SWIMMING / THERESA MUNOZ : Meets in California Showcase Olympians

Olympic swimmers from eight countries will tune up for the Olympic Games in Barcelona at the Santa Clara International, Friday through Sunday and the Mission Viejo Olympic Sendoff Meet, July 2-5.

The Santa Clara meet features United States Olympians Matt Biondi, Joe Hudepohl, Scott Jaffe, Tom Jager, Lea Loveless, Pablo Morales, Jeff Rouse, Summer Sanders, Jenny Thompson and Angie Wester-Krieg.

The group represents five of American’s nine active world record-holders, including Biondi in the 100-meter freestyle, Jager (50 freestyle), Morales (100 butterfly), Rouse (100 backstroke) and Thompson (100 freestyle).

Biondi, Jager and Hudepohl are three-quarters of the U.S. men’s 400 freestyle relay team. Their battle in the 100 freestyle will be among the meet’s highlights.

Biondi is determined to go faster than the 51.6-second swim he posted last month at the Alamo Challenge in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

“I’ve made some important changes, even since Ft. Lauderdale, that are getting me closer and closer to the right track,” he said. “It’s largely a feeling in the water. Basically my strength is up, so I’m able to hold onto the water all the way through my stroke.”

Biondi, 26, also is feeling better psychologically as he prepares for an Olympic Games that differs greatly from the ’88 Games, when he had the opportunity to duplicate Mark Spitz’ unprecedented seven-gold medal performance in ’72.

Biondi, who won five golds, a silver and a bronze in ‘88, qualified for the U.S. team in three events this time around--the 50 and 100 freestyles and the 400 freestyle relay. He has a chance for a fourth medal in the 400 medley relay, if he is the fastest American in the 100 freestyle (essentially if he defeats Jon Olsen).

Hudepohl, 18, of the Cincinnati Marlins should provide the stiffest challenge for Biondi in the 100 at Santa Clara, and Jager will be the man to beat in the 50.

Jager, a former UCLA All-American, holds a 15-8 advantage over Biondi in the 50 and has clocked the world’s fastest time, 21.81 seconds. But Biondi beat Jager in the 50 at the ’88 Games and at the ’92 U.S. Olympic trials.

In the 200 freestyle, Hudepohl and Poland’s Artur Wojdat take center stage.

The key for Hudepohl is swimming the third 50 meters of the race faster than the second 50, according to his coach, Jack Simon.

“I want him to swim the third 50 like he has to in Barcelona,” Simon said. “That’s our whole goal at Santa Clara and Mission Viejo.”

While Hudepohl stretches his speed to reach 200 meters, Wojdat, who trains with Coach Terry Stoddard at Mission Viejo, is just getting warmed up.

Wojdat’s performance at the Charlotte (N.C.) Ultraswim, June 11-14, was typical of his range. He won the 200 (1:51.75), 400 (3:53.30), 800 (8:04.34) and 1,500 (15:26.64) freestyles--all in meet record time.

The easy-going Wojdat was fourth in the ’88 Games in the 200 freestyle and the bronze medalist in the 400 freestyle.

Along with Wojdat, the Polish/Mission Viejo contingent competing at Santa Clara includes distance freestyler Mariusz Podkoscielny, butterflier Rafal Szukala and medleyist Marcin Malinski.

Four Olympians are expected from the Commonwealth of Independent States, including breaststroker Dmitri Volkov and medleyist Sergei Marinuk.

Olympians from Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Singapore also are entered in the meet. The Japanese junior national team and club swimmers from several top California teams, including Stanford, Mission Viejo, Golden Bear, California Capital and Santa Barbara, complete the field.

Hudepohl has no lingering effects from a bout with mononucleosis that kept him out of training for 10 days late last month, according to Simon.

“He is training very well, much better than he has in his life,” Simon said. “We brought him back gradually, without any stress for a week. We’re back up to the stress, and he’s swimming very, very well.”

The possibility exists that the illness--including a fever that persisted for a week--was a sign that Hudepohl needed to back off from strenuous training.

“It might have been a blessing in disguise,” Simon said.

Hudepohl clocked a 1:48.70 to make the Olympic team in the 200, but Simon believes it will take a time two seconds faster to win the race at Barcelona.

Swimming Notes

The Mission Viejo meet has attracted Olympians from Poland, Brazil, New Zealand, Mexico and the following U.S. Olympians: American record-holders Janie Wagstaff (100 backstroke), Royce Sharp (200 backstroke), Nelson Diebel (100 breaststroke) and Eric Namesnik (400 individual medley), as well as Hudepohl, Morales, Rouse, Jaffe, Crissy Ahmann-Leighton and Ron Karnaugh of the host Nadadores. . . . Coach Richard Quick of NCAA women’s champion Stanford said that he is still mulling an offer to return to Texas as coach. . . . When Mike Barrowman stood on the blocks at the Ultraswim Meet in the latest innovation, a “zipper suit” that stretched to his neck, he was greeted by catcalls and laughter. But Barrowman, the world record-holder in the 200 breaststroke, wasn’t joking around. He is considering wearing the suit in Barcelona. The skin-tight material is touted to cause less friction than skin. . . . Nick Gillingham put Barrowman on notice with his European-record 2:11.62 in the 200 breaststroke at the British Olympic trials in Sheffield, England. Barrowman, whose world record is 2:10.60, recorded a 2:13.54 in the U.S. trials when he was upset by teammate Roque Santos (2:13.50). Gillingham, the silver medalist in the ’88 Games, was nearly as impressive in the 100 with a 1:01.45. . . . Alexander Popov, the biggest threat to unseat defending Olympic 100 freestyle champion Matt Biondi, posted a 49.58 in the CIS trials in Moscow. Popov, who is believed to have the world’s longest freestyle stroke, is also a medal contender in the 50 freestyle. He recorded a 22.31 at the Grand Prix meet in France three weeks ago. Popov’s teammates Gennadi Prigoda and Evgeni Sadoviy also are coming on strong. Prigoda swam a 23.03 in the 50 and a 50.16 in the 100 at the CIS trials, and Sadoviy clocked a 1:48.75 in the 200 freestyle.

Chad Carvin of Laguna Hills High won the 200- and 500-yard freestyles at the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Assn. Championships in Winnetka, Ill. Carvin, who will be a freshman at Arizona, clocked a 1:40.37 in the 200 and won the 500 in a meet-record 4:25.57. Jessica Tong of Chadwick High beat Meredith Booker of Beverly Hills High in the 100 freestyle with a 51.27 to Booker’s 52.22. Tong took second in the 100 backstroke (56.96) and Booker placed third (57.49). Tong is headed for Texas in the fall, and Booker is part of a surprisingly strong group recruited by Northwestern. UCLA recruit Wyatt Russo of Plano, Tex., won the 200 individual medley (a meet-record 1:52.20) and the 100 backstroke (50.72). The runner-up in the 100 backstroke, Mike Andrews of Cincinnati, is also UCLA-bound.