Area Team Is Losing a CLASS Act : Swimming: Bud McAllister, who helped Quance and Larsen develop into top-level athletes, is leaving to take coaching position with Golden West Swim Club.

Citing escalating pool rental fees and the lack of commitment by local swimmers, Coach Bud McAllister said Thursday he is leaving CLASS Aquatics to become head coach at Golden West Swim Club in Huntington Beach.

McAllister, 36, developed U.S. national team members Kristine Quance and Alexis Larsen at CLASS the past four years.

He will be replaced by Aaron Weiner, a former CLASS assistant who has coached the past year at Seattle’s Husky Swim Club.

“It was a tough decision,” McAllister said. “Golden West struck me as being a long-term, stable position. I was not convinced I had that here because of the pool problems and the fluctuating numbers.”

CLASS pays $30,000 per year in rental fees for pool time at Calabasas High, Pierce College, and Rancho Simi Community Park pool. Two of the three pools have been strapped by budget shortfalls that have nearly caused their closure, and the other suffers frequent breakdowns.

The CLASS roster is equally unstable, fluctuating between 75 and 220 swimmers.

“I think I’ve decided that Orange Country is still the best place to be in age-group swimming,” McAllister said. “The attitude is good here (Valley and Ventura) but you don’t get the top commitment from as many people. Obviously Kristine and Alexis are exceptions. It is improving, we did well this year and CSA (Conejo-Simi Aquatics) and Buenaventura were excellent.”

McAllister coached in Orange County as an assistant for the Mission Viejo Nadadores from 1981-85 and was head coach at Fullerton Area Swim Team from 1985-88. During that span he trained Janet Evans for the 1988 Olympic Games, in which she won three gold medals.

“I feel we were lucky to have him as long as we did,” said Sandy Quance, mother of Kristine Quance. “He’s probably an overqualified coach for this area. We are sorry to see him leave, but happy to have Aaron coming in. “

Larsen, the 1,500-meter freestyle Pan Pacific Championship bronze medalist, is expected to follow McAllister to Golden West if she can tolerate the daily drive from Harvard-Westlake High, where she will be a senior, to Huntington Beach.

“I was pretty upset and sad, but I can’t blame him,” Larsen said. “It is a good opportunity for him.”