Former UCLA Swim Star Graner Makes Big Splash in Rough-Water Competition

Holding aloft a paddle board twice her size as she headed for the surf at Manhattan Beach, Diane Graner could easily be mistaken for just another pretty face at the beach.

But she is more than that.

Graner, who works as a county lifeguard, is considered the world’s top woman rough-water swimmer. She is also among the best in events that include rowing and paddling.

People who have watched Graner compete said she is tough but not overly muscular.

“I consider myself lucky when people say I don’t look like a swimmer,” Graner said.

Graner, 26, was a record-setting swimmer at St. Bernard High and UCLA. She will be competing in the Professional Surf Lifesaving Assn. Ocean Festival Series, which holds its opener June 23 at the Manhattan Beach Pier.

Wood said that Graner consistently defeats bigger, stronger men in ocean swims. Many of the events on the rough-water circuits evolved from lifesaving techniques, which Graner said gives her an advantage.

“In the water, weight doesn’t matter,” she said. “You have to be sharp in a rescue. You keep your eye on the person you are saving and keep yourself aware.”

Said PSLA founder Scott Hubbell: “Her expertise in the water as a lifeguard and her understanding of ocean currents, coupled with the fact that she is a strong swimmer, makes her a strong competitor.”

Graner, who also coaches the girls’ swim team at Culver City High, disdains weightlifting, preferring to run “three to four miles a day, three or four times a week.”

A 10-event All-American at UCLA, Graner specialized in the backstroke, an event in which she set two school records. She swam in the Olympic Trials in 1984 and ’88 but failed to make the U. S. team both times. She then returned to the beach to work as a lifeguard and she became successful in various ocean sport circuits.

Obscure as they might be to beach-goers, ocean competitions are becoming increasingly popular with lifeguards and rough-water swimmers worldwide. Graner will compete in Germany and Japan in August and last year she competed in Australia and New Zealand.

“It’s not just the competition but the exchange of ideas that make the trips worthwhile,” she said.

In Australia, dory competitions are popular. Graner points to a poster on the wall of the lifeguard headquarters, which shows an oarsman struggling in a churning sea.

“They use them to make a lot of rescues, whereas we use (orange) cans to pull a victim through the surf,” she said. “They have a lot more drownings there. The waves are really big and break further out than here.”

Graner is one of six children, all of whom have been or still are lifeguards. She pointed out that ocean sport competitions require stamina, endurance and discipline.

“It’s definitely a burnout sport if your coach and parents don’t make it fun for you,” she said.

Graner has been competing in ocean events since she graduated from St. Bernard in 1982. She credits her success to her early years in a junior lifeguard program.

“That taught me about the surf,” she said.