She’s Making Headway in Swimming

Staciana Stitts’ swimming career couldn’t look better.

As one of the nation’s top breaststrokers, Stitts, 16, who just finished her junior year at Carlsbad High, recently qualified for the U.S. Goodwill Games team. She performed well at Senior Nationals in April, and her six-day training schedule with her club, the Irvine Novaquatics, has given her the confidence she says she needs in preparation for the 2000 U.S. Olympic team.

Besides being a talented swimmer, Stitts has a supportive and loving family and plenty of friends. Nothing wrong in her perfect world, right?

“Well, maybe it’s my bald head. But I’ve even gotten used to that, so it’s not a big deal anymore,” said Stitts, who will compete in the Swim Meet of Champions, beginning today and ending Sunday in Mission Viejo.

When she was in the seventh grade, Stitts was afflicted with alopecia universalis, a rare condition that causes the body to shut down hair growth. Doctors don’t know what causes the disease, and say there is a chance her dark brown hair will return.

“I was devastated when it happened,” Stitts said. “It took about a month for all my hair to fall out. I remember when it first started. I was combing my hair and these big clumps of hair were coming out in my brush. I ran into my parents’ room crying.”

Stitts said doctors told her nothing could be done and inevitably she would lose all her hair. At that point, she and her father made the decision to shave her head.

“After that I wore hats for a year,” she said. “But I never wore them at the pool or at home, only at school and out in the public.

“Then in the summer, my hair started to grow back, and I was really excited. But then it went back to the way it was. It was then I decided that I don’t want to wear hats anymore. I felt like I was always hiding, and I was tired of it. I think that really helped me to accept it.”

Said Novaquatics Coach Dave Salo: “As far as her condition, she has long ago learned to accept it. She knows she can’t change anything about it.”

Stitts said accepting her condition makes it easier to handle the stares, which she gets every day, on and off the pool deck.

“It doesn’t bother me. Now that I have accepted it and I meet people, they kind of have to accept it,” she said.

Stitts started swimming with the Encinitas YMCA team, when she was 6. An average swimmer, she moved on to North County Aquatics in Carlsbad after she started to demonstrate some talent. But when Scott Lawson, her age-group coach at North County, formed a swim club, Inland Coastal Aquatics, Stitts left North County to train with Lawson.

At that time, Stitts was training with her older sister, Alisha, who now swims for Iowa.

“I was a little brat,” Stitts said, laughing. “Growing up, I always chased my older sister. I was always racing her in practice, anywhere there was a pool. So when she went on to college, there was no one to race anymore.”

Although it was hard for her to make the move, Stitts decided it would be best for her career to train with the Novaquatics.

Besides the chance to train with Amanda Beard, one of the nation’s top breaststrokers, and up-and-comer Kristen Caverly, Stitts was attracted to the facility at Heritage Park Aquatic Complex.

“I was always looking for long-course [50-meter] pool time because we never did any [with my old club]. And when I made seniors [nationals] in my sophomore year, I knew I had to start training long course,” she said.

Stitts’ mother drives her from Carlsbad to Irvine for practices five days a week.

“It takes about an hour. I leave right after school gets out and we get on the road,” she said.

Despite the commute, Stitts said the drive has been worth it, especially since her times have continued to drop.

At spring senior nationals, Stitts swam a career best 1 minute 10.32 seconds in the 100 breaststroke to take third. She finished fourth in the 200 breaststroke (2:33.24).

That was key to her selection for the Goodwill Games team.

Besides Stitts, the U.S. Goodwill Games team includes Olympians Jenny Thompson, Amy Van Dyken and Kristine Quance and Stanford standout Misty Hyman. The games are July 28 through Aug. 2 at the Nassau County Goodwill Games Aquatic Center in East Meadow, N.Y.

“I’m really excited about being named to the team. I get to swim in New York, and I’ve never been to New York,” Stitts said.

Many of the athletes on the Goodwill Games team will be in Mission Viejo for the next four days at the Swim Meet of Champions.

“I’m looking forward to swimming this weekend. I love to race. And when the talent is good, I seem to race harder,” Stitts said.

So the competition isn’t intimidating?

“I think losing my hair has made me more confident,” Stitts said. “I mean, if I can handle this . . . I think I can just about anything.”

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Swim Meet

* What: Swim Meet of Champions, the summer’s top West Coast meet.

* When: Competition begins at 5 today with the 800 freestyle. Preliminaries begin at 9 a.m. Friday through Sunday. Finals start at 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 4 p.m. Sunday.

* Where: Marguerite Aquatic Swim Center, 27474 Casta del Sol, Mission Viejo.

* Participants: Among competitors will be the NCAA Division I champion Stanford men’s and women’s teams, USC’s team and the Canadian national team. Top individuals include Gary Hall Jr., Kristine Quance, Lenny Krayzelburg, Amanda Beard, Misty Hyman and Jenny Thompson.

* Cost: $2 each day for prelims, $4 each day for finals; $15 for all-sessions pass.

* Information: (714) 380-2552