SWIMMING / JUNIOR NATIONALS WEST : Inexperienced Kolbisen Is 50-Meter Freestyle Winner

One of the local 10-year-olds believed she was an Olympic swimmer. Another believed she was the third cousin of Olympic gold medalist Pablo Morales. But Liesl Kolbisen’s coach, Keith Strange, knew exactly what she was: crazy.

Just crazy enough to upset a field of experienced 50-meter freestyle specialists Tuesday in the U.S. Swimming Junior Nationals West at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center.

“She’s crazy enough that she won’t let a meet like this get to her,” Strange said shortly after Kolbisen churned to victory in 26.76 seconds.

While catching her breath, Kolbisen signed autographs for the children who still hadn’t decided if she was related to an Olympian or the real thing. With her goggles around her neck, sunglasses on and a cardboard Medieval Times crown on her cap, it was a comical sight.

Kolbisen, 15, of Half Moon Bay, Calif., has been competing less than two years. But she’s no newcomer to the water--she was two weeks old when her mother put her into a pool--and she had an early interest in water ballet.

“I didn’t breathe a lot, I had a fast turnover and mainly I psyched myself into it,” said Kolbisen, seeded 16th.

In the boys’ 50 freestyle, Gary Hall, 17, of Phoenix Swim Club clocked 23.18 seconds in the preliminaries to break Doug Dickinson’s 1988 Junior National record of 23.65.

It was one of two records set on the final day of competition. The other was a Junior National West mark set by the Texas Aquatics boys’ 400 medley relay team. In all, five Junior National records were broken, one was tied and 12 Junior National West records were set.

Hall, the son of three-time Olympic swimmer Gary Hall, overcame a false start to win the finals in 23.29.

Three swimmers became triple event winners Tuesday: Emily Peters, Jay Telford and Cathy O’Neill.

Peters and Telford won the 1,500 freestyle races to sweep the distance events, and O’Neill won the 200 individual medley to go with her 200 breaststroke and 400 individual medley triumphs.

O’Neill’s team, the City Of Plano, Tex., Swimmers, won the combined team title and the girls’ title.

The Woodlands, a Houston-based team, was the boys’ titlist and the combined runner-up. The highest-placing Southland team was Buenaventura, which finished runner-up in the boys’ standings and seventh overall.

Several dozen swimmers posted national time standards, allowing them to compete Monday through Aug. 21 at the U.S. Swimming national championships in Mission Viejo alongside several ’92 U.S. Olympians, including gold medalist and world record-holder Mike Barrowman and Ron Karnaugh.