Wester Jumps Back Into His Swim Career

Scott Wester came to Golden West College this spring looking for a challenge that would spur him toward rebuilding his once-promising swimming career.

He had no idea that his biggest competition would come from teammates.

Wester had been among the best young swimmers in the nation when he was at Marina and Trabuco Hills high schools.

Now, four years later, he has refocused on swimming and has become one of the best community college swimmers in the state.

He, along with teammates David Payot, Carlo Franzia and Yan Gendlin pushed each other in the 200 freestyle.

Each has a time near 1 minute 44 seconds and combined to form an 800-yard freestyle relay team with the capability of breaking a national record, Coach Bill Jewell said.

Gendlin is the defending state champion in 1,650 and the favorite again this season. Andreas Lidholm, a transfer from Orange Coast, won the 400 individual medley at the state meet last year.

“It feels really good to be here,” said Wester, whose strongest events are the 200, 50 and 100 freestyles. “It feels really good coming back to a team like this. It’s so competitive, it’s great for training.”

Golden West, which has won two of the last three state titles, takes part in the South Coast Conference championships Friday and Saturday at Long Beach Belmont Plaza.

Success at a high level is nothing new for Wester. A partial list of his credits includes three gold medals, two silver and a bronze at the 1991 U.S. Olympic Festival. He was 15th in the 200 freestyle at the U.S. championships a year later.

But after high school in 1992, Wester took a path that led away from competitive swimming.

First, he joined the Navy and served two years right after high school. Then he went to the University of Utah in the fall of 1994 and expected to swim. He was later ruled academically ineligible by the NCAA and left the school. He decided to move closer to home in Huntington Beach.

“It was inevitable that I come back to swimming,” Wester said. “I doubt I could ever give it up.”

Last fall, he came to Golden West too late to enroll in the fall semester and spent the fall working out in Long Beach before joining the Golden West team at the start of the spring semester in January.

I couldn’t be more pleased so far,” Jewell said. “He’s folded right in with the good kids on the team. He very intense though, very intense.”

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The Orange Empire Conference is holding its swimming championships Friday and Saturday at Saddleback. Orange Coast is the favorite among women’s teams. The Pirates have won seven consecutive state titles and 11 of the last 12.

Both conferences have altered the formats of the meets by cutting out a day of competition in an effort to limit expenses.

Swimmers will get only one chance in each event instead of holding preliminary heats and having the swimmers with the top times advance to a final race.