Heyns Sets Another Record at Pan Pacific

Smashing her sixth record in five weeks, South African Penny Heyns lowered her mark Thursday in the 200-meter breaststroke semifinals at the Pan Pacific championships.

It was the eighth record set in five days of competition at the meet, and the second for Heyns. She also lowered the 100-meter record in the preliminary heats.

American Mary T. Meagher’s 18-year-old record in the 200 butterfly survived the record rush as Australian Susie O’Neill missed her chance.

O’Neill, 26, was under record pace at 150 meters but could not finish it off. She finished with a time of 2:06.60, the same as her best before her 2:06.53 Wednesday. She was unable to lower Meagher’s 2:05.96, set Aug. 13, 1981, at Brown Deer, Wis.

During her five-week run, Heyns has lowered the 100 and 200 marks three times each.

“To be honest, I was really uptight about it all last night,” Heyns said.

“I have to say this morning I felt it was time to go home. I was really tired of racing, but I thought that’s not why I swim. Sooner or later I’m going to retire and I only have ‘x’ amount of swims left so I must enjoy every one.”

Heyns broke four world records last month in Los Angeles, two in each event, and her 2:24.42 Wednesday was 0.9 of a second under her 2:24.51 on July 18.

O’Neill faced enormous pressure before the race and even Meagher, now Mary Plant, said she hoped O’Neill would break swimming’s longest standing record--men’s or women’s.

“One day, hopefully, maybe, I can do it,” O’Neill said. “I want to keep swimming until I do. Maybe I’ll be around at 35 at this rate.”

Jenny Thompson, who broke Meagher’s 100 butterfly world record Monday--the second-oldest mark--returned to action with the fastest qualifying time from the semifinals of the 100 freestyle.

She also won her 21st Pan Pacific gold medal as the United States 800-meter freestyle relay team swam the second fastest time ever. Thompson, Lindsay Benko, Ellen Stonebraker and Cristina Teuscher finished at 7:57.61, missing East Germany’s world record of 7:55.47 from 1987.

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Two of China’s veteran swimmers have been banned for three years for doping, making them ineligible for the 2000 Olympic Games.

The Chinese Swimming Assn. imposed the bans on Wang Wei and Xiong Guoming, who each had a previous drug offense, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

Their coaches, Cheng Zhi and Xu Huiqin, were banned for one year.

The ban on Xiong deprives China of one of its top male swimmers.