He’s Lapping Up Life in Southern California : Swimming: After making adjustment from Poland to Mission Viejo, Kizierowski enjoying the fruits of his labor, and the Southland.

It’s funny where swimming can take an athlete. For Bart Kizierowski, it wasn’t that long ago that he was doing laps in Poland, wondering if the winter would ever end.

The Polish swimming ace now is busy training for the 1996 Olympics with the Mission Viejo Nadadores and competing for Mission Viejo High.

“I’m having a good time here,” said Kizierowski, ranked 11th in the world in the 100-meter freestyle, and 14th in the 100-meter backstroke. “I really love the weather of Southern California. It gets very cold in Poland, so I have affection for the warm weather.”

But despite his love affair with the weather and his glowing feelings inside, things weren’t all hunky-dory when he arrived two years ago as an athletic exchange student from Warsaw.

Knowing not one word of English when he arrived, Kizierowski, 18, admitted his first year in Southern California was rocky. For one, there was having to sit out his sophomore year at Mission Viejo because of residence requirements. And then there were those grueling workouts with Nadadores Coach Bill Rose, who after a short while, had Kizierowski longing for the harsh winters of Poland.

“It was real tough in the beginning,” said Kizierowski, who lives with the Mazano family in Laguna Hills. “It was hard to adjust. I was doing so many yards. For me, it was hell the first three to four months I was here.”

But Kizierowski stuck it out and trained hard. After all, the Mission Viejo pool is well known in Poland, having turned out top swimmers such as Peter Struglinski, and recent graduate Bart Sikora.

“Bart is an unique individual,” Rose said. “From a training aspect, he is very easy to train. He is highly motivated and he will go until he can’t go on.”

Although Kizierowski is a sprinter, Rose trains him like a distance swimmer. Instead of short sets, Kizierowski can rack as many as 9,000 yards a day. On top of this, he has double workouts five days a week.

As Kizierowski became used to the workouts, he began to see the fruit of his labor.

At the senior nationals two months ago, Kizierowski’s personal best in the 100-meter backstroke, 56.83, earned first place. He also was third in the 100 freestyle (50.5) and sixth in the 50 free (23.1). Kizierowski has the two-fastest times in county high school swimming--the 50-yard freestyle (20.80) and the 100-yard backstroke (50.79).

To the average person, Kizierowski may seem to spend a good part of his life in the water. But he does have a life out of the pool.

“He loves the Lakers and the Sonics,” said Ande Mazano, who with her husband and daughter have been the host family for Kizierowski. “He probably won’t like me saying this, because he is so low-key, but he won the slam-dunk contest at his high school (Mission Viejo) this year, and I think he could have been a good basketball player if he wanted to.”

Mazano said Kizierowski is the perfect boarder, and she and her family have no regrets about his stay. “He is very dedicated to his swimming,” she said. “Sometimes he has to get up at 3:45 in the morning to go to a workout. He’ll train, go to school, then go back to work out and finally get home about 7 p.m. It’s really amazing how much work he puts into his sport.”

But for Kizierowski, who will be representing Poland in the 1996 Olympics, his dedication is necessary if he wants to succeed. “I want to do my best,” he said. “I believe I am training with the best club there is. And I’m glad I have the opportunity.”

Though Kizierowski’s sights are set on the 1996 Olympics, he is looking forward to the Southern Section finals. “I want to do good for myself and my school,” Kizierowski said. “I don’t know if I will be able to break any records because they are very fast. But I think I will be ready to compete.”

After Southern Section, Kizierowski said he will be busy preparing for the European Championships in August. But after visiting his parents in the summer, he’s hoping to be back with the Mazano family. “You can’t beat this,” he said. “It’s warm and the people are nice.”