SWIMMING U.S. SPRING NATIONALS : Nall Lowers Breaststroke Mark, Then Does It Again

Anita Nall, a 14-year-old high school freshman from Towson, Md., twice broke the American record in the women’s 200-meter breaststroke Thursday at the U.S. Spring Nationals swimming meet.

Nall’s 2:27.08 in the night finals bettered her U.S. record of 2:27.89 set in the morning preliminaries.

She broke the American mark of 2:29.78 set by Amy Shaw of Mission Viejo at the 1987 Pan Pacific meet in Brisbane, Australia.

Nall’s 2:27.08 was the second fastest in history. East Germany’s Silke Hoerner holds the world record of 2:26.71, set in 1988.

“I wanted to go that fast,” Nall said. “I’m excited. Tonight I felt a little sore, but I loosened up.

“This morning I didn’t feel as tight.”

Nall’s performance came in an event in which the United States has been lagging. The United States did not have a swimmer reach the final eight in the women’s 200 breaststroke at the World Championships in Perth, Australia, in January.

Nall did not qualify to swim at Perth.

Nall’s U.S. records highlighted the second day of the five-day competition in the King County Aquatic Center pool, site of the 1990 Goodwill Games.

Nall’s swimming reputation is growing fast. So is her stature. She is a 5-foot-5 1/2, 123-pounder who has grown four inches during the past year.

Her previous fastest 200 breaststroke time was 2:30.53 last December.

World-record holder Melvin Stewart failed in his bid to win $100,000 being offered by Las Vegas hotel and casino owner Bob Stupak to any member of the Las Vegas Gold Swim Team to set a world record.

Stewart, 22, a University of Tennessee junior who plans to pass up his final year of college eligibility to prepare for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona was clocked in 1:56.83 in the men’s 200 butterfly. He set his world record of 1:55.69 at the World Championships.

Angel Myers Martino, just off a 16-month suspension for testing positive for steroids at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials, returned to major competition and finished fifth in the women’s 100 freestyle in 56.54 seconds. Nicole Haislett, of St. Petersburg, Fla., won in 55.42.

Martino, 23, a graduate student at University of Alabama, was the first U.S. swimmer in history to be disqualified for a positive steroids test. She has denied taking steroids and said the test results were false.

Janie Wagstaff, 16, a high school junior from Mission Hills, Kan., twice broke the meet record in the women’s 200-meter backstroke. She swam 2:09.09 in the finals after going 2:10.23 in the preliminaries.

Betsy Mitchell holds the world and American record of 2:08.60.

Mike Barrowman, 22, of Rockville, Md., won the men’s 200 breaststroke handily but failed to better his world mark of 2:11.33. He was clocked in 2:12.61.