Swimming / Tracy Dodds : Quick Expects U.S. Team to Be Faster in World Championships

Forty-one of the nation’s top swimmers are working out this week at the new complex in Boca Raton, Fla., before going to Madrid for the fifth FINA world championship meet next week.

The swimmers on this top U.S. team have been working out with their individual coaches since the trials in June. Another group represented the United States in the Goodwill Games.

U.S. Coach Richard Quick likes the way this team is shaping up. “I’m real encouraged,” he said. “We had four world records and nine American records set during the trials, and the U.S. hasn’t had a meet like that in a long time. The swimmers who looked good in the trials and then went to Moscow for the Goodwill Games improved their times significantly, and I’m hoping that we do that, too.

“I heard from virtually every one of our team while they were back home working out, before coming to our training camp, and they all reported good workouts. I just have to believe that we’ll be faster in August than we were in June.”

The U.S. won all three titles--men’s, women’s and combined--at the world championships in 1978, but won only the men’s and the combined title in 1982, with the East Germans winning the women’s title. The U.S. women’s team will again be strong challenged by the East Germans. But with Mary T. Meagher ranked No. 1 in the world in both the 100- and 200-meter butterfly, Betsy Mitchell ranked No. 1 in the world in both the 100- and 200-meter backstroke, Michelle Griglione ranked No. 1 in the 200-meter individual medley, and with the scoring system weighted more heavily in favor of first-place finishers, the United States has a good chance at again sweeping all three titles.

“We’re just now beginning to see some of the results of improving our women’s collegiate programs,” Quick said. “With scholarships, they’re able to train at a higher level for much longer. Years ago, we wouldn’t have had somebody like Betsy Mitchell, who is now 20, and who has just come into prominence in the last couple of years.

“We have some very strong women swimmers to rely on, but we’ll also need for some of our younger girls to jump up and clip somebody.”

The U.S. men’s team is very strong but, as Quick points out, other countries are continuing to improve, too.

Some of the most exciting matchups of the meet will involve West Germany’s Michael Gross, a star of the last Olympics. He is expected to compete in the 200-meter freestyle and the 200-meter butterfly, skipping the 100-meter butterfly and concentrating on his role in the 800-meter freestyle relay. Remember the upset that the American relay team, the Gross Busters, pulled off in the ’84 Olympics?

Matt Biondi and Pablo Morales, both world record-holders now, were newcomers on the ’84 team. They are expected to give Gross his toughest competition.

“People like Matt Biondi and Pablo Morales are the heart and soul of our team, but we have some good swimmers that are just now coming on,” Quick said. “Dan Veatch (who won the backstroke events when Olympian Rick Carey skipped the qualifying meet) wasn’t in the best condition at the trials. He should be significantly faster. And (breaststroker) Steve Bentley (of USC) could be a real darkhorse in this meet.”

Although the U.S. was surprisingly competitive against the Soviets and East Germans in Moscow, considering that the fastest swimmers were left home, Quick says that should not be seen as an indication that the United States will dominate the world championships.

“Without a doubt, I think, the Soviets and the East Germans competed like we did at the Goodwill Games,” he said. “The Soviets used their best athletes, but I don’t think we saw their best efforts. I think we’ll see more from them in the world championships.”

Swimming Notes Most of the swimmers returning from the Goodwill Games in Moscow will compete in the Phillips 66/U.S. Swimming long course national meet in Santa Clara Tuesday through Friday. That meet will be used to pick a national team to compete in a dual meet with Great Britain in London Oct. 31-Nov. 1. Also at this meet, swimmers will be able to qualify for the U.S. Swimming training camps to be held in Boca Raton, Fla., and Mission Viejo at the end of the year. . . . A change in the McDonald’s marketing strategy has brought an end to the corporation’s sponsorship of swimming that included the funding of the Olympic pool on the USC campus. The last two McDonald’s-sponsored meets will be the U.S. Swimming Junior Olympic national meets starting Aug. 12 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Austin, Tex. . . .The Junior Olympic program offers a proving ground for young swimmers. A good example is Angel Myers, of Americus, Ga., who was competing in the Junior Olympic program just last spring. She set an American record of 25.60 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle at the Goodwill Games.