SWIMMING / THERESA MUNOZ : Pac-10 Meet Shows Women’s Team Could Have a Cardinal Hue

Stanford will be well represented on the 1992 U.S. Olympic women’s swim team if its performances last weekend in the Pacific 10 meet at Long Beach are any indication.

Summer Sanders, Janel Jorgensen, Jenny Thompson and Lea Loveless swam exceptionally well.

Sanders broke Janet Evans’ 1990 meet record in the 400-yard individual medley by eight seconds with a time of 4 minutes 7.2 seconds and set meet records in the 200 individual medley, 1:59.34, and 200 butterfly, 1:55.28.

The sophomore from Roseville, Calif., is only the second American to go that fast in the 200 butterfly and the 400 individual medley.

“Summer is real focused,” Cardinal Coach Richard Quick said. “I didn’t know Summer could swim the 400 I.M. faster than she did at the Cal meet (4:08.5).”

Like most of the swimmers who competed nationwide in conference meets last weekend, Sanders did not taper (dramatically reduce her training) or shave her body hair, which makes her times all the more impressive.

Presumably, when Sanders tapers and shaves for the United States Olympic trials, March 1-6 at Indianapolis, she will swim even faster.

Sanders and the other collegians will be switching from the 25-yard pools of the NCAA to the 50-meter pools used in the trials and the Olympic Games. The longer pools require more swimming, because there are fewer turns and push-offs.

Jorgensen also clocked an impressive 200 butterfly, 1:58.90, and set a meet record of 53.36 seconds in the 100 butterfly.

“That’s by far the fastest she’s ever swum unshaved and unrested, so I think she’s on course to have an outstanding trials,” Quick said.

Thompson, primarily known for her 50- and 100-freestyle exploits, showed sustained speed by winning the 200 in a conference record 1:45.31--the fifth-fastest time by an American.

“She has great range,” Quick said. “I’m not so sure the 200 isn’t her best event.”

The freshman from Dover, N.H., set meet records in the 50 freestyle, 22.64; and 100 freestyle, 48.99, as well.

Several conference backstroke records were broken, primarily because of the new no-hand touch rule.

Of those record swims, Loveless’ 1:55.46 in the 200 backstroke and her 53.79 in the 100 backstroke were the third-fastest by an American.

“Both of her backstroke swims were really good, but no one is exactly sure how fast is fast,” Quick said of the backstroke event.

The biggest surprise of the meet for the champion Cardinal was Mary Edwards, a sophomore from Portola Valley, Calif., who knocked nearly four seconds off her best 100 backstroke time for a 54.69 and took second in the 100 freestyle in 50.25.

Lost in the shuffle were Lori Heisick’s meet records in the 100 breaststroke, 1:02.54, and 200 breaststroke, 2:14.37.

“It’s the best I’ve ever had a team swim in the Pac-10s,” Quick said. “But the Olympic trials are a different ballgame. A lot of great athletes won’t make the team. Hopefully, we’ll be well represented.”

The odds are with Quick, the 1988 U.S. Olympic coach, because 19 of his swimmers qualified for the trials.

Mark Schubert, who will coach the 1992 U.S. women’s Olympic team, will bring the largest women’s contingent to Indianapolis.

Along with 16 members of his University of Texas team, six swimmers--Evans among them--from his Texas Aquatics club will contend for berths on the Olympic team.

FINA, the international governing body of swimming, is exploring the implications of the recent admission by 20 former East German swim coaches that they gave anabolic steroids to their world-class swimmers in the 1970s and ‘80s.

A FINA committee will report its findings at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.

East German women won gold medals in 11 of the 13 events in the 1976 Olympic Games. In ‘88, after boycotts by the U.S. in ’80 and by the Eastern Bloc in ‘84, they won 10 of the 15 races. Women from East Germany still hold seven world records.

In perhaps a related announcement, FINA officials allowed Dr. Luther Kipke to resign from the FINA medical commission.

Kipke was a prestigious East German sports scientist.

Coming events: March 1-6: U.S. Olympic Trials at Indianapolis; March 19-21: NCAA women’s meet at Austin, Tex.; March 26-28: NCAA men’s meet at Indianapolis.