U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL : ROUNDUP : Black Swimmer, 16, Wins; 2 Marks Fall

Jeff Commings became the first black gold-medalist swimmer, and two records fell Sunday night as the swimming competition got off to a swift start in the U.S. Olympic Festival at Minneapolis.

Commings, who lives in the St. Louis suburb of Black Jack, Mo., easily won the 100-meter breast- stroke in 1 minute 4.34 seconds--the second-fastest time in Festival history.

The muscular 16-year-old swimmer beat silver medalist Eric Jones of Bedford, N.H., by more than a second in the University of Minnesota’s new $12.5 million recreation complex. And he just missed the festival record of 1:04.21 that Robert Lager set in 1982.

“I was really nervous up on the blocks,” Commings said. “I was just shaking because of all the tension of the crowd.”

Commings, who has been swimming since he was five, said he was unaware he had become the first black at the Festival to win a gold medal in swimming.

“It makes a lot of people see that swimming is an all-around sport if you really work hard at it,” he said. “It’s not a segregated sport.”

Daniel Kanner of San Gabriel set a Festival record in the 400 freestyle with a time of 3:43.34, eclipsing the old mark of 3:56.36 by Matt Cetlinski in 1982. Cetlinski is the current American record holder in the event.

A meet record was also set in the 50-meter freestyle when Scott Townsend of The Dalles, Ore., broke the seven-year-old mark with a time of 23.26 seconds. The old mark was 23.38 seconds, set by John Sauerland in 1983.

Natalie Norberg of Duarte swam the second-fastest Festival 200 freestyle, winning in 2:04.01. The record is 2:03.67, set by Sarah Anderson in 1987.

In figure skating, Nancy Kerrigan of Stoneham, Mass., was the women’s winner, and Erik Larson of San Diego, who finished fourth in the 1990 national championships, was the men’s winner.

The pairs’ gold medal went to Angela Deneweth of Westland, Mich., and John Denton of Morro Bay, Calif. They stopped the show and skated off the ice after the laces of Deneweth’s skate became untied. But the pair, who have been skating together for just over a year, returned with a polished four-minute routine.

In basketball, Shaquille O’Neal of Louisiana State scored 39 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, blocked seven shots and broke a rim, but the North rallied to beat his South team, 128-121.

The 7-foot-1, 280-pound O’Neal, who will be a sophomore in the fall, took a pass in the lane and slammed home a dunk in the second quarter that left the breakaway rim laying flat against the backboard. Workers had to replace the rim.

Earlier, the short-handed West team overcame two injuries and a 26-point performance by David Cain to earn its first victory. Byron Russell of Cal State Long Beach and Idris Jones of UC Santa Barbara led the way with 18 points each as the West beat the East, 117-96.

One of the West’s top outside shooters, Arizona recruit Tony Clark, missed the game because of a sprained ankle suffered Saturday. Shortly after Sunday’s game started, Nevada Las Vegas recruit Shon Tarver hurt his hip when he slipped after blocking a shot and crashed to the floor.

In women’s basketball, Tammi Reiss of Virginia scored 19 points to lead the East to a 64-62 victory over the West, and the North beat the South, 71-65.

In boxing, 139-pounder Skipper Kelp of Las Vegas lost a 3-2 decision to Steve Johnston of Denver. Johnston, who fought at 132 pounds before this year, earned the victory by outpunching and out-hustling Kelp, the 1989 Festival champion.