Once a One-Man Team, Deal Now Thrives With Nadadores

Eric Deal has always been a good swimmer.

As a freshman, he was good enough to lead Fort Worth Dunbar High School to a seventh-place finish in the Texas district championships in 1988.

And he was the only swimmer on the team.

He was good enough to finish in the top eight in two events at the state finals, despite a 100-degree temperature brought on by the flu.

He also was good enough to know that his Texas club wasn’t the place to hone his swimming skills.

“There were very few senior national swimmers at my club in Fort Worth,” Deal said. “And, there was no consistency. We had four different coaches in five years. I needed a club that was more stable.”

After a couple months of inquiries by his mother, Gaby Deal, Eric became a member of the Mission Viejo Nadadores in February.

It’s been a good deal for both parties.

Deal, 15, has lowered his times enough to qualify for the U.S. Shortcourse senior nationals for the first time.

He has qualified for the senior nationals in the 200- and 800- meter freestyles. He is close to qualifying in the 400, and will try to do that this weekend at the Swim Meet of Champions, which begins today and continues through Sunday at the Marguerite Recreation Center in Mission Viejo.

The meet features some of the top swimmers in the world, and Deal will face tough competition in the 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1,500 freestyles.

Deal, who attends Mission Viejo High School, is itching to move on to the senior nationals. After six years competing in the junior nationals, he finds the idea of swimming at that level again tedious.

At the junior nationals in March, he set a national record in the 200 freestyle, won three individual events and was part of three relay teams that finished first.

Deal began swimming competitively at age 5, when his family lived in Lynchburg, Va. However, the club team he belonged to wasn’t a year-round program, so his training was limited.

That changed when Larry Deal, Eric’s father, was transferred to Fort Worth. Eric Deal joined the Fort Worth Aquatics and began training full-time.

Deal improved rapidly and was considered a top junior national swimmer by the time he entered Dunbar High School.

Trouble was, Dunbar didn’t have a swim team, and never had.

Deal trained while other swimmers were competing in dual meets.

By the time the district meet rolled around, he was eager to compete.

“It was a little weird at the meet,” Deal said. “I would get up on the blocks for a race and they would announce that I was from Dunbar High School. I heard a few snickers and a couple of people saying, ‘Does Dunbar have a team?’ ”

It did. Maybe the best--man-for-man--at the meet. Deal won the 200 and 500 freestyles, good enough for Dunbar to finish seventh.

He won both races again at the regionals to qualify for the state meet. Deal was seeded first in the 200 and third in the 500.

“It was funny, but exciting, to see Eric competing alone,” Gaby Deal said. “There was a new school that had its team there and their banner said, ‘The new school rules.’ After the meet they gave it to Eric because he had done so well.”

Deal didn’t have a chance at the state meet.

A few days before the competition, he came down with the flu. He tried, but missed the finals in both events.

After the meet, the Deals began to think that the Fort Worth club wasn’t the best place for Eric.

“Eric wasn’t getting enough time in the pool,” Gaby Deal said. “They had just one workout a day. They also didn’t do much weight training. In order for Eric to improve, we needed to move.”

Gaby Deal called several clubs, mostly on the West Coast. They eventually decided on Mission Viejo.

She and Eric moved, while her husband remained in Texas to work.

“I wanted to swim for a good club team, that’s all,” Deal said.