Swanwick Tones Up for an Appetizing Season

With 1 minute 31 seconds left in the first half of Friday night’s game, Tim Manning of Trabuco Hills High School stole the basketball and flipped a pass to Rick Swanwick.

What followed was a monster dunk by Swanwick that may not have registered on the Richter scale, but certainly did in the minds of Swanwick’s teammates. The Mustangs proceeded to outscore Laguna Hills, 35-18, the rest of the game for a 66-48 victory.

“The guys like it when I dunk,” said Swanwick, The Times’ athlete of the week. “It gets the crowd fired up and it seems to get us going.”

Dunks are an addition to Swanwick’s game this season. So are blocked shots, tip-ins and anything else that involves jumping.

This is the new Rick Swanwick, the sleek, greyhound model. He’s 64 pounds lighter and a whole lot quicker.

Last week, Swanwick, a senior 6-foot 10-inch center, had 18 points and 19 rebounds against Laguna Beach and followed with a 30-point, 21-rebound performance against Laguna Hills as the Mustangs moved into sole possession of first place in the Pacific Coast League. For the season, he’s averaging 20 points and 13 rebounds per game.

“Last year I could dunk, but I needed at least two or three steps,” Swanwick said. “Now, I can dunk anytime I want. At first, teammates really didn’t notice a change. But when they started seeing me doing things like running and jumping, they noticed.”

Swanwick credits Trabuco Hills’ Coach Rainer Wulf for his improved physique.

In June of 1988, Wulf was named the Mustangs’ coach. On arriving at the school, he took one look at Swanwick and put him on a scale.

“He was 274 pounds and was bench-pressing 135 pounds,” Wulf said. “Basically, we had a talk. I wanted to know if he was playing basketball just as something to do or was he serious. He said he wanted to be a player.”

To be a player, Wulf told him, he had to lose weight. A lot of weight.

To begin with, Swanwick cut out that extra hamburger or two that had become a habit. He also started lifting weights, 2 hours per day, 6 days per week, to increase his strength.

“I used to go to McDonald’s and eat three Big Macs, a couple orders of fries and a couple of shakes,” said Swanwick. “Then I would go out for dessert. Now I can barely get through one Big Mac.”

Swanwick now bench-presses 275 pounds and weighs 210, which is actually below what he feels is his ideal weight. He plans to add weight when he goes to college next year. But he will do so by lifting weights, not Big Macs.

“During the summer, I would be tempted to head out for McDonald’s and get a couple hamburgers,” Swanwick said. “But then I would play in games against guys like Adam Keefe (Woodbridge) and others who were going to college. I would say, ‘I can do that.’ If not having a Big Mac was what it was going to take, then that’s what I was going to do.”

TOP PERFORMERS

Rene Arias of Fullerton scored 30 points, including 7 of 13 3-point field goals, to help the Indians defeat Sunny Hills, 75-63, Friday to move into first place in the Freeway League.

Scott Drake of Huntington Beach scored 42 points in two games and the Oilers moved into first place in the Sunset League with two victories.

Robbie Pietsch of El Modena had 40 points and 43 rebounds as the Vanguards won two games.

Mark Wilkinson of Foothill scored 50 points in two games, both Knight victories.

Rick Swanwick

Trabuco Hills High

Position: Center

Height, Weight, Class: 6-10, 210, Senior

Last Week: Swanwick had 48 points and 40 rebounds in two games, including 30 points and 21 rebounds against Laguna Hills in a 66-48 victory that gave the Mustangs sole possession of the Pacific Coast League lead.

Season: Swanwick is averaging 20 points and 13 rebounds per game.