SWIMMING / THERESA MUNOZ : Nakano Is Rising to Challenge

It is difficult enough for most 18-year-olds to leave home for college, find their way around campus, deal with the red tape of registration, make friends, and keep up with class assignments. Add to that the rigors of athletics, including higher expectations, and a greater time commitment, and the freshman year can be mind-boggling.

Now, factor in the inability to understand and communicate with 99% of the people on campus, and you have Ayako Nakano’s situation when she arrived at USC in September.

USC Coach Darrell Fick spotted Nakano, a freshman sprint freestyler from Yokohama, Japan, at the 1991 Pan Pacific Championships in Edmonton, Canada. He recruited her exclusively by mail.

In ever-improving English and in an enthusiastic search for the correct words, Nakano explained that she came to USC partly because of its 50-meter pool, a facility rarely available to her in Japan.

She also bypassed Japanese colleges to explore her interest in the United States.

“The people are kind and friendly,” she said.

Still, Nakano, a Japanese Olympian, is homesick.

“I miss my family in Japan,” she said. “Every day I want to go back to Japan.”

To combat her pining, Nakano visits Little Tokyo and phones home twice a month.

Among the adjustments she is making is a new approach to swimming.

“The Japanese way of thinking is that swimming is individual, personal,” Nakano said. “But this team (USC) thinks teamwork is important.”

The Trojans also spend more time in the water.

“Here, much practice,” said Nakano, winner of the 100-yard freestyle (50.85 seconds) in the Speedo Collegiate Cup West earlier this month. “In Japan, usually two hours . . . here, four hours.”

Backstroker Kristin Heydanek lost 20 pounds as a sophomore at UCLA last season, but it took several months for the weight loss to have a positive effect on her swimming.

“It was a lot to lose,” Bruin Coach Cyndi Gallagher said. “Now, she’s adjusted to her body. She’s a lot stronger and she’s not afraid to go out (fast in the first 50). It is just confidence.”

Heydanek, a junior from Midland, Mich., said her energy went to her weight loss last season, instead of her swimming.

“I feel real comfortable now and I worked a lot harder on my legs in the weight room this fall,” she said. “Kicking is so important in backstroke.”

Her thundering kick enabled her to break a school record almost every time she entered the Belmont Plaza Pool during the Speedo meet. She also set a meet record of 54.78 in the 100 backstroke.

Sprinter Christy Helm is having her best season at UCLA, in part, because of her marriage last summer to fellow Bruin Steve Helm.

“It’s a lot different for us,” she said. “Last year, he’d come over, we’d study, and he’d leave. Now, we have time together every night. It’s relaxed and I feel his support. He’s very encouraging. And he’s a fighter. He walked on to the football team two years ago and was trying to play outside linebacker at 200 pounds. That rubs off on me.”

Helm, a sprint freestyler from San Jose, also attributes her increase in speed to her status as a senior captain.

“I’m just having a lot of fun because it is my last year,” she said. “I want to go all out in style and have the best year of my life. I want to give as much time as I can to the team because swimming is a great sport.”

Helm’s dedication to the Bruins was evident last summer when she prepared for the NCAA season by competing in the U.S. Swimming Nationals at Mission Viejo, only one week before her wedding.

“Some (college) swimmers can’t get off their butts and go to summer nationals and she goes right before her wedding,” Gallagher said.

At the Speedo meet, Helm’s efforts paid off in the 50 freestyle with a personal-best 23.84.

“She’s stronger, more powerful, and leaner,” Gallagher said. “I think she’s going to go crazy this year.”

Swimming Notes

In breaking two meet records at the Speedo meet, UCLA freshman backstroker Michael Andrews did his best imitation of world record-holder Jeff Rouse on the starts and turns. Andrews’ powerful kick enabled him to emerge from the water last--and well ahead of his competitors--after the start and each turn.

“He’s got some legs when he’s rested,” UCLA Coach Ron Ballatore said. “And he’s just a little guy (5-foot-10 and 145 pounds).” Rouse, on the other hand, stands 6-3.

Texas Coach Eddie Reese believes USC will be among the NCAA’s top five teams soon. “I would like to think they need two to three recruiting years, but knowing Mark (USC Coach Schubert), he probably needs just one,” Reese said. “He’s got a lot of young kids and he doesn’t need that many more.”

Trojan sprinter Elin Bartell, a former walk-on, has been nominated as a Rhodes Scholar. A biological studies major with a 3.65-grade point average, she plans to attend medical school . . . Olympic gold medalist Melvin Stewart has been selected as a host for a proposed entertainment news show. “This is a great platform to break into the industry,” Stewart said. His six-figure contract allows him time to train for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta . . . Tracey McFarlane, a 1988 Olympic silver medalist from the University of Texas and the head coach of the Piranha Swim Team in Palm Springs, was voted to the Southwest Conference All-Decade team.

Upcoming NCAA meets: Jan. 2-3: Northern Arizona Invitational (men and women); Jan. 9: USC at UNLV (men); Jan. 15: Stanford at Arizona State (women), Michigan at California (men); Jan. 16 Texas at Florida (men and women); Jan. 22-23 Dallas Morning News Classic (men).