Gabert the Comeback Kid

Stephanie Gabert had just gotten to the point where she felt comfortable competing at meets again.

Rehabbing from arthroscopic knee surgery in January, the Corona del Mar High girls’ senior swimmer was supposed to make her season debut Wednesday against Beckman in the Pacific Coast League opener.

Then, life happened.

Gabert was in an auto accident earlier in the day Wednesday. She said she’s fine, having suffered burns to her arms and wrist when the airbags exploded in her car.

“I came out with pretty minor injuries,” Gabert said Friday night. “I just got the bandages off today.”

Still, she wasn’t able to compete in the preliminaries of the CIF Relays at Belmont Plaza on Thursday. Two Sea Kings teams still qualified for tonight’s championship finals, the 4x50-yard butterfly team and the 6x50 freestyle.

Tonight, those teams will have a boost. Gabert, the defending CIF Southern Section Division II champion in the 200-yard IM and 100 breaststroke, will be there and plans to swim in both relays.

She let CdM Coach Doug Volding know the good news on Friday morning. Volding had her down as an alternate on Thursday, just in case she would be ready today.

“She came into my office first thing [Friday] morning with little bandages on her arms,” Volding said. “She said she really wanted to swim, so I’m real excited for her.”

Gabert, who is also defending CIF Masters Meet champion in the 100 breaststroke, couldn’t swim for about three weeks after her knee surgery in January, she said, and she was on crutches.

“From all my years doing breaststroke, my knees kind of deteriorated,” she said. “I needed to get the gunk out of there. It’s all better now. I’m just recovering and doing my physical therapy twice a week.”

But only recently has she been able to begin doing her breaststroke kick. The two events that she’s defending CIF champion in are events she’s not ready to compete in yet.

The power in the legs, necessary for a stroke like the breaststroke, is still coming back to Gabert. Volding said that’s fine, because she can still help in the freestyle events.

“She’s such a talent that we’re using her for other things,” he said.

He said he talked to his team about Gabert wanting to come back for the CIF Relays finals. He asked his swimmers if anyone had a problem with that, since a girl would have to be bumped from each qualifying team to make room for Gabert.

But, he said, the Sea Kings are “100% all for her,” which Gabert said she appreciates.

“I’m pretty thankful that my teammates understand me,” said Gabert, who swims year-round with the Irvine AquaZots. “I want to do what’s best for the team. I think they’re doing really well keeping up the effort and support.”

She said she was still a little uncomfortable in the water on Friday in practice, because her wrist was still sore from the accident. But don’t expect that to stop Gabert tonight.

“I just want to go for it and do what I can,” she said. “I’m ready to go. I’m really excited and looking forward to it.”