Quance Still Paddles With an Even Keel

The tiny gathering of teen-agers at the end of Lane 4, Kristine Quance’s lane, struggled to adequately describe the kind-hearted personality of the 16-year-old from Northridge.

As Quance pulled farther and farther ahead in the 400-meter individual medley in Friday’s Chrysler Swim Meet of Champions at Mission Viejo, they hit upon the ultimate compliment.

“She doesn’t have an ego,” said Veronica Hernandez, a teammate of Quance’s on the Calabasas-based CLASS swim club.

In fact, Quance’s modesty is such that she doesn’t realize her life has changed since April, when she became a world-ranked swimmer in the individual medley and 200-meter breaststroke.

There are more international meets, an inaugural berth on the U.S. National “A” team, the burden of being seeded first--as she was Friday--and much more attention.

“I never really thought about it,” Quance said. “It is not like all of a sudden I said to myself, ‘I’m good now.’

“I just can’t let ego go to my head because I’ve seen other people who have and I didn’t like it.”

Quance, who will be a junior at Granada Hills High next fall, was even hesitant in describing her wish for a little more competition in the individual medley.

“I know I can go faster . . . if someone is there pushing me,” she said of her anchor freestyle leg.

But by the time she started that stroke Friday, Quance was ahead of runner-up Sarah Anderson by an astounding 16 seconds. Quance finished in four minutes, 48.36 clocking.

It was the exact time CLASS Coach Bud McAllister predicted following Quance’s preliminary effort of 4:51.42 hours earlier.

The 4:48.36 represents Quance’s best performance without resting or shaving her body hair--preparations all swimmers make before major competitions. Moreover, she just returned from a high-yardage, high-intensity long-distance camp in Hawaii.

“If you get them to swim that fast tired it is a good sign,” McAllister said.