HIGH SCHOOL SWIMMING : USDHS’s Terry Sets 2 Records

Alison Terry was trying to decide if she’d done well, so-so or not too great.

The USDHS senior owns six CIF records. She wrapped up her high school swimming career Saturday at Loma Verde Pool in the San Diego section championship meet, collecting three firsts, setting two records and posing with two young swimmers who figured they should capture her in still life in case she becomes famous.

On a day when the Poway girls’ and boys’ teams finished first for the third consecutive year, Terry distinguished herself among the individual performers, winning the 50-yard freestyle, surpassing her record in the 100 backstroke and anchoring USDHS’s 400 freestyle relay team, which also set a section record.

Yet when it was over, she wasn’t sure she should celebrate.

Asked if this had been a good day, she responded: “Yeah. Well, no. It was . . . good and bad, I think. Not so much bad, but I was kind of disappointed in my 50.”

That would be the 50 freestyle. She didn’t set a record in that event. Her time was 23.86, and the section record is 23.77.

It should be pointed out that she holds that record. She set it Thursday at the preliminary meet, but Thursday wasn’t as important to her as Saturday.

“Thursday’s wasn’t a sanctioned meet for United States Swimming,” she said. “And so I was kind of bummed.”

She’s sure she could have gone faster.

“The pool was really cold, and it took me a long time to get warmed up,” she said. “I think by the time I was warmed up I was tired.”

Terry’s backstroke time of 57.48 bettered the 58.55 she swam when she was a freshman in 1988. A 3:37.40 in the relay, which she swam with Shauli Beach, Bridget Daly and Lia Schraeder, improved on Mt. Carmel’s record of 3:38.65 set in 1986.

Still, she could have been better. “This isn’t a very fast pool,” she said. “Mt. Carmel’s is better. This one isn’t deep enough. So I think I swam well considering the pool.”

Well enough to get a host of congratulatory hugs and several picture requests. She hadn’t gotten that much attention since her swing through Paris and East Berlin, where she was hounded by autograph seekers while swimming on the national junior team.

After graduation, Terry plans to put college off for a year (she originally was going to attend USC this fall) and train for the Olympic trials in March. But Saturday ended a chapter in her career.

“I’m a little sad,” she said. “But I’m happy now because we just broke that (relay) record, and we missed it by a second last year.”

Swimming Notes

Another section record was set in the girls’ division by Poway’s 200-medley relay team. Ericka and Inga Keithly, Kendall Lane and Jenny Bowman swam a 1:53.36 to edge Rancho Buena Vista’s record of 1:53.46 set in 1989. . . . Since this was the first year the CIF meet had a 200-freestyle relay, there were two other section records set. The Vista boys’ team--Brent Sorenson, Trevor Grimm, Kevin Mossbarger and Chris Beauchamp--won in 1:28.83. The Poway girls’ team--Lane, Inga Keithly, Tracy Burrows and Danielle Boudreau--took first in 1:43.85.