Ballard 11th in Freestyle : Swimming: Glendale 17-year-old slowed by water-filled goggles in junior nationals.

Heather Ballard was familiar with the pool; she trains at the AAF Rose Bowl Aquatics Center every day.

But Ballard couldn’t see the walls after her goggles filled with water halfway through the 800-meter freestyle Friday night.

As a result, Ballard, 17, of the Glendale YMCA, was slightly off her personal best time. Still, it was good enough for 11th place in the United States Swimming Junior National Championships West.

Ballard, who will begin her freshman year at Cal State Northridge in the fall, finished in 9 minutes 8.34 seconds--2.1 seconds off her best time and 7.14 seconds behind winner Alison Mijares of Huntington Beach.

“I thought she could go a lot faster,” Glendale YMCA Coach Dale Lundin said. “We don’t like to make excuses, but when her goggles filled up, she couldn’t see at all.”

Consequently, Ballard had difficulty judging when to execute her flip turns. The slow turns took their toll.

Another factor, according to Lundin, was the all-too-familiar atmosphere.

“Being that we train at the Rose Bowl, it doesn’t give her the feel that it’s junior nationals,” he said. “It takes away some of the edge.”

Five other Valley-area swimmers also competed in the 800 on the first of five days of competition.

Sarah Nichols, 15, of Conejo Simi Aquatics, finished 25th in 9:13.77, and Brooke Thrasher, 17, of the Buenaventura Swim Team, finished 35th in 9:20.53.

Thrasher’s teammate, Melissa Walker, 17, wound up 37th in 9:26.80 and Christine DiSpaltro, 15, of Calabasas-based CLASS Aquatics, was next in 9:28.99. Jill Yarian, 15, of Buenaventura, followed in 39th place with a time of 9:31.63.

“We were terrible,” Buenaventura Coach Steve Baxter said. “Our distance swimming has been off all year. It hasn’t been there and I don’t know why.

“It takes a special kid to train for distance freestyle. A kid who wants to grind it out.”

Baxter is hopeful that today’s shorter events will yield faster swims and higher finishes.

We’ll be better (today),” he said. “I think we’ll be fine in anything 200 meters or less.

“Jill’s been training a lot of (individual medley) and I’m hoping she’ll bounce back well. And Melissa has been focusing on the 200s. This may be her last 800.”

Preliminary competition begins today at 9 a.m. in the 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly. Finals, in the same events, start at 5 p.m.

The meet, involving 1,100 swimmers who met stringent qualifying times, continues through Tuesday. A similar event for swimmers from the eastern half of the country is being held simultaneously in Charlotte, N.C.