L.A. UNIVERSITY BEAT / WENDY WITHERSPOON : Oh My! Swimmer Martin Has Had a Life of Lions and Tigers and Trojans

Lisa Martin has slept on planks in a bungalow on stilts above a river teeming with caimans in South America, in the tiger tops--huts perched in trees--of Nepal and on the floors of countless jungles around the world.

All this must make the dormitories at USC seem tame.

Martin, a freshman on the Trojan women’s swimming team, has led a life that would make many National Geographic reporters look like rookies.

Her mother died in a car accident when Martin was 2. A few years later, her father, William, retired from a political think-tank in Washington, D.C., moved his family to Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and took over the full-time job of raising two daughters, Lisa and Rachael.

He filled their summers with trips to exotic locations.

“It gives you perspective,” he said. “We tried to go places that would give the children some idea of what they had so they could give back some day to society.”

The lessons were not wasted on Lisa.

“I think you grow up quickly learning how other people live in other cultures,” she said.

On a trip to New Guinea, the Martins chartered a plane to the highlands. When Martin, then about 13, noticed her seat wasn’t bolted to the floor and inquired about seat belts, the pilot only laughed and said that she might as well be asking for a Ferrari.

After landing on a grass strip, they traveled for days by foot and boat with two guides, encountering countless fascinating communities, such as one in which men grow their hair into enormous coifs for religious purposes. They saw ceremonial mud dances and women who nurse pigs because they are considered a sacred animal. A member of one remote community offered William 90 pigs for the privilege of marrying Lisa.

Often, the family travels involved some danger.

“When you get out of the major cities, the territoriality is important,” William said. “You can get killed if you go in without permission. I would have thought twice about bringing the children (some places) if I had known.”

Nonetheless, the rewards of poking around in the world’s most secluded spots have been priceless. Indelible are Martin’s memories of India, where an immense water buffalo blocked the path of her rickshaw and where she had a close encounter with a dancing bear; of stops along the Amazon, where young students were made to swim across an allegedly piranha-infested river for misbehaving and where she played with a pet monkey one afternoon, then learned that dinner that night was monkey stew; of the Great Barrier Reef, where she went scuba diving; and of Nepal, where she rode the backs of elephants to track rhinos and tigers.

Martin hopes to continue her explorations once her swimming career is over. But that might be a while because she is one of the nation’s top middle-distance swimmers. Martin was a six-time prep All-American at Palm Beach Lakes High and a four-time Florida state champion in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events.

She has USC’s top time so far this season in the 200 freestyle, 1:49.28, and ranks second in the 500 freestyle.

She credits her travels for her work ethic.

“I saw that these people in other countries don’t have anything,” she said, adding that her goal is to “not take for granted the little things.”

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Kim Zmeskal and Peter Vidmar will perform at the UCLA/Gilda Marx gymnastics invitational Saturday at 7 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion.

Zmeskal, a 1992 U.S. Olympian and the 1991 world champion in the all-around, will give an exhibition. Vidmar, a member of the Olympic gold medal-winning 1984 U.S. team, will compete on a team composed of UCLA alumni. Other men’s teams competing are the UCLA club, the Arizona State club, Brigham Young and UC Santa Barbara. The women’s teams are UCLA, Arizona State, Cal State Fullerton and Cal Berkeley.

Zmeskal and Bela Karolyi, her coach, also will conduct a clinic in Pauley Pavilion at 2 p.m. for youngsters of all ages and instructors. Cost: $10, preregistered, $15 at the door. Details: (310) 825-2343.

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Several local college athletes will compete in the Sunkist Invitational track meet Saturday at the Sports Arena at 6 p.m.

From UCLA, Mebrahtom Keflezighi will run the men’s 3,000 meters against Arizona’s Martin Keino, NCAA champion and son of Olympic champion Kip Keino; Jeanine Crain will run the women’s 880 against Mozambique’s Maria Mutola, who had the world’s best time in the 800 meters last year; Michael Terry will run the men’s 880 against Johnny Gray, who holds the indoor world record in the event, 1:46.8; Akil Davis will run the men’s 50 meters; Scott Slover, a two-time state high school champion, will compete in the pole vault and Thomas Ganda will be in the long jump.

From USC, Udeme Ekpenyong will run the 500 yards against Danny Harris, a 1984 Olympic silver medalist in the 400-meter hurdles; Kehinde Alade’fa will run the men’s 50-meter hurdles and Sau Ying Chan will run the women’s 50-meter hurdles.