Underwater assassin
| Wednesday, Jun 24 2009 09:49 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Jun 24 2009 09:56 PM
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Jenn Ireland / The Californian Dan Wickensheimer, All-Area boys swimmer of the year.
Don't be fooled by Dan Wickensheimer's surfer look or the fact that watching him put his wild blond hair into a swim cap is like watching a surgical procedure.
Once that cap is on, Dan Wickensheimer means business. And that's why the Stockdale senior is The Californian's Boys Swimmer of the Year.
"He is easy-going," Stockdale coach Adam Bledsoe said, "but he's very fiery. He's an emotional leader, and he's the guy that gets everyone fired up."
That carries over into the pool, where Wickensheimer's intensity helped him cap his career with Central Section championships in two events that require a quick burst of energy: The 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly.
Centennial senior Bryce Ogden was an easy choice for Boys Diver of the Year for the second straight time. This season, he didn't lose a local event and capped his dominant spring with a Central Section championship, scoring 475.15 to out-pace the field by 38 points.
"Mission No. 1 this year was to win Valley," Wickensheimer said. "I (had) gotten second two years in a row in the 100 fly, so that was my main goal, regardless of time. I wanted to win."
His time, by the way, was a good one -- 49.91, an automatic All-American time. That he added a sprint victory in the section's shortest race was a bonus -- he touched in 21.61, four-hundreths of a second faster than second place.
"I didn't think I win it," Wickensheimer said. "I was focused on the 100 fly. I thought I'd come back and win that one (as a junior), and I wasn't very happy about getting beat. I watched that race over and over and figured out what I could get better at."
He had plenty of time to plan. For the first time, Wickensheimer, whose brother Mike plays football at BC, didn't play at Stockdale as a senior, giving him the whole year to focus on swimming.
"Swimming is a sport that if you're looking to get to that elite level, it requires that you train year-round," Bledsoe said. "As he trains more for swimming and can do more with his flexibility, you're going to see a lot of improvement."
Any more improvement will come at Cal State Bakersfield, Wickensheimer's (and Ogden's) next stop. And maybe his football experience can't come in handy as well. Bledsoe said he takes a more aggressive attitude to the pool than most swimmers, something that serves him well in shorter events.
"He's definitely got the body for (swimming)," Bledsoe said, "but it's that football mentality he brings to the pool, too. If he's in a race, they're going to have to take it from him. He has a nasty attitude once he gets in the pool."
But Wickensheimer, who moved to Bakersfield from Fort Wayne, Ind., after his freshman year, also is a thinking man's swimmer. He searches for ways to improve the details of his stroke to shave time -- like on the butterfly, where he has gone from spending very little time underwater, where swimmers typically go faster, to spending more than usual.
"It wasn't something he could just do," Bledsoe said. "It's taken him three years of working at practice. Now it's a weapon for him."
See? All of that talent, attitude and determination can fit with Wickensheimer's hair under the swim cap.
"I'm really pleased with what's happened," Wickensheimer said.
