STILL WORTH WATCHING : Five Years Later, These Athletes Are Fulfilling Their Early Promise : David Katz

Katz’s second swimming career wasn’t nearly as successful as his first. Though he became a Times’ all-county swimmer his senior year at Foothill, Katz didn’t set any national records this time around. He set four with the Mission Viejo Nadadores as a youngster.

“I found myself going from first to second to third to eighth and then to consolation races,” Katz said. “I knew I had to start looking at swimming a whole new way.”

Carol Katz said her son simply outgrew the water.

“He looks more like a football player now,” she said. “He has a 17 1/2-inch neck. He wasn’t very streamlined in the water. It was very frustrating for him.”

But Katz’s strong physique wasn’t entirely a detriment. He caught the eye of a fashion photographer during a junior swim meet at USC when he was 14. He’s been modeling clothes since. Katz has modeled for Banana Republic.

“My husband’s a doctor and he doesn’t make what David makes in a day,” Carol Katz said.

But Katz said modeling is only a part-time job, not a career. School and swimming still come first. Katz is a freshman at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., a Division III liberal arts school in the Adirondack Mountains. Although he has been slowed by mononucleosis lately, Katz has the fastest 100 breaststroke time on his team and is second fastest in the 50 and 100 freestyle.

“I’m glad I stayed with swimming,” he said. “It’s been good to me.”