Baumgarner Enjoys His Independent Role

In high school competition, it’s usually the club swimmers who dominate the sport. Kyle Baumgarner is an exception to the rule.

Baumgarner, 17, who proudly proclaims his non-club status, might be the best 50 freestyle swimmer in the county and possibly the state.

A standout water polo player at Villa Park High, Baumgarner prides himself on his water polo prowess. As for swimming? Well, that’s just something he has to do while waiting for the water polo season to roll around again.

“I don’t get the swim club thing,” Baumgarner said. “Back and forth, back and forth. It has to be fun. And if there’s no ball to throw around . . . no way.”

Baumgarner was 9 when he got his first taste of water polo after joining a club in Placentia. He played goalie until he turned 13, then his coaches moved him to the two-meter position, which suited him well.

Last fall, Baumgarner scored 116 goals and was an All-Southern Section Division I first-team selection.

But that’s water polo. As for swimming, Baumgarner’s short but rapidly growing list of accomplishments is amazing.

His times in the 50 free were among the top three in the county most of last season. And he finished second in the 50 free at the section Division I finals last year behind Mission Viejo’s Bart Kizierowski, who swam for Poland in the Atlanta Olympics. Kizierowski finished in 20.56 seconds; Baumgarner in 21.20.

The section record for the 50 free is 20.27, set by Woodbridge’s Derya Buyukuncu in 1994.

“Kyle is very competitive,” said Jeff Ehrlich, Villa Park’s swimming and water polo coach. “He’s very talented and he has a natural feel for the water. However, he doesn’t like to train. And you really have to wonder what he could do if he got serious about the sport.”

Baumgarner also has been impressive in the 100 free, where Ehrlich said Baumgarner has been timed at 48.5 as the leadoff swimmer for the Spartans’ 400 freestyle relay team.

There are those who believe Baumgarner’s future is in swimming. USC Coach Mark Schubert has contacted him about swimming for the Trojans.

“I feel very honored that USC is interested in me,” said Baumgarner, a junior. “But I’ve also gotten a letter from UCLA, [which is] looking at me for water polo.”

If Baumgarner did decide to play water polo at UCLA, that would be his only sport there; the Bruins dropped their men’s swimming program four years ago.

The 50 and 100 freestyles are definitely Baumgarner’s strengths, and he would be the first to tell you his backstroke is pitiful and his butterfly . . . “Forget that,” he said. The breaststroke? “It’s really not that bad. I’ve been working on it and it’s getting better.”

This season, Baumgarner has been timed in 21.9 in the 50 free, which he swam without being shaved or tapered.

The 50 free is an all-out sprint that leaves no room for mistakes on the blocks, in the turn or at the finish.

“I think I can do a 20 something,” Baumgarner said. “I primarily see [senior] Matt Burny at Mission Viejo as my main competition. But I have a lot of work to do on my starts and turns, and I need to be more explosive off the blocks.”

Ehrlich agreed with Baumgarner’s assessment. “Because he hasn’t worked at the club level, he doesn’t have that experience of starts and turns, which in a race like the 50 free, can mean a first- or last-place finish.”

But Ehrlich said Baumgarner is coming along fine, and is confident he can swim a 20.90 at the section finals.

“I would just like to see him break 21,” Ehrlich said. “I mean, a 20.99 is better than a 21.00.”

Ehrlich requires all of his water polo players to participate on the swim team.

“A lot of my friends are on the team and we have some pretty good swimmers,” Baumgarner said. “And I guess I would rather keep playing water polo throughout the year, but swimming is not that bad. It’s kind of fun.”