The Preps : Boys’ Athlete of the Week : Wester Adjusts Easily to Life at New School

John Wester began a new life this year. As a swimmer, anyway.

Wester, a senior, changed high schools last August when his parents moved from the Westminster attendance area to Marina’s.

It wasn’t a coincidence that Marina has a stronger swim program.

“We talked about it last summer and my parents decided it was the best thing,” Wester said of the move. His younger brother, Scott, also transferred to Marina.

The move has paid off in a big way this season for John, The Times’ athlete of the week. He won the 100-yard breaststroke and 200 individual medley Friday at the Southern Section 4-A meet. It was the first time a Marina swimmer had won an individual event since Steve Smith won the 100 backstroke in 1983.

Wester had a time of 1 minute 54.87 seconds in the individual medley and 57.50 in the breaststroke. Both were personal bests.

“John had the option of staying at Westminster, but he wanted to come to Marina too,” Marina Coach Dave Pickford said. “He definitely improved our team. You can look back over the last 15 years of the Southern Section meet and you’ll have a hard time finding a Marina (boy) swimmer who has won two events.”

Wester was no stranger to Southern Section competition because he has qualified the past three years. But he never experienced the success he wanted until this year.

In 1988, Wester finished third in the breaststroke and sixth in the 200 individual medley. He said his improvement was largely because of his change in schools.

“We have a real supportive team at Marina. Everybody tries to help each other,” Wester said. “We are all very close. I mean, we all went to dinner together before the league meet and the Southern Section meet.”

Pickford met with Wester before the season began to discuss what he wanted to accomplish. That was easy: Wester wanted to go faster in the Southern Section meet.

“John was real disappointed with his performance in last year’s meet,” Pickford said. “We worked out a schedule and after he came back from junior and senior nationals, we focused on the finals. He didn’t even shave for the preliminaries. He waited until the day of the finals.”

Wester, who will attend the University of Utah in September, figured he was going to win the breaststroke because he had focused on the race. The individual medley, on the other hand, was a complete surprise.

“I didn’t think I was in good enough shape to win both,” he said. “I had been tapering for the senior nationals and when they were over, I had to start building my workouts up again. I only trained about a month for the Southern Section meet.”

TOP PERFORMERS

Chad Hundeby of Woodbridge won the 200 freestyle (1:38.45) and 500 freestyle (4:25.29) Saturday as the Warriors finished as co-champions of the Southern Section 2-A swim meet. It was the second consecutive year Hundeby has won those events.

Tsukasa Kawabuchi of Mission Viejo won the 50 freestyle (21.19) and 100 freestyle (46.56) at the Southern Section 4-A swim meet.

John Wester

Marina High School

Position: Swimmer

Height, Weight, Class: 6-4, 185, Senior

Last Week: Wester won the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke at the Southern Section 4-A swim championships.

Season: Wester has not lost a race in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke in a dual meet.