David Dunn has plenty to live up to these days, but you
couldn
’t tell it by looking at him. In his senior year, Dunn is
expected to make a huge splash at both Saturday’s Tri-County
Athletic League finals and the Central Coast Section finals.
David Dunn has plenty to live up to these days, but you couldn’t tell it by looking at him.
In his senior year, Dunn is expected to make a huge splash at both Saturday’s Tri-County Athletic League finals and the Central Coast Section finals.
After earning All-American honors in the 100 butterfly as a junior last season, Dunn is a favorite to win an individual title in any event he enters.
And, his coach calls him a team leader.
That kind of pressure could be devastating to many teenagers. But it would be difficult to imagine a more placid exterior on a competitive athlete, especially one as talented and accomplished as Dunn. Nothing, it appears, fazes him.
“I’m having fun right now,” Dunn said. “At this point, I’ve gotten enough awards so awards aren’t that important.”
According to Live Oak swim coach Mack Haines, Dunn is the kind of swimmer who comes along once in a very great while — supremely talented but wholly unassuming.
“You don’t have to have any interest in swimming to come out here and appreciate what he’s doing — the skill and grace,” Haines said. “He’s one of the top swimmers in the nation. He’s a very unique individual. He has a geat attitude — he’s very unassuming and yet confident at the same time. He’s a team leader. When we have a relay and David swims on a relay team he gives the other swimmers confidence not to mention a big lead. He’s really the standard-bearer.”
This season, Dunn has already qualified for CCS in two different events — the 100 butterfly and the 200 individual medley, as well as leading the Acorn boys relay teams to CCS qualifying times.
But Haines said Dunn is such a talented and versatile swimmer that he could qualify for CCS in any event he competes in.
In fact, Haines said he hasn’t decided which event Dunn will compete in at CCS yet, but says the Acorn senior is a favorite to win an individual title.
Dunn, 18, began competitive swimming when he was eight, a couple of years after his family moved to Morgan Hill from Las Vegas. He followed his older sister Theresa and older brother Thomas into competitive swimming.
Theresa is about to graduate from Washington State where she competed in swimming and Thomas swims for the University of the Pacific in Stockton.
After earning a reputation at the Far Western Swim Championships as a youngster, Dunn’s career faded for a few years before he began dominating in recent years.
In fact, the only knock on Dunn is he doesn’t seem as totally dedicated to swimming at the exclusion of all else as he might be to fully realize his potential.
It’s a charge his club swimming coach, Edward Toatley, makes and a charge Dunn accepts without reservation.
“In my family, I’m probably the most talented but my brother and sister have the work ethic,” Dunn said. “My main motivation for swimming has been to get a scholarship to help my parents financially.”
Dunn has already committed to joining his older brother Thomas at the University of the Pacific on a partial athletic scholarship. The 3.5 gpa student is also expecting to earn an academic scholarship to help pay his way.
