Kiefer Keeps Family Tradition Afloat

His grandfather was a world record-holder and an Olympic gold medalist in the 100-yard backstroke in 1936.

His father finished second in the 200-yard breaststroke in the 1964 NCAA championships and was part of a Yale swim team that finished third that year.

So what does Harvard-Westlake High sophomore Peter Kiefer think of swimming as a sport?

Not much.

“I never really got into swimming,” Kiefer said. “I guess I don’t find it as thrilling as my father (Dale) and grandfather (Adolph) did.”

So while Kiefer might not swim like his progenitors, he still finds his way to the pool, where he is the starting goalie for the Harvard water polo team.

And last Wednesday at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach, a third-generation Kiefer showed that his family’s aquatics tradition is alive and well.

Kiefer notched 13 saves and two assists as the Wolverines (29-3) beat top-seeded La Serna, 9-5, in the Southern Section 3-A Division championship game.

He did not allow a goal in the second half and made five saves in the fourth quarter alone.

With that performance, Kiefer (season goals-against average of 5.7) carved himself a place among Harvard’s outstanding goalies under Coach Rich Corso. Larry Bercutt tended goal in 1988 when Harvard won a 2-A championship. Bercutt, the 2-A player of the year that season, currently plays at Stanford.

Antonio Gomez, last year’s starting goalie, is now playing water polo at California, which won the national championship last weekend at Belmont Plaza.

“(Kiefer is) our next great one,” Corso said, beaming.

But don’t get ahead of Kiefer, who is just 15. He is still a high school sophomore who plays soccer in the winter and volleyball in the spring.

Kiefer, in fact, is in only his second full year of water polo. But when Corso saw him in the pool for the first time as a freshman, he knew he had a goalie with innate talent.

“Rich told me the first day of practice he noticed Peter had a good feeling for the water and good, strong legs,” Dale Kiefer said. “He said, ‘Let’s try him in goal.’ ”

After sitting and learning behind Gomez last year, Kiefer plunged headfirst into the starting goalie position this season and lost just three games.

Confidence and aggressiveness is part of what makes Kiefer enjoy spending fall afternoons trying to stop a hard leather ball at close range. Additionally, he likes to try his hand at the offensive end.

Corso said that Kiefer, a third-team All-Southern Section selection, often will join the field players in their shooting drills during practice. One day, Corso said, it was finally time to explain to Kiefer the rudiments of water polo.

“I had to pull him aside and say to him, ‘Look, you’ve got to do more goalie drills,’ ” Corso said.

With his offensive skills, Kiefer led Harvard to two key goals in the championship game, triggering fast breaks with well-placed passes.

But one can hardly blame Kiefer for wanting to skip goalie drills. Corso occasionally has his goalies hold a full five-gallon tank of bottled water above their heads--while treading water.

Corso, of course, lets the goalies have a breather--when all the water is emptied from the bottle.

But such is life for young Peter Kiefer: water under him, water over him, and water in his veins.