Swanwick Dropped From South All-Stars

Trabuco Hills High School center Rick Swanwick, The Times’ Orange County player of the year in 1989, has been dropped from the South team that will participate in the county all-star game on Sunday for failing to attend practices.

South Coach Steve Keith of Irvine High made the decision to dismiss Swanwick, the tallest player in the game at 6-feet-10, after he failed to attend a scrimmage against Rancho Santiago College on Monday and a practice on Tuesday.

Swanwick was named the county’s top player after leading Trabuco Hills into the state Division III championship game at Oakland. He scored 33 points, including all 25 of his team’s points in the second half, in a 62-61 loss to Central Valley in the title game.

Swanwick averaged 21.3 points and 13.8 rebounds per game and has signed a national letter of intent to attend UC Irvine. Three of Swanwick’s future teammates at UCI--Dylan Rigdon (Mater Dei), Khari Johnson (El Toro) and Craig Marshall (Saddleback)--will play in the all-star game.