BOYS’ SWIMMING AND DIVING 1995: PREVIEW : Laguna Hills’ Kwok Leaves Competition in His Wake

In a time when many athletes are measured by their egotistical prowess rather than their talent, Mark Kwok could easily rub your face in his accomplishments.

After all, he has achieved Senior National times in the 200- and 400-meter individual medley and the 400- and 1,500-meter freestyle and has received countless awards for swimming and academics.

But instead of dwelling on his accomplishments, Kwok, a senior at Laguna Hills High, works hard and quietly goes about his business, in and out of the water.

“It’s not really a big deal,” Kwok said. “You try to do your best. If you get awards on the way, that’s good. But I swim because I love it, not because I’m trying to impress anybody.”

But Kwok has impressed nearly everybody. Among the colleges showing interest are Stanford, California, USC, Auburn and Arizona. His 4.02 grade-point average, plus the Laguna Hills High Academic Achievement Award and U.S. Swimming Scholastic All-American Award he received last year are impressive indeed.

Kwok is not living in the past, however. Instead, he is looking forward to the Senior Nationals short course championships in Minneapolis, which start Tuesday, as well as the high school season.

“I’ve been training really hard and I hope to have some good swims,” he said. “I’ll do my best and hopefully improve my times.”

When Kwok says he’ll try to do his best, that means he’ll swim fast--as he did last year at the Southern Section Division III finals at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach. There, Kwok won the 200-yard IM in 1 minute 51.49 seconds, narrowly missing a section record, and the 100-yard butterfly in 50.41. He was named swimmer of the meet.

“I really wasn’t nervous before the (Division III) finals last year, but I really wanted to do well for the team,” Kwok said. “The team comes first.”

Kwok’s efforts in his individual races and on the relay teams helped Laguna Hills finish second to Ridgecrest Burroughs.

“It was a team effort,” Kwok said. “We have some really good swimmers and they all did good.”

Like most of the best swimmers, Kwok got his feet wet at an early age when his mother enrolled him in swim classes in Laguna Hills.

“I was 4 when my mom started to take me,” he said. “I loved it. I never wanted to get out of the water, whether it was in the pool or at the beach. I guess I took to the water right away.”

At age 5, Kwok joined the Argonauts, a small local club in Laguna Hills. There, he learned the essentials of competitive swimming. As he progressed and his skills improved, he moved on to South Coast Aquatics, where the workouts were more challenging.

After South Coast Aquatics ceased operation, Kwok joined a few other clubs before he finally settled with the Mission Viejo Nadadores under Coach Terry Stoddard.

Jack Simon, who is the Nadadores’ associate national team coach, has been working with Kwok the last three years. Kwok has been training with this elite group since he swam junior national times at age 14.

“Mark is a very good kid and he is a team player,” Simon said. “He works hard and he is very committed to swimming. When he comes to workout, he is always ready to train.”

Kwok trains six days a week, and on four of those he works out twice.

Although he devotes many hours to swimming, he isn’t fanatical about it. He enjoys getting away to surf whenever he can.

“I love to surf,” Kwok said. “I haven’t really been doing it that long, but I’ve found it really helps me think and get my mind off any problems I have.”

He also enjoys spending time with fellow swimmers. “Despite what some people think, swimmers do have a life out of the water,” Kwok said. “I go out, see movies and do a lot of things normal people do.”

Sometimes the boredom of workouts does affect Kwok, but he has found ways to get past feelings of burnout.

“I don’t think there’s any competitive swimmer who hasn’t thought about quitting,” he said.

“Sometimes I’ll say to myself, ‘I don’t want to get in the water.’ And sometimes I’ll take a couple of days off to get my head straight. But you have to look ahead. You have to see where the training will take you and realize that the hard work does pay off.”

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Boys’ Swimming at a Glance

Top swimmers: Division I--Scott Baldwin, Mater Dei, Sr.; Ryan Ball, Trabuco Hills, Jr.; Chad Bollenbach, Estancia, Jr.; Ryan Christensen, Orange, Jr.; Tim Campbell, Los Alamitos, Sr.; Leo Campos, Orange, Sr.; Peter Cornue, Villa Park, Jr.; Phillipe Demers, Santa Margarita, So.; Martin Estrada, Mater Dei, Sr.; Dave Faulkner, Trabuco Hills, Sr.; Dave Fitzsimmons, Mater Dei, Sr.; Tim Haney, Los Alamitos, Jr.; Jon Jessup, Estancia, Jr.; Chris Kast, Mater Dei, Sr.; Tom Keating, Mater Dei, Jr.; Eric Larson, Marina, Sr.; Steve McLeod, Trabuco Hills, So.; Kevin Melton, Orange, So.; Todd Metcalf, Estancia, Sr.; Ryan Moore, Mater Dei, Jr.; Blaine Morgan, Marina, Sr.; Bryan Morris, Los Amigos, Sr.; Nick Mullin, Los Amigos, Jr.; Ciaran O’Connor, Estancia, Sr.; Steven O’Rourke, Marina, Jr.; Brian Pharris, Villa Park, Jr.; Eric Ploessel, Los Alamitos, Sr.; Dan Tognazzini, Villa Pask, Jr.; Mike Van Nostran, Trabuco Hills, Sr.; Marcel Widarto, Trabuco Hills, Sr. Division II--Kendal Benson, El Dorado, So.; John Biery, Tustin, Jr.; Cory Bitterlich, Sunny Hills, Jr.; Alan Burns, Tustin, Jr.; Paul Carr, Sunny Hills, Jr.; Harvey Chang, Sunny Hills, Sr.; Jason Fairchild, Sunny Hills, Sr.; Dave Foley, Tustin, Sr.; Scott Hammond, El Dorado, Jr.; Ryan Hoff, Tustin, Jr.; Jim Lowe, Tustin, Sr.; Tim Martin, Jr.; Robert Selleck, El Dorado, So.; Ryan Utsumi, El Dorado, So. Division III--Ryan Baxley, Brea Olinda, Jr.; Steve Caine, Brea Olinda, Jr.; Rich Long, Brea Olinda, Sr.; Tad Murphy, Brea Olinda, Sr.; Toby Porter, Brea Olinda, Sr.; Jeff Ritter, Brea Olinda, Sr.

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League favorites: Century: Foothill; Empire: Kennedy; Freeway: Sunny Hills; Garden Grove: Los Amigos; Golden West: Ocean View; Orange: Brea Olinda; Olympic: Calvary Chapel; Pacific Coast: Laguna Hills; Sea View: Irvine; South Coast: Mission Viejo; Sunset: Marina.

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1995 Orange County coaches’ preseason poll: 1. Mission Viejo; 2. (tie) Marina, Woodbridge; 4. Foothill; 5. Laguna Hills; 6. Irvine; 7. Los Alamitos; 8. El Toro; 9. Villa Park; 10. Capistrano Valley.

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Key dates: O.C. Swim Championships, March 25; Southern Section Relays, March 18; Troy Diving Invitational, April 17; Foothill Swim Games, April 22; Southern Section finals, May 12-13.

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Notes: Everybody agrees that Mission Viejo is loaded with talent and will no doubt dominate its league and the Southern Section Division I finals. On the subject of the Diablos, while there have been rumors that if you swim for the Mission Viejo Nadadores, then you will also have to swim at Mission Viejo High, Mark Kwok can only laugh at such gossip. “I would never think of swimming for any school other than Laguna Hills,” Kwok said. The 17-year-old senior is one of the Nadadores’ top swimmers.