Mission Viejo Swimming : Kim Brown and Nadadores Are Big Winners

Kim Brown, a little bit of a 15-year-old girl with a mouthful of braces and “lucky” bright-blue nail polish on her fingernails and toenails, won the 1,500-meter freestyle by more than 10 seconds in the Phillips 66/U.S. Swimming Long Course National championships Friday night at the Mission Viejo Swim Complex.

Brown, who despite her age was elected team captain of the Mission Viejo Nadadores, won the 800-meter freestyle last Monday and then took the 400 Thursday night.

All of her points contributed to the Nadadores’ record-setting team titles.

Because the club has so many little Kim Browns, Mission Viejo was able to amass 613.5 points to win the women’s title by a landslide. Next was Curl with 240.

Mission Viejo also won the overall team title, scoring 896.5 points to Holmes Lumber’s 445.

The two titles gave Mission Viejo 44 club championships, passing the record of 43 by Santa Clara.

Mission Viejo Coach Mark Schubert said: “Right now, we’re reaping the benefits of the work of all the teams over the years. Really, what was fun about winning it here was that so many people who were here earlier were able to come and see it and be a part of it. . . .

“We’re seeing the results of depth and consistency. We won tonight with swimmers who have come up through our age-group program--kids like Dan Jorgensen, Debbie Babashoff, Victor Riggs and Kim Brown.”

That age-group program has put Mission Viejo on the map, and Schubert, who has been here since Mission Viejo’s start in 1972, is now being recruited by a similar community in Boca Raton, Fla., called Mission Bay, which would like to have a similar swimming program.

Schubert said: “I haven’t made a decision on that, yet. . . . Over the years, I have always decided to stay because this place has so much to offer. But I owe it to myself and my family to keep my eyes open, too.”

In the last individual event of the meet, Mike O’Brien of Mission Viejo won the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle, followed by Jorgensen. But the men’s team title went down to the final relay, the men’s 400-meter medley, and the Mission Viejo men finished behind Holmes Lumber, which won the title, 305-283.

Rick Carey, the Olympic gold medalist in both the 100- and 200-meter backstroke events, had to pull out a last-second victory over Charley Siroky in the 100 in 56.94 seconds. He holds the world record in the 100 of 55.19 seconds.

“It wasn’t very sharp, was it?” Carey said. “It wasn’t crisp. A race has a certain taste to it, and that race didn’t taste crisp.”

Carey, who said that he has been working out this summer mostly in tae kwon do and not so much in the water, said that his meets this summer have been his slowest ever.

He said: “I came here thinking, if I finish third, so what?” But he continued the streak of swimmers here who were able to win without having trained hard.

Betsy Mitchell, the Olympic silver medalist in the women’s 100-meter backstroke last summer, won the event in 1:02.76, just a touch off her best of 1:02.53, even though she has trained only three weeks this summer.

John Moffet, who set the world record in the 100-meter breaststroke at the Olympic trials last summer, won the event Friday night in 1:03.17. The world record now belongs to Steve Lundquist, who set it at 1:02.65 in the Olympic race that saw Moffet struggle to fifth place due to a pulled groin muscle.

Jenny Hau, 16, won the 100-meter breaststroke for women in 1:11.40. Susan Johnson, 15, who swims for Mission Viejo, was second in 1:12.92. Hau said: “It was really dumb, but I was thinking mostly about getting Tracy Caulkins’ American record (1:09.53). It was dumb because I’m not quite ready yet. I’ve been dropping two seconds a year, so maybe next year.”

The favorites posted good times in the 100-meter butterfly events, Olympic gold medalist Mary T. Meagher winning in 59.28 seconds (better than her Olympic time) and Olympic silver medalist Pablo Morales winning in 53.35 seconds, fastest in the world this year.

Michele Griglione of Curl won the women’s individual points title, Matt Biondi of Golden Bear the men’s.