Hilltop High School senior Wyatt Schmidt is back in his natural element: the water.
“I wanted to try something completely different from a water sport during the winter sport season, and roller hockey is pretty different,” confessed Schmidt, a key performer on Hilltop’s boys water polo and swim teams.
“It took about two weeks of constantly standing on skates to get used to them, and get my balance.”
As a first-year roller hockey player, Schmidt was credited with one goal and three assists for the Lancers, who rolled to a 15-7 regular season finish and a 15-0 loss to Scripps Ranch in the opening round of the recent Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs.
“I think I actually scored two goals but they gave credit for one of them to someone else,” he said.
Schmidt placed third in the individual medley and fourth in the backstroke at last year’s Mesa League finals and appears to be a top contender in those events again this season. “I’d like to place top three in both at the league finals,” he said.
He’s already made significant progress barely a month into the spring swim season.
“I wanted to break a minute in the backstroke and I’ve done that,” he said. “Now I want to go under 57 seconds. My goal in the IM is to get under 2:08. I’m at 2:10 right now.”
Schmidt entered Wednesday’s Mesa League dual meet against Mar Vista at the Parkway pool undefeated in both eventys, and remains so after the Lancers’ 111-72 victory. He timed 2:14.20 in winning the 200 IM and 1:01.81 in winning the 100 backstroke.
Schmidt has competed in both the backstroke and IM all four seasons on the HHS swim team.
“Stamina is the main one, as well as flip turns and wall touches,” Schmidt said of the secrets needed for success in the IM event.
The order in the event goes butterfly to backstroke, breaststroke to freestyle. All strokes are completed back-to-back, with no rest stops.
Schmidt admits he’s not a master of all of them. “I’m kind of average in the butterfly stroke, strong in the backstroke, medium in the breaststroke and strong in the freestyle,” he said.
Getting proper technique down is important to avoid disqualification, he said.
“For the fly, I will practice technique for 30 minutes straight, the same thing for the breaststroke,” he said. “The backstroke and freestyle are just about speed. That’s where I make up most of my time.”
Schmidt got his start in the backstroke on the advice of former Hilltop coach John Salts. “He suggested I do it one day and I did,” Schmidt explained. “I’ve loved it ever since. It’s not one of those strokes that seems easy.”
Current Hilltop coach Ernie Medina sees Schmidt also contributine on the team’s relays units. Medina feels the Lancers have enough talent this year to contend for a league title in at least one of the three relay events.
Also in the relay mix are teammates David Saiadian, Jiovanny Astorga, Anthony Torrol, Sidney Aki and Emilio Maldonado.
“The relays are about starts and knowing each other as swimmers,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt has played water polo since his freshman season, including the last two years on varsity. He finished this past season with 49 goals, five assists, 20 steals and also won 40 sprints.
“I like how water polo is fast-paced, you get to be more aggressive and become a team,” said Schmidt, who was selected to participate in last fall’s countywide senior all-star game.
Schmidt’s speed was a factor, as he managed to win more than half of his sprints.
“It’s something that’s pretty important,” Schmidt said. “If you win the sprint, you get the ball first.”
Schmidt said he’d like to remain in his natural element beyond the high school level.
“I’d like to continue on as far as I can for both of those sports (water polo and swimming),” he said. “I’m going to go to Southwestern and Cuyamaca (for sports and academics). I’m interested in marine biology. From the JC level, I’d like to transfer to California Maritime Academy in San Francisco.”
Schmidt should feel right at home. There’s plenty of water in the Bay Area, too.
Making a splash
Hilltop captured first-place finishes in nine of the 12 boys events to improve to 4-0 on the season. Event winners, besides Schmidt, included Aki (200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke), Astorga (50 freestyle) and Saiadian (100 butterfly).
Aki timed 2:00.69 in the 200 freestyle and 1:06.92 in winning a hard-fought battle against Mar Vista’s Faux Mahan (1:07.18) in the 100 breaststroke event, likely the best race of the day. Mahan won the 100 freestyle in 52.39 and anchored MV’s winning 400 freestyle relay team (3:47.52).
Hilltop won the 200 medley relay in 1:51.32 and also captured the 200 freestyle relay in 1:40.38. MV’s Nico Bochochio rounded out the list of event winners with a time of 5:54.83 in the 500 freestyle.
Hilltop’s Josh Fischer and Kennedy Miranda each topped the dive card. Miranda won the girls competition with 180.25 points while Fischer won the boys competition with 153.7 points.
Impressively, all seven girls eclipsed the 100-point mark. MV’s Tatyana Garcia finished second with 140.7points, followed by teammate Dakota Strother (124.8 points) in third place.
