Gabert a Master in the pool

Stephanie Gabert is no stranger to championship-caliber swimming. After all, she’s a star club swimmer for the Irvine Aquazots and competed at the 2004 Olympic Trials, traveling across the country to face the nation’s best. It makes sense, since her goal is to someday swim in the Olympics.

But Gabert is not beyond competing at the high school level, where she has set school, league and CIF Southern Section records and continues to make waves in the pool.

Just because she has had so much success, does this mean Gabert is beyond receiving accolades for her swimming exploits? Absolutely not, because Gabert ? still just a junior at Corona del Mar High ? continues to work hard to remain among the elite in her craft.

Last weekend’s performance further illustrated how Gabert is still very much on top of her game.

In the CIF Southern Section Division II finals Saturday at Belmont Plaza, Gabert captured the 100-yard breaststroke title, winning by nearly two full seconds with a season-best time of 1 minute, 4.35 seconds. Gabert also took first place in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:03.44.

In her two individual victories, Gabert tallied 40 points for Corona del Mar, which recaptured the Division II title with 248 points, beating out second-place University (216). The Trojans had won the division crown last season by a mere four points.

The meet couldn’t have gone much better for Gabert, who also swam on two relay teams that qualified for the Masters Meet.

“I’m pretty happy with how I did,” Gabert said after the meet. “I’m proud of my times.”

Gabert said he rated winning the Division II team title back from University High as her favorite athletic moment.

For the first time ever, the season wasn’t over after the division finals. Gabert was among those who competed in the inaugural CIF Southern Section Masters Meet on Tuesday, pitting the top 24 swimmers in the section against each other.

Not surprisingly, she played a prominent role, taking first place in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:04.08 and second in the 200 IM at 2:04.34.

“She just has tremendous work ethic,” Corona del Mar Coach Doug Volding said. “She’s a very talented young lady and she’s also so nice. She doesn’t let all the success she has go to her head.”

Gabert, who has been swimming since she was 3 years old, remains humble no matter how many first-place finishes she gets.

After taking first in the 100 breaststroke at the Masters Meet, officially becoming the section’s top swimmer in that event, she remarked, in an unassuming way, “I’m just honored to be in a meet with so many great swimmers.”