Age of Aquarius : Parmenter, at 14 a Waterbabe, Pushing Up Olympic Timetable

Jennifer Parmenter has always been ahead of schedule.

But four full years? Maybe.

Whether she is that far up on the pace will be determined during the next seven days at the U.S. Swimming Olympic trials in Indianapolis.

Parmenter, a Los Angeles Baptist High freshman, has for several years been training with the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, on her mind.

Then came her stunning performance last March at the spring national championships in Minnesota, in which she won titles in the 200- and 400-meter individual medleys.

“I didn’t think I would be going for ‘96,” Parmenter said. “But after winning twice [in Minnesota] I started thinking, ‘Well, maybe.’ ”

Skeptics held that Parmenter’s titles were tainted by the absence of top older swimmers who skipped the spring nationals to take part in the NCAA championships or the Pan American Games.

But her accomplishments don’t lie.

Parmenter, who will turn 15 next Wednesday, ranks third among U.S. women in both individual medleys. “We’re not that far down from the best,” her coach, Bruce Patmos, said.

At the trials, Parmenter will compete in the 400 individual medley today, the 200 on Sunday, and the 200 backstroke on Monday. The top two swimmers in each event will represent the United States at the Olympics in Atlanta beginning July 20 at the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center.

Parmenter’s chances of making the U.S. team would improve tremendously if she just finishes first among swimmers from Granada Hills. Kristine

Quance, whose family lives within a few miles of Parmenter’s home, is a top contender in both medley races.

Quance, 20, a four-time NCAA champion from USC, defeated Parmenter by almost three seconds last August while winning the 400 individual medley in the summer senior nationals at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena.

Allison Wagner, an eight-time national champion from Gainesville, Fla., finished second to

Quance. Parmenter, who struggled on the breaststroke leg of the medley, placed fifth.

Later in the meet, Wagner won the 200 individual medley, with two-time Olympic gold medalist Summer Sanders in second and Parmenter in third.

“We know right now they might be better than us, but we’re coming after them,” Patmos said.

“If she’s on and one of them is off, then there’s our chance, there’s our open door.”

For the trials, Parmenter has been tapering her workouts for almost two full weeks, a change Patmos said was prompted by Parmenter’s growth. She is 5 feet 8, 128 pounds, having grown almost four inches and gained about 30 pounds in a little more than a year.

“We got faster [last summer] as the meet went on,” Patmos said. “That told me she didn’t have enough [taper time].”

But as Parmenter’s training has lessened, other demands on her time have intensified. Recently, there have been several appointments for newspaper and television interviews, plus related photography engagements.

Holding close to some type of anonymity as a teenager is fast becoming impossible.

Last Thursday, her school called a special assembly in its gymnasium, where Parmenter was introduced and interviewed before a video clip from one of her spring national victories was played.

By most accounts, it was then that more than half of L.A. Baptist’s 770 students learned they had a celebrity in their midst.

Parmenter, whose main wish beyond becoming an Olympic medalist is to remain relatively “normal,” probably preferred it that way. She has been trying to blend into routine campus life for three years.

Ed Tooley, the L.A. Baptist teacher who introduced and interviewed Parmenter, recalled meeting what was then a shy seventh-grader while teaching a physical education class.

Tooley asked which sports Parmenter enjoyed.

“I’m a swimmer.”

“How do you do?”

“I do OK.”

“Are you on a team?”

“Yes, a club team.”

“Have you done anything noteworthy as part of your team?”

“I’ve done a few things.”

Tooley, thinking that Parmenter might have won a ribbon or two, invited Parmenter to bring a memento to share at school.

Instead, she brought a scrapbook, one filled with newspaper clippings recapping her already burgeoning record list.

“She did it very humbly,” Tooley said. “She really didn’t want to make it known.”

Truth be told, Parmenter has been something special from the very first time she dove into a pool in a competitive race.

“She’s always been very self-motivated,” said Parmenter’s father, Rich. The first time we stayed in a hotel for a meet at Buena [High] . . . there was a picture of a can in a hallway. On it, it said, ‘Success comes in cans, not cannots.’

“She spotted it. She was 8 years old. She said, ‘I like that, Dad.’ ”

Parmenter might be young, but she does not lack a competitive edge. She is quick to point out she has placed ahead of Wagner once before, and that she finished just barely behind Quance in the Pan Pacific Games last summer.

“If I can do it, great, but I’m not making any promises,” she said after a recent workout at College of the Canyons. “When you get there, it’s all about what you do and all that matters is who has enough guts at the end of the race.”

Parmenter is attempting to follow in the footsteps of her idol, Janet Evans, who won three gold medals as a 16-year-old in 1988.

Evans was 15 when she won her first senior national championship. Parmenter was a year younger when she captured her first senior title.

Of course, there have been plenty of sacrifices on the way to being so successful so young.

For most of the past five months, Parmenter has risen at 4:30 and been driven to a predawn workout by her mother, Cheryl.

Her after-school itinerary included weightlifting sessions three times a week, plus another lengthy training set back in the pool each evening. On weeknights, she usually returned home about 9.

“To accomplish what I want to do I have to swim,” Parmenter said. “It’s called dedication, I guess, but I am dedicated to swimming. This is what I really want to do.”

By organizing her “off hours,” Parmenter manages to maintain good standing in school--her grade-point average is above 3.00 according to Tooley--and an active social life, visiting amusement parks or seeing movies with friends.

Certainly, Parmenter already obviously enjoys the support of her newfound backers from school. At the student assembly, each of her answers during the interview was greeted by thunderous applause.

There is even talk of creating a school swim team.

There is, however, at least one potential problem:

L.A. Baptist, home of one of America’s brightest young swimming stars, doesn’t have a pool.