Beard and Parmenter Find Races Aren’t Worth the Wait

Two highly anticipated races--Olympic silver medalist Amanda Beard vs. Aussie icon Samantha Riley in the 200-meter breaststroke and Valley neighbors Kristine Quance vs. Jennifer Parmenter in the 400 individual medley--were only notable in a lack of drama.

Riley, 24, made a statement with her winning time and meet record of 2 minutes, 26.89 seconds on Saturday night at the Janet Evans Invitational at USC. For Riley, who finished fourth in that race behind Beard at the 1996 Olympics, it was an excellent time, second fastest in the world this year behind Agnes Kovacs of Hungary’s 2:25.31.

Beard’s performance was startling too, in that the 15-year-old from Irvine was seventh in 2:36.68.

Quance finished third (2:33.61) in the 200 breaststroke before establishing a meet record in the 400 IM less than an hour later, winning in 4:46.91.

“It was a lot faster than I expected to go,” said Quance of the 400 IM. “I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in.”

Parmenter, 16, was third in 4:52.57, well off her February nationals performance of 4:43.72, which is still the fastest in the world in 1997.

The 200 breaststroke was somewhat humbling, Quance said.

“She [Riley] was so far ahead of me, I was just hoping she was going really fast, because I didn’t want to be going really slow,” Quance said.

Quance has clearly rebounded after a rough 1996, in which she reached the Olympics in two individual events and one relay but did not swim in her favorite race, the 400 IM, because of her controversial disqualification at the U.S. Olympic trials.

As for Beard, her coach, Dave Salo, certainly did not expect her to swim a 2:36.

“She kind of got off the block without that kind of spark that was kind of been her insignia,” he said. “She likes to race, but tonight she didn’t have the spark. I think, at 15, you can ignite that.”

For some perspective, her winning time at the nationals in February at Buffalo was 2:30.73 and even as a 13-year-old she went 2:33.72 at the Sports Festival in July 1995.

“[She’s] not sure what she can do. Her workouts aren’t indicative of 2:36,” Salo said. “She’s been working out much better.

“There’s a lot of anticipation as to what she’s going to do. My whole intention after the Olympic Games was to not let her have a kind of letdown that’s going to run into a tragic conclusion in the sport.”

She has faced nagging injuries and great expectations since the Olympics.

“It’s always going to be in the back of your mind, ‘God, what if I don’t meet the expectations of the press and the fans?’ ” Salo said.

“And she doesn’t want to let people down.”

In other races Saturday, the Australians continued their dominance, winning three more individual races--Susan O’Neill won the 200 freestyle (2:00.94), Matthew Dunn the 400 IM (4:22.95, a meet record) and Michael Klim the 200 freestyle (1:49.87, a meet record).

Other winners were David Fox in the 50 freestyle, Steven West of the Irvine Novaquatics in the 200 breaststroke and Keiko Price of Team Bruin in the women’s 50 freestyle.

West, 25, established a meet record in the morning preliminaries, recording 2:16.48.

After the Olympic trials last year, West retired, got a job and also went into coaching, which was enough to change his mind.

“I was jealous of my swimmers,” he said, laughing.