THE TIMES’ ALL-COUNTY TEAMS : BOYS’ SWIMMING : Diehl Is Tuning In on ’92 Olympic Games

The dream is becoming more of a reality for Eric Diehl, senior swimmer for Mission Viejo High School.

A year ago, Diehl looked down the road and saw the 1992 Olympics. He has been working to reach that goal ever since.

It’s close at hand now. Very close.

Diehl, The Times’ boys’ swimmer of the year, will compete in the Pan American Games this summer in Havana. He will compete in the 200- and 400-meter freestyle events and the 800 freestyle relay.

But Cuba is only a stepping stone in the Caribbean. The final destination, Diehl hopes, will be Barcelona, Spain.

“The Olympics are very realistic at this point,” Diehl said. “Last year, it was a goal. This year, I’m very focused on the 1992 Games.”

So focused that he will postpone his first year of college to train for the Olympics.

Diehl has signed a letter of intent to swim for Stanford. However, he will sit out next season to work with the Mission Viejo Nadadores, his club team.

He said he doesn’t want to disrupt the training schedule he has followed for the past three years.

“I want to stay with what’s comfortable,” Diehl said. “If I go to Stanford, I’ll have to get used to a whole new situation and a new coach. I’ve had good success with (Nadadore Coach) Terry Stoddard in the past.”

Some of that success came at the Southern Section 4-A championship meet in May.

Diehl set a national high school record in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1 minute 35.55 seconds. It was nearly a second below the record (1:36.36) set in 1985 by Craig Oppel of Des Moines, Iowa.

He also set Southern Section records in the 50 freestyle (20.65) and 100 freestyle (44.27). Both those records were set while swimming the leadoff legs of the 200 and 400 freestyles.

Diehl won two individual events--the 200 and 500 freestyles--at the meet.

“I had hoped to go a little faster in the 200 and 500, but I was still pleased,” he said.

Diehl said the section meets were important to him, but he has been training for the Pan Am Games, with the Olympics in mind.

“I can’t wait to get to Havana,” he said. “There’s this mystique about Cuba and I’ll get to see it firsthand. It will also help me improve for the Olympics.”

Diehl began thinking that making the ’92 team was a possibility last year, when he qualified for the Goodwill Games. Although he was disappointed with his eighth-place finish in the 800-meter freestyle, he was glad to get a chance to compete against quality swimmers.

“That was the first time I had swam on the elite level,” he said. “It was a valuable learning experience for me.”

Diehl applied what he learned to the U.S. Swimming senior nationals in April, where he made the team for the Pan Am Games.

“It all came together there,” he said.

Still, there was room for improvement. Diehl had qualified first in the 200 freestyle, but finished fourth in the finals.

“I’ll have to do better to make it to Barcelona,” he said.

Times’ All-County Boys’ Swimming FIRST-TEAM INDIVIDUALS

Athlete School Yr. Event Eric Diehl Mission Viejo Sr. 200 Free Shoichi Matsumoto Laguna Hills Jr. 200 IM Greg Milton El Dorado Sr. 50 Freestyle Bryan Stoeckel Laguna Hills Sr. 100 Butterfly Greg Milton El Dorado Sr. 100 Free Eric Diehl Mission Viejo Sr. 500 Free Tom Westcott Huntington Beach Sr. 100 Back Steve West Huntington Beach Sr. 100 Breast Nate Smith Dana Hills Jr. Diving

Athlete Comment Eric Diehl Set national HS record with time of 1:35.55. Shoichi Matsumoto Second in 2-A race in 1:52.64. Greg Milton Won 3-A race with time of 21.04. Bryan Stoeckel Third in 2-A race with time of 50.98. Greg Milton Won 3-A race with time of 45.78. Eric Diehl Won 4-A race with time of 4:20.86. Tom Westcott Second in 4-A race with time of 49.94. Steve West Second in 4-A race with time of 56.95. Nate Smith Third best point total in county history.

FIRST-TEAM RELAYS School: Huntington Beach (200 Medley) Team Members: Westcott (Sr.), West (Sr.), Tsai (Fr.), Perking (So.) Time: 1:35.73 School: Mission Viejo (200 Freestyle) Team Members: Diehl (Sr.), Yoko (Sr.), Davis (Sr.), Delgado (Sr.) Time: 1:25.22 School: Mission Viejo (400 Freestyle) Team Members: Diehl (Sr.), Classen (Sr.), Turnbull (Jr.), Delgado (Sr.) Time: 3:07.65 SECOND-TEAM INDIVIDUALS Athlete: John Parise School: Capistrano Valley Year: Senior Event: 200 Free Comment: Third in 4-A with time of 1:40.73. Athlete: Coleman Hundeby School: Woodbridge Year: Senior Event: 200 IM Comment: Fourth in 4-A race with time of 1:53.90. Athlete: Marc Hansen School: Foothill Year: Senior Event: 50 Freestyle Comment: Second in 4-A with time of 21.31. Athlete: Kevin Eggert School: Capistrano Valley Year: Senior Event: 100 Butterfly Comment: Sixth in 4-A with time of 53.05. Athlete: Coleman Hundeby School: Woodbridge Year: Senior Event: 100 Free Comment: Second in 4-A race with time of 46.44. Athlete: Chad Carvin School: Laguna Hills Year: Junior Event: 500 Free Comment: Won the 2-A race with a time of 4:22.08. Athlete: Shoichi Matsumoto School: Laguna Hills Year: Junior Event: 100 Back Comment: Second in 2-A race with time of 52.72. Athlete: Kevin Hendricks School: Santa Margarita Year: Senior Event: 100 Breast Comment: Won 3-A race with time of 57.59. SECOND-TEAM RELAYS

School: Laguna Hills (200 Medley) Team Members: Matsumoto (Jr.), Gilbert (Jr.), Stoeckel (Sr.), Carvin (Jr.) Time: 1:36.30 School: Capistrano Valley (200 Freestyle) Team Members: Eggert (Sr.), Kittredge (Sr.), Yokota (Fr.), Parise (Sr.) Time: 1:27.48 School: Laguna Hills (400 Freestyle) Team Members: Matsumoto (Jr.), Gilbert (Jr.), Stoeckel (Sr.), Carvin (Jr.) Time: 3:08.96