Taner eyes big finish to Serra swim career

In reality, the University of Arizona commit is right where he wants to be as he looks to contend for an elusive Central Coast Section individual title. With the WCAL championships being moved up by two weeks on the spring schedule, the meet fell three weeks prior to the CCS championships, scheduled for May 3-4 in Santa Clara. In past seasons, the WCAL meet has been held the weekend previous to the CCS meet.

“Traditionally, WCALs is right before CCS and at that point I’m usually a little bit into my taper,” Taner said. “And usually my times are a little bit faster than what I’m doing now. But now, because the WCALs are more in the middle of my training, my times are not quite as fast. … So, where I’m at now in my training, those times are pretty good.”

After taking second place at the CCS finals in the 100 fly last season, Taner has his work cut out for him. Harker’s Ethan Hu took gold in the event last year as a sophomore, setting a CCS meet record in 46.86 seconds. Hu’s most recent times in the event came April 5 at the Far Western Short Course Championships, where he won with a time of 48.32 in the finals. However, he preceded that mark by swimming 47.12 in the trials.

Taner is looking to contend with those times at the CCS meet, and has taken on a power-training approach to build toward the meet. With his father Ugur Taner in his second year as Serra’s head coach, the senior is optimistic about the trajectory of his development. His father shares in the optimism.

“That’s a great time for him right now,” Uger Taner said of Saturday’s 49.69. “We’re both very pleased with that. We’re hoping at CCS to break 47 and to get it down in the 46s.”

Uger Taner knows a thing or two about championship swimming. A graduate of Cal in 1996, he was a three-time national champion in the 200 fly, with his national-champion time of 143:22 as a senior in ’96 ranking second all-time among Cal swimmers in the event. He went on to take gold at the Pan Pacific Championships in the event in 1997.

While Ugur Taner’s power training method may not be popular, he is confident it will produce results. This entails what he refers to as weight training in the water, wherein his swimmers use weighted yellow buckets to create tension with their natural swimming motions.

“Those are definitely not fun to do,” Brooks Taner said. “I don’t like doing them. … He makes us do them at the end of practice when I’m tired. I’m like, ‘I don’t want to do this now.’”

Still, his father’s promotion to head coach at Serra was a welcome one. Ugur Taner took over last season, replacing longtime head coach Bob Greene, who made an appearance on the swim deck Saturday, clad in a dress-down black suit no less.

Brooks Taner said swimming under Greene for two seasons was invaluable, as the former coach demanded a lot of yardage. This helped created a good base, Brooks Taner said.

While Brooks Taner now spends anywhere from two to four hours per day in the pool between practices at Serra and his club practices at Palo Alto Swim Aquatics for coach Tony Batis, he wouldn’t get to see much of his father if not being coached by him.

“I think I also really enjoy it because I get to spend time with him,” Brooks Taner said. “Usually, when it’s not during high school season, I’m gone all day. I never see him unless I’m home eating dinner. Then I’ve got to go to bed because I have morning practice all day.”

Now, Brooks Taner, on the verge of closing his high school career, will discover the results of the long-term training strategy in the weeks to come. While he is looking for his first individual CCS title, he does have a CCS title as part of the 200 free relay, taking gold as a junior last season with three now-graduated seniors.

Sure, another showdown with Hu is a tall order. But the senior’s competitive drive should not be underestimated. Just look at his other individual performance Saturday in taking third place in the 200 free.

Third-place may not be as glamorous as his championship in the 100 fly, but it was the more interesting race of the day. With Bellarmine senior Max Saunders running away with the championship (1:41.36) by over two seconds better than the second-place finish of teammate Ryan Kirton (1:43.70), the battle for third was between Brooks Taner and St. Francis junior Justin Culetu.

Brooks Taner in lane No. 7 found himself trailing after the opening 50 yards when he took a tactical approach, drafting Culetu in lane 6. The two battled neck-and-neck until the final turn, when Brooks Taner exploded off the wall to lead the rest of the way, finishing in 1:42.09 to better Culetu’s time of 1:42.95.

“It hurts,” Taner said of the critical final turn. “It hurts a lot. But I knew I could do it.”

With Serra finishing in sixth place in the team completion with 171 points, Brooks Taner contributed to 94 of those points. In addition to his leading leg of the 400 free relay — teaming with sophomore Chad Morrison, freshman Matthew Honeck and senior Tyler Martin — with a time of 3:17.19, Brooks Taner also swam the anchor leg of the 200 free relay, with the same quartet taking sixth place in 1:30.95.

“He did pretty well,” Serra sophomore Michael Kamenis said. “He always outdoes himself at every meet.”

It was a big day for Kamenis as well, who performed the national anthem prior to the meet. The previous weekend, Kamenis performed as a chorus member in the Serra High School production of “The Wedding Singer.” Saturday’s WCAL finals marked his first rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner” at a sporting event.

“It went pretty well,” Kamenis said. “I didn’t screw up.”