Nipomo High’s Rebekah Corbin was second in the 200 individual medley at the CIF-Southern Section Division III championships.
There is a common facial expression when the Nipomo High boys swimmers eagerly pop their heads out of the water only to see they’ve lost a practice race to Rebekah Corbin.
“They just have their mouths open, their eyes are all big,” Corbin said. “They’re just like, ‘You need to go somewhere else. You make me feel bad.’ ”
Corbin, the Titan’s first genuine swimming star in the six-year history of the program, not only beats the boys on her team, but she owns the school record for every distance of every stroke in the girls school record book.
She took second place in the 200-yard individual medley at the CIF-Southern Section Division III finals this past weekend. Corbin was the only individual from the county to finish higher than third and advance to today’s section masters meet other than San Luis Obispo’s Warren Thom.
And this week’s Tribune Prep Athlete of the Week is only a sophomore.
“In Nipomo,” Titans coach Brandi Pasquini said, “everybody knows that she’s our swimming star, and of course, she’s won every race that she’s swam this year.”
The second-place finish at divisional finals was the first official race she hasn’t won, but she’s only dropped a few of intergender practice races. Corbin said there are a handful of guys on her team who can beat her in the shorter sprint freestyles and only one who can best her in the 200 freestyle.
Though since she’s proven her mettle, fewer and fewer are challenging her anymore.
Her biggest challenger is now the clock.
Corbin finished the 200 IM in 2 minutes, 10.76 seconds Saturday, bettering her school record in her marquee event by close to a second.
Since she arrived on the scene last season as a freshman, Corbin has dropped more than 20 seconds from Nipomo’s previous record time in the event. In less than a year, she’s shaved 10 seconds off of her time as a freshman.
Corbin, a year-round swimmer who competes at the club level in the offseason, has improved so much in her short varsity career that Pasquini believes she’ll be able to earn a college swimming scholarship by the end of her high school career.
“I think she has potential to be a college athlete,” Pasquini said. “We just started exploring that in the last couple weeks. She can’t talk to college coaches yet, not ’til next year. She definitely wants to go on and swim somewhere. She’s just not sure where yet.”
The swimming community at the division finals sure took notice of Corbin after her race. One of only a few sophomores competing against a largely senior-dominated group, the 15-year-old found kudos flying in from unexpected places after her silver- medal finish.
“Some people just came up to me and said ‘Good job, Rebekah,’ ” Corbin said. “People I don’t even know. I’m like, ‘Don’t know you, but thanks!’ ”
She said it was a little embarrassing receiving congratulations and cheers. Homeschooled until high school, Corbin is getting her first taste of true team swimming. The club experience has humbled her somewhat by competing in a pool of athletes where everyone’s fast, and standing out is a much tougher proposition.
It’s an attitude Pasquini appreciates, noting that Corbin has made for a terrific team player.
“She’s a great kid,” Pasquini said, “good personality, no ego. She has none of that. She’s just out there having fun and it’s awesome.”
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