GOING THE DISTANCE : Swimmer Erica Reetz Proves She’ll Go to Any Length in Pursuit of Olympic Dream

Erica Reetz has revived a dream from her childhood.

At the age of 10, Reetz wanted to swim for the United States in the Olympics. It’s a common dream of young swimmers, but she also had some common sense.

Reetz competed for the Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team, a team she had joined when she was 6. Also swimming for FAST at the time was 4-year-old Janet Evans.

Now, Reetz was a good swimmer--good enough to eventually earn a scholarship to Kent State. But, by 13, she believed the Olympics were out of reach.

“There were just too many good swimmers out there,” said Reetz, now 20. “I knew I wasn’t quite good enough in my events.”

Well, Reetz has changed events. These days she concentrates on distance swimming, which could get her to the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

Proponents of long distance swimming hope the event will be included as a medal sport in the 1992 Games. FINA, swimming’s international governing body, is expected to vote in 1991 on whether to add two distance events, according to Penny Dean, coach of the national long distance team.

Dean said that among the events that could be added are the 25-kilometer relays for men and women. (The longest relays in the 1988 Olympics were the four-by-200-meter freestyle for men and women.) The distance relays would be in open water, such as an ocean, lake or river.

“There weren’t very many people interested in long distance swimming in the past,” said Dean, who also coaches women’s swimming at Cal Poly Pomona. “But now more and more countries are getting involved. I think we have a good chance of getting these events approved.”

Which could work out well for Reetz, who was a member of the national team that broke the world record in a swim to Catalina on Aug. 11.

“I feel I have a good chance at the Olympics now,” said Reetz, a graduate of Sunny Hills High School. “There were very few people who swam these distances, and most of them were over 30.”

Dean was named the national coach in October of 1988. Her experience made her a natural. She holds world records for swimming to Catalina and for swimming the English Channel.

However, Reetz didn’t know there was a national team until this month.

The team was selected after the Long Beach 16-mile swim on Aug. 6. The top three men and top three women finishers made the team, which made the 26-mile Catalina swim on Aug. 11.

Reetz qualified by finishing third. Along with Reetz, the national team included Chad Hundeby of Irvine, Jay Wilkerson of Florida, Jim McConica of Ventura, Martha Jahn of Chicago and Karen Burton, who is in the Air Force.

The six swimmers got a crash course in teamwork. They spent the week in a hotel in Long Beach and trained every day.

“One day we went to Manhattan Beach, then the next to Laguna Beach,” Reetz said. “They were trying to get us used to the different type of things that we would encounter on the swim. Like kelp.”

The team smashed the existing record for the Catalina swim despite being taken four miles off course by a navigational error. They finished in 7 hours 2 minutes 45 seconds.

The record for swimming from Long Beach to Catalina was 12:22.0, which was set by a group of Santa Monica swimmers in 1984. The national team also beat Dean’s individual record time of 7:15, set in 1977.

“I told them that our first goal was to get there, our second goal was to break the record and our third goal was to beat my time,” Dean said. “I told them if they didn’t get all three, I would make them work out the next day. Needless to say, they were pretty happy about making it.”

The national team members have gone their separate ways for now. Each is training alone because there are no funds available to set up a training site.

Their next competition is scheduled for January in Australia. FINA plans to hold a trial race in conjunction with the World Championships.

“We’ll have a better clue where we stand in January,” Dean said. “If enough countries show an interest, FINA will probably include the sport in the 1992 Olympics.”

Reetz has enrolled at Cal State Fullerton for the fall semester and plans to swim in the masters division for FAST. However, she has focused her goals on long distance swimming on the international level.

“I haven’t really thought about the Olympics for seven years,” she said. “But now I’m excited about getting a chance. I know it will be tough. There are a lot more people getting involved in this sport.”

But Reetz has gotten in on the ground floor.

Reetz’s first experience at distance swimming was in 1983, when she was 14.

FAST Coach Martin Craig took the team to the beach to try open water swimming. Erica and her twin sister, Alexa, were the only ones who enjoyed the experience.

“Everybody else hated it,” Reetz said. “It’s a lot different than swimming in a pool. You have to fight with the current and the water is a lot colder. It’s a challenge.”

The next year, Erica and Alexa Reetz entered the Seal Beach one-mile swim and finished tied for first in the women’s division.

Despite her success, Erica Reetz felt distance swimming was more of a hobby, something to help her stay in shape.

Reetz finished third in the 500-yard freestyle at the Southern Section 4-A meet in 1986 and fifth in 1987. She and her sister accepted scholarships to Kent State.

However, midway through the 1988 season, Reetz learned that Kent State was dropping its swim program.

Kent State officials told her she would still be on scholarship if she stayed, but Reetz decided to return to Southern California.

After 13 years of competitive swimming, she was tired of swimming and wanted to get away from the sport.

What changed her mind was Orange Coast College Coach Don Watson, a close friend of the family. Watson talked with Reetz throughout last summer and finally persuaded her to swim for Orange Coast.

“I’ve known Erica and Alexa since they were 5 years old,” Watson said. “I’ve stayed in touch and followed their careers from a distance. I had hoped they would come down and swim at Orange Coast, but they were so talented they received an opportunity to swim at Kent State.”

However, when Kent State dropped its program, Watson made contact again. Alexa Reetz already had decided to remain at Kent State, but Erica was undecided.

She was actually leaning toward enrolling at Cal State Fullerton, but Watson talked her out of it.

“Don got me interested in swimming again,” Reetz said. “I was really burned out. I really didn’t think I wanted to compete anymore.”

Reetz’s desire to swim returned. At the community college state meet, she finished second in the 500-yard freestyle (5 minutes 1.5 seconds) and third in the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.5).

Both were personal bests.

At the end of the season, several colleges were interested in Reetz, but she wasn’t interested in them.

“If Erica had expressed an interest, I could have placed her in one of a half-a-dozen schools,” Watson said. “But she was more interested in open-water swimming.”

Reetz plans to spend the next three years training for the 1992 Olympics. Besides swimming three days a week, she plans to lift weights regularly for the first time.

And, according to Watson, she already has the natural talent.

“In any distance under 1,500 (meters), she wouldn’t stand a chance,” he said. “But the longer the race, the better, for both Erica and Alexa. I think they are both in a position, physically and mentally, to take advantage of the longer distances. If they are approved.”

Reetz said she isn’t worried about the 1991 vote. She plans to train with the Olympics as her goal.

“All I can do is get prepared and hope,” Reetz said. “It’s my dream right now.”