Lezak Favors Familiar Waters

Jason Lezak has good reason to be happy he’s swimming at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach this week.

“Every big meet I’ve ever had has been at Belmont,” he said. “My best times have always been there. I love that pool.”

Lezak, a graduate of Irvine High who swims for UC Santa Barbara, begins competition today in the three-day Big West Championships at Belmont Plaza Pool.

“Since I was a little kid, I’ve been swimming big meets at Belmont,” Lezak said. “It was at Belmont where I swam Southern Section finals, and it’s there where the Big West Championships are held.”

Of course, Lezak has enjoyed success in a lot of places during his high school and college career.

He has been named Big West Swimmer of the Year the last two seasons. Last year, he set conference and school records in the 50 and 100 freestyles. And his winning time in the 100 butterfly at last year’s Big West finals was just off a meet record.

At Irvine High, Lezak was one of the county’s all-time best high school sprint freestylers. He was a two-time All-American in swimming and water polo and a Southern Section Division I champion in the 100-yard freestyle. He competed in the National High School Championships in Florida, a meet for the only the nation’s top senior swimmers.

Lezak was confident his times would continue to drop at Santa Barbara. But instead of burning up the pool, as he had expected, he went flat.

“When I started at [Santa Barbara], I had high expectations. But instead, I pretty much did the same times I did when I was in high school.”

Things changed when he started lifting weights with a friend in the spring of his freshman year. When Lezak arrived at Santa Barbara, he was 6 feet 4 and weighed 175 pounds. He now weighs 215.

In the 50 freestyle, he dropped from a 20.87 seconds from his senior year at Irvine to 19.60. And in the 100 free, he dropped from 45.68 to 43.30 during the same period.

In addition to his freestyle, he rediscovered the butterfly.

“During my freshman year [at Santa Barbara], I was swimming the 200 free, which I wasn’t doing too well in. I told my coach that I used to do the fly, and asked if I could have a shot at it.”

The last time Lezak competed in the fly was as a sophomore in high school. But he picked it right up again and just missed setting a school record in the 100 fly when he was clocked in 45.1 at last year’s conference finals.

In addition to his individual events at Long Beach, Lezak said he and three teammates will have their eyes set on the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays.

“We’re hoping to qualify for the NCAA Championships,” Lezak said. “Last year, we missed the 200 free relay by 1/100ths of a second. They only take the top 12 from the nation, but we think we have a good chance.”

College Swimming and Diving

* What: Big West Conference Championships

* When: Today-Saturday. Preliminaries begin each day at 10:30 and finals at 6 p.m.

* Where: Belmont Plaza Pool, 4000 Olympic Plaza, Long Beach

* Participants: Men’s and women’s teams from UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, Pacific, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and New Mexico State as well as the women’s team from Nevada. The Santa Barbara men’s team, led by 1997’s conference swimmer of the year Jason Lezak, is looking to extend its conference title streak to 20 in a row. Among Irvine top swimmers are freestylers Dan Klatt and Andy Coffman and Chris Robertson in the 200 butterfly. On the women’s side, Nevada, led by 1997’s conference swimmer of the year, Lise Mackie, is looking for its third consecutive title. Irvine junior diver Arika Earley, from Mission Viejo, returns to defend her one- and three-meter titles.

* Tickets: $12-$23 for all-sessions pass; $3-$5 per session

* Information: (714) 824-6202