A Waterspout in the Valley : Returning to Swimming After a Five-Year Absence, Hefter Blossoms Into a Possible Olympic Prospect

Like most swimmers who hope to one day be in the same position, Mitchell Hefter intently watched the competition last week at the Olympics, looking for tips that would help him improve.

After completing early morning workouts at UCLA each day, Hefter plunked himself down in his living room, watching live coverage of the preliminaries and videotapes of finals from the previous night.

One swimmer in particular caught his eye.

Gary Hall Jr., the best sprinter on the U.S. team, possesses many of the traits Hefter admires. Hall has a reputation of peaking for big meets, but not necessarily giving an all-out effort in practice. Hefter admits that he sometimes performs the same way.

But more than anything, Hefter was surprised when he took an up-close-and-personal look at Hall’s physique.

“He’s actually a little on the scrawny side,” Hefter said. “You expect those guys to be really well-developed with big shoulders and he doesn’t really have that. He’s kind of like me.”

Hall may not have had the muscle mass, but he defeated almost everyone in his path. He earned silver medals in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle, losing only to world-record holder Alexander Popov. Hall swam the fastest leg ever as the United States won the gold medal in the 400 freestyle relay. Hall added a gold in the 400 medley relay.

Hefter, 17, is nowhere near Olympic caliber, at least not yet. At 6 feet 3 1/2 and 185 pounds, Hefter still has plenty of room to grow into his body and improve in the pool.

Although he has won three City Section sprint championships for Cleveland High the past two years, Hefter is a relative newcomer to club swimming, making the commitment to swim year-round barely 12 months ago.

Despite his inexperience, Hefter already has made major breakthroughs, chopping his time in the 50-yard freestyle by more than a second. Considering a 50-yard race lasts about 22 seconds, one second at Hefter’s level is the difference between an average high school swimmer and one who earns a college scholarship.

Sunday, Hefter will face a stiff challenge, competing in the 50-meter freestyle at the U.S. Junior National meet in Santa Clara.

The meet is a twice-yearly regional competition for the best under-19 swimmers on the West Coast who have not made qualifying times for next month’s national championships.

It is the first junior national meet for Hefter, who is not expected to win the race but hopes to finish in the top half of the field.

“For the past two years, Mitchell’s big meet has been the City finals,” said Brian Timmerman, Hefter’s coach at Stephen Wise Aquatics Team (SWAT). “This will be interesting for him to see how he competes against people who are just as talented as he is.”

Even though SWAT has only four members who swim at the elite level, three are going to Santa Clara. And Hefter isn’t the only first-timer.

Michael Kramer of Encino, who in June graduated from Milken Community High, qualified in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke and the 200-meter individual medley.

Kramer, like Hefter, has seen dramatic improvement over the last year. He placed second in the 100 backstroke and the 200 individual medley at the Southern Section Division III finals in May.

But Kramer, who will swim and play water polo at UC Santa Cruz, has been swimming with SWAT for 11 years.

Hefter began swimming at a young age at the Westside Jewish Community Center when he was 6. But three years later, Hefter had burned out.

“I questioned whether I really wanted to swim or have a life,” Hefter said. “There were a lot of other things I was interested in. I tried going to a couple of different clubs but I wasn’t happy.”

Much to his parents’ dismay but with their support, Hefter stopped swimming and didn’t return for nearly five years, when he was prodded by a friend. He also decided to join the fledgling swim team at Cleveland in his sophomore season.

The Cavaliers didn’t even have a team until the year before and Hefter saw an opportunity.

Three months after his return, Hefter won the 50-yard freestyle in 22.64 at the City finals, and Cleveland placed fourth in the boys’ team competition.

“That was all on power, I didn’t really have any form,” Hefter said. “But it made me realize I could do something with this.”

Encouraged by Kramer, Hefter joined SWAT and his times steadily improved.

In five months, he shaved more than a half-second from his 50 time, breaking 22 seconds for the first time at a qualifying meet in Long Beach in January. Suddenly, his goal shifted to the junior qualifying standard of 21.69.

At the City finals in May, Hefter met the standard and then some, blasting through the field to win in 21.53 seconds.

Hefter had the second-fastest time in the region in the 50 freestyle (Eric Shafer of Thousand Oaks timed 21.23 in the Southern Section Division I finals five days earlier), but among City swimmers Hefter’s time was more than a second faster than anyone else’s.

Although a few top swimmers have come out of the City Section in recent years, most notably Olympian Kristine Quance of Granada Hills, most City title winners would be hard-pressed to qualify for a final in the Southern Section meets.

“People around school were asking when I would be swimming in the Olympics,” Hefter said. “I knew they were joking but I don’t think they realized that winning wasn’t too extraordinary.”

Hefter was the only male City Section swimmer to qualify for the junior nationals. SWAT teammate Jim Nash, who qualified in multiple events, attends University High, which doesn’t have a swim program.

The weekend means exposure for Hefter, who will be under the watchful eyes of college coaches for the first time.

“I didn’t get much attention from coaches for the City finals,” Hefter said. “I mean, the coach from Valley College was there, but that was about it.”

Hefter already is shifting his focus. Instead of pointing toward next year’s City meet, Hefter is gearing his schedule for junior and--he hopes--senior nationals. At the Janet Evans Invitational this month, Hefter timed 25.19 for 50 meters--slightly off his optimum time.

“These will be big steps for him the next few months and years,” Timmerman said.

“If things work out and he works as hard as he can, harder than he is now, he could be in position to swim in college and maybe the Olympic trials.”

While the trials may seem a farfetched goal, men’s swimming is filled with late-bloomers.

“Sure, there are 14-year-old girls on the women’s team but the youngest male is 19,” Hefter said. “There is still time for me to develop.”