SWIMMING / PACIFIC 10 CHAMPIONSHIPS : Quance Sets NCAA Record, but Stanford Wins

Kristine Quance has a problem with limits. In swimming, at least, she pays them no mind.

Quance, a USC freshman, shattered the NCAA record in the 200-yard breaststroke at the Pacific 10 Conference championships Saturday at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach.

Quance finished in two minutes, 9.88 seconds, breaking the record set by Dorsey Tierney of Texas in 1991 by 1.66 seconds.

“She doesn’t get intimidated by fast times,” USC Coach Mark Schubert said. “She has a unique ability not to limit herself and that’s what makes her special.”

Stanford, meanwhile, easily won the three-day meet with 1,632 points. Arizona State finished with 1,186 points, followed by USC with 1,162.5 and UCLA with 1,072.

The Cardinal won 13 of the 21 events, including all five relays. USC was next with four individual titles, including Heather Ballard’s victory Saturday in the 1,650 freestyle in 16:25.58.

Lea Loveless and Jenny Thompson led Stanford, winning three individual titles apiece.

Loveless defended her title in the 200 backstroke in a meet record 1:54.13. She also defended her title in the 100 backstroke on Friday and won the 200 individual medley on Thursday.

Thompson defended her title in the 100 freestyle in 49.18 after defending her title in the 200 free on Friday and winning the 50 free on Thursday.

Despite overpowering every other team, Stanford swimmers were disappointed that more of them did not make qualifying marks for the NCAA championships mext month. In all, 16 Stanford swimmers have qualified.

“I think, from our point of view, the thing that we should be the most proud of is that we were tough, mentally,” Loveless said. “We didn’t let the disappointment get us down.”

Quance is another who didn’t let disappointment get her down.

Quance was upset Friday night after winning the 100 breaststroke in a Pac-10 record 1:01.28 because she had wanted to swim faster.

In the 200 breaststroke, however, Quance swam in a lane next to Arizona State’s Beata Kaszuba, the defending Pac-10 champion.

Kaszuba, whose second-place time of 2:10.93 also bettered the previous NCAA record, pushed Quance the entire race.