Everything Is Going Swimmingly : Colleges: El Camino’s Salcedo is gearing up for a run at a state championship.

El Camino College swimmer Tomas Salcedo was in a jovial mood during practice this week. The Warriors have eased up in their workouts as they prepare for this weekend’s South Coast Conference championships at the Belmont Plaza pool in Long Beach.

Salcedo, one of the state’s top community college breaststrokers, is usually very serious at practice. The indoor pool at El Camino is surrounded by banners that read: “Warrior Swimmers. House of Pain,” and “Life’s short. Swim hard.”

That typifies Salcedo’s style. The 19-year-old sophomore is a diabetic who uses the grueling training to help battle his condition.

Shortly after he started swimming at the age of 8, Salcedo developed diabetes. He takes insulin twice a day and maintains a healthy diet.

“It was real devastating because my parents said, ‘No more candies,’ ” Salcedo said. “I thought I was being punished. . . . It began as an obstacle, but I’ve put it behind me in order to excel. At first I had a lot of ups and downs and I got sick a lot. But swimming helps me because the constant exercise helps me burn down sugar.”

Throughout his swimming career at Bell High, Salcedo had insulin reactions and had to be hospitalized about once every four months. He would feel weak and eventually lose control of his body to the point where he became unconscious.

Nonetheless, he went undefeated in the breaststroke for four years at Bell and set City records in the 50-yard breast and 100-yard individual medley. Salcedo graduated from Bell with a 3.4 grade-point average and planned to attend UC Irvine, but he failed to get a swimming scholarship and he could not afford the tuition.

Next week he will sign a letter of intent with Cal State Bakersfield, which has won eight consecutive NCAA Division II titles.

But first, Salcedo wants to win a community college state championship. He has already qualified for the state meet in his specialties, the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, and he’s looking to qualify in the 200-yard individual medley this weekend.

That event includes two laps each of the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.

The 5-foot-9, 150-pound Salcedo will also compete in four relays at the SCC meet. He is part of the Warriors’ 200- and 400-yard medley relays and the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays.

“It’s going to be tough competing in all those events,” Salcedo said. “But the adrenaline will flow and it will be exciting.”

Coach Corey Stanbury, who in five years has built a winning program at El Camino, is confident Salcedo will win the breaststroke events at Long Beach.

“He’s the best breaststroker we’ve had here,” Stanbury said. “Last year he broke school records in the 100 and 200 breast.”

Salcedo, the team captain the past two seasons, led the Warriors to an 11th-place finish at the 1992 state meet. When Stanbury took over the program in 1989, El Camino finished 21st at the state championships.

Stanbury says the Warriors, who are 7-2 and 4-2 in the SCC, have potential to finish among the top eight at this year’s state meet, which will be at Hartnell College in Salinas on April 29-May 1.

“This year the men’s teams in the South Coast Conference are incredibly strong,” Stanbury said. “Four of the seven teams will finish in the top 10 at the state meet.”

Salcedo is hoping to win at least two state titles. He finished second in the state last year in the 100 and 200 breast and ninth in the 200 individual medley.

“I’m optimistic that he’s going to do some spectacular things this year,” Stanbury said.

Salcedo qualified for the state in the 100 breast with a 59.8 finish at the Cuesta Invitational in March. He qualified with a 2:11.4 finish in the 200 breast during a dual meet against L.A. Valley on April 7. The state’s top 16 swimmers in each event qualify for state.

Salcedo is undefeated in the 200 breast and his only defeat in the 100 breast came against defending 100 and 200 champion Todd McClung of Cuesta College.

“At the state meet last year Tomas slipped on a turn in the 100 breast,” Stanbury said. “Todd won, but they’ve had some great races against each other.”

Salcedo, his sister and two brothers started swimming because their father, Gildardo, didn’t want his children getting into trouble.

Salcedo’s older brother, Gerry, competed in the 100 and 200 butterfly and the 200 individual medley at El Camino in 1992.

Salcedo’s sister, Helen, a 17-year-old senior at Bell High, will swim at UC Berkeley in the fall. Salcedo, his parents and three siblings live in South Gate.

“It’s a very exciting time in my family right now,” Salcedo said. “My sister signed last week and I’m signing this week. I’ll be the first in my family to graduate from college. My parents are real excited.”