Atanasio Swims to Pair of Titles for Cleveland

The fact that Eugene Atanasio swims a stroke called the butterfly is fairly unusual.

Consider the dimensions of your average butterfly. Now think of a butterfly that goes about 6-foot, 240 pounds with wings approximately the size of railroad ties.

And there you have Cleveland High’s Eugene Atanasio, who swims the butterfly and, Wednesday night in the City Section swimming championships at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, stung like a bee.

Atanasio, a senior, won the 100-yard event in 54.58 seconds after trailing by half a body length after 75 yards. He touched out El Camino Real’s Brian Leven by one-tenth of a second.

“I knew I could go because I used to be a 200-yard butterflyer,” Atanasio said. “So I knew I could take it in the stretch.”

Atanasio was the City champion in the same event last year, when he also placed first in the 200-yard individual medley. He added a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.23) Wednesday.

“Yeah, he doesn’t look like a swimmer,” Cleveland Coach Kenny Thomason said, “but Eugene has a lot of strength and he’s got the technique. His stroke really is a good, solid stroke.”

Atanasio accomplished the feats despite suffering from tendinitis in his knees and shoulders, which severely hampers his ability to practice. Thomason was able to tinker with Atanasio’s turns and starts but not much else.

In the team scoring, Palisades swept both the boys’ and girls’ titles. The boys scored 252 points, 108 points better than El Camino Real, and the girls totaled 239 points, 52 more than Birmingham.

In other events, Birmingham junior Christian Ballard was a winner in the 200-yard individual medley (1:59.31) and the 500-yard freestyle (4:37.24).

Tate Hurvitz of Grant was first in the 200 freestyle (1:49.51) and second in the 500 freestyle (4:53.77); Scott Johnson of Canoga Park was second in the 200 freestyle (1:50.91) and third in the 100 freestyle (50.83); El Camino Real’s Leven won the 100 backstroke (55.07) and was second in the 100 butterfly (54.68); and teammate Billy Wang won the 50 freestyle (22.69).

In the girls’ division, Anne-Gisele Bugarcic of Reseda won the 200 freestyle (1:58.73) and 100 breaststroke (1:08.76). El Camino Real’s Corinne Okamura also was a double winner, taking the 50- (25.19) and 100-yard (56.21) freestyle events.