Drug Testing of Swimmers Will Expand : Monitoring: The top 150 athletes will undergo random inspections out of competition.

Ray Essick, executive director of U.S. Swimming, said Monday that the top 150 American swimmers will be subjected to random, out-of-competition drug testing, beginning within the next 60 days.

In the past, U.S. Swimming has tested only at major competitions.

“We left Barcelona with a clean American team, but I can tell you from sitting on the USOC (U.S. Olympic Committee’s substance abuse) committee that the drug users are ahead of the drug testers, and that’s depressing,” Essick told coaches representing 265 teams in the U.S. Swimming National Championships at Mission Viejo.

The 150 swimmers will come from the national A and B teams. Remaining spots will be filled through an undetermined formula. “We haven’t decided if we are going to test junior national swimmers,” Essick said.

Each swimmer will be notified by telephone and in writing 48 hours in advance. The testers will go to the home, college dormitory or vacation site of the swimmer.

“That way the athlete can’t avoid it,” Essick said. “Putting the onus on the kid (to report for testing) is unfair.”

A group of high-risk swimmers, such as those with a previous drug violation or those coming out of retirement, will also be tested randomly--but from a smaller group, so that they can be tested more often. For the first time, swimmers going into and out of retirement will have to notify U.S. Swimming.

An increase in funding by U.S. Swimming and the USOC plus enhanced commercial endorsement opportunities brought more than a dozen swimmers out of retirement for the 1992 U.S. Olympic trials.

“People realize that American swimming is clean, but if the money starts to come forward, including prize money for races, the temptation is there to gain an unfair advantage,” Essick said.

FINA, the international governing body of the sport, approved a similar plan at the Barcelona Olympics, but is still working out details and has not set a starting date for out-of-competition testing worldwide.

In the only events Monday, the first of five days of competition, Sarah L. Anderson won the women’s 800-meter freestyle and Lars Jorgensen won the men’s 800 freestyle.

In the last 100 meters, Anderson, 17, of San Ramon Valley, Calif., pulled away from Alexis Larsen, 15, of Pacific Palisades and was timed in 8 minutes 40.36 seconds.

Jorgensen, a 1988 Olympian from San Diego, survived a late challenge by Carlton Bruner of Florida Aquatics in 7:59.46.

A full schedule of competition, featuring Olympic gold medalist and world record-holder Mike Barrowman, begins today with preliminaries at 9 a.m. and finals at 5 p.m.

Barrowman is one of only five Barcelona Olympians entered.

“Personally, I’d like to see the whole team here,” said Dennis Pursley, director of the U.S. Swimming National Team.

“The focus is on swimming right now, the media interest is there and it would be good for the club teams and the young, up-and-coming swimmers.

“But on the other side, it’s unfair to them. We ask them to sacrifice so much. To say, ‘We want this to be the greatest effort in your lifetime,’ and then to say, ‘We’re not finished . . . ‘ I did not twist any arms.”

He certainly didn’t have to twist Barrowman’s arm.

“It’s very hard to come back and swim again after such a great thing in your life,” Barrowman said. “You have to love the sport.

“I’m amazed not everyone on the team is here.”

Barrowman, who has trained only three times since he won his gold medal on July 29, runs the risk of losing a race.

“That is a very big possibility,” he said. “And I know that’s the reason a lot of (Olympic medalists) are afraid of competing.”