THE TIMES 1993 SPRING ALL-COUNTY TEAMS : Division I Meet: His Pool Party : Swimmer of the year: Woodbridge’s Buyukuncu threatened section IM mark, set national record in 100 backstroke.

His strokes are easier on the eyes than his name is on the tongue.

Derya Buyukuncu, the Woodbridge wonder, turned the Southern Section Division I swimming and diving championship into a private pool party last month at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

Buyukuncu, The Times Orange County Swimmer of the Year, rocked the meet.

He swam legs on two Woodbridge relay teams that took a second and a fourth, but he did the most damage in individual races. In the 200-yard individual medley, he posted a 1:49.78, .65 seconds short of the section record set in 1992 by Mission Viejo’s Marcin Malinski. One had to believe the record would have been his had the field challenged him more--he was four seconds faster than the runner-up.

His IM performance was eclipsed by what was to come. Buyukuncu had informed his mother the day before, after breaking the section mark in the 100 backstroke in the preliminaries, that he was going for the national record in the finals.

He delivered on his promise. His time of 47.84 shattered the mark of 48.93 set in 1988 by Derek Weatherford of Ft. Myers, Fla.

He had waited a year for his record. Buyukuncu, a native of Turkey who moved to Orange County in 1991 to train, was sidelined last year because he didn’t fulfill residency requirements. It served to inspire him to great things during the 1993 season.