door. . . . The Esperanza High School Booster Club is organizing a girls’ high school summer soccer league similar to the seven-year-old Orange County Summer Soccer League, a 20-team boys’ league.