SECTION SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS : Terry’s Record List Grows by Two

The events and the years change, but the results are always the same for USDHS’s Alison Terry. In every individual event she has entered in the San Diego Section swimming finals, she has not only won but set a record.

Terry, a junior, went into Saturday’s swimming and diving championships at Mt. Carmel High having already set section marks in four events, two as a freshman and two as a sophomore. This year, Terry set her sights on two new events--the 200-yard individual medley and 100 butterfly--and broke the records in them, too.

Terry’s was not the only repeat performance--the Poway boys and girls swam away with team championships for the second consecutive year.

Poway had four individual boys’ winners and scored 322 points to second-place Mt. Carmel’s 205. The girls won the first event of the day, the 200 medley relay, and had 11 entries in the individual finals. None of its swimmers finished higher than second, but all of them either held or improved qualifying positions as the Titans defeated Rancho Buena Vista, 254-199.

Terry swam the 200-yard IM in 2 minutes 5.71 seconds, bettering the 2:06.02 set by Hilltop’s Tami Bruce in 1985. Later, Terry swam the 100 butterfly in 57.24, more than two seconds faster than any of her opponents, to bring down the longest-standing girls’ mark of 57.52 set by Point Loma’s Leslie Mendez in 1978.

As a freshman in 1988, Terry set marks in the 50 freestyle (24.09) and the 100 backstroke (58.55). Last year, she broke records in the 200 freestyle (1:49.62) and 100 freestyle (50.56). She now owns section records in six of the eight girls’ individual events. About the only question that remains: Will Terry come back as a senior and attack the 500 freestyle and 100 breaststroke?

“I haven’t decided yet,” she said. “I already swam the 50 and 100 back faster than the record times. I hear there’s a freshman coming to our school next year that does a 1:52 in the 200 free. If that’s the case, I might do that. I like a challenge.”

One thing that would challenge Terry, who competed for the U.S. Junior National team at an event in East Germany during the winter, is the Olympics.

“I have a goal to be there in ’92 (in Barcelona) or ‘96,” she said. “No pain, no Spain. That’s my slogan.”

Poway’s boys got two victories each from Marc Fairon (1:58.03 in the 200 individual medley and 59.0 in the 100 breaststroke) and Trevor Jamison (51.84 in the 100 butterfly and 21.72 in the 50 freestyle). Of the 11 Poway swimmers to reach the finals, seven placed in the top five.

“They looked tired the last couple of events,” Poway Coach Dennis Moore said. “They’re so competitive. I think a lot of our kids used most of their energy in the prelims (Wednesday and Thursday). They don’t like to lose.”

USDHS’s girls, who finished fourth with 151 points, won five finals. Leah Schraeder qualified third and sixth in the 50 and 100 freestyles, but won both. USDHS’s 400 freestyle relay, anchored by Terry, qualified third but won in 3:39.34.

Swimming Notes

Alison Terry’s time in the 200 individual medley qualified her for All-American honors from the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches of America. . . . Mira Mesa’s Mike Picotte, who set section records in the 200 freestyle (1:38.44) and 100 freestyle (45.21) last year, won both races again this year but was slower: 1:40.47 and 45.64. . . . San Dieguito’s Kari Lyderson claimed championships in the girls’ 200 freestyle (1:51.5) and 500 freestyle (4:54.17).