U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL : She Plays It Low Key on High Board : Lautenschlager Solves Physical, Mental Obstacles to Win Silver

The goal is to slice through still water without making a ripple. Janae Lautenschlager must relax and concentrate simultaneously in order to pull it off.

That is the only way she can contend with the anxieties of a reverse one-and-a-half somersault in the pike position. Concern No. 1 is hitting her head on the diving board.

It is one thing to start a somersault with your back to the water, quite another to face the water and flip backward toward the board.

Concern No. 2 is springing high enough on the takeoff to complete the somersault in time to untangle her limbs and turn herself into a splash-resistant missile, stretched from fingertips to toes like a rubber band.

Amid this transformation, Lautenschlager must find the mark, the sweet spot where her body can disappear without a ruffle. This bull’s-eye below is obscured by the dizzying speed of her aerial movements, yet she must find it to ensure the entry the judges reward.

“There are a lot of mental aspects to it,” said Lautenschlager, 22, of Northridge.

In sessions with a sports psychologist, Lautenschlager deals with these apprehensions. But she quickly points out that she likes to feel she is under no pressure to perfect her dives.

“I try to keep the attitude that whatever happens, happens,” she said. “If I do well, great. If not, great. I just don’t deal well with pressure.”

Fortunately, expectations for her were low at the U.S. Olympic Festival because Lautenschlager fared poorly at the national championships three months ago, placing seventh on the three-meter board and 17th on the one-meter.

Her lackluster performance was easily traced to the time-intensive nursing program she enrolled in at UCLA. On a good week, she made it to three practices.

With school out of session for the summer, Lautenschlager is training twice a day, six days a week--and it shows. On Wednesday night at the Palo Alto Natatorium, she claimed the silver medal on the one-meter board even though she was seeded 10th. Her forward two-and-a-half somersault in the tuck position and her forward somersault with a half twist were particularly impressive.

Despite a head cold, she scored 389.22 points in Friday’s preliminaries to earn the 12th and final spot for today’s finals, which will be televised tonight at midnight on TNT.

“I always tend to do better in the summer when I don’t have school,” said Lautenschlager, a 1988 graduate of Granada Hills High. “During the school year diving took a back seat and I didn’t end up doing as well at nationals as I wanted, but I realized that would be the case while I’m in the nursing program.”

Lautenschlager is expected to complete the program next June, which will give her almost two years to prepare for the 1996 U.S. Olympic trials. She plans to move her training base from the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center and Coach Van Austin to Mission Viejo and her summer coach, Janet Ely-Lagourgue. She also plans to work part-time.

“I need to keep up my skills,” Lautenschlager said. “In two years the medical field changes too much.”

As a sidelight, Lautenschlager has worked as a model and an actress. She played a diver on “BayWatch” and she dove in an insurance commercial that was broadcast last summer during the Olympic Games.

But the entertainment industry is not part of her long-term plans.

“I don’t like Hollywood,” Lautenschlager said. “The furthest I’ll go with it is maybe doing commercials or stunt work. There are just so many people out there doing the same thing. It’s an interesting place, but you have to have a lot of time, which is something I don’t have.”

Ely-Lagourgue contends that time--in the form of performing each of her dives more than a dozen times daily--is all Lautenschlager needs.

“When she is training consistently, the exquisite part of her diving is that extremely smooth approach and perfect contact with the board,” Ely-Lagourgue said. “She has the ability and balance to ride the board. As a result, she gains extraordinary height.”

From that vantage point, Lautenschlager sees a nursing career and a diving career juggled by a woman who knows how to focus and kick back at the same time.