U.S. Swimmers Rate Well in Matchup Against Hosts

They swam first, and two of them, well, went very fast.

The Australian Olympic swim trials were in May, and three world records went down, two by icon-in-the-making Ian Thorpe. Of course, Thorpe was whittling away his own marks in the 200- and 400-meter freestyles. The other was set by Susie O’Neill in the 200 butterfly.

Months later, the Americans had their turn in the trials at Indiana University’s Natatorium. The eight-day qualification meet ended Wednesday with nine American records and no world marks.

Australia 3, United States 0.

That’s rather deceptive. With the Olympics a little more than a month away, the matchup between the Australians and the Americans is limited for now to a paper chase. On paper, head to head, the highly anticipated duel in the pool is a blowout.

If you take the first-place finishers from each of the finals in the trials, the crunched relay-free numbers are:

United States 18, Australia 8.

The difference is more pronounced on the women’s side, 10-3, USA. Trials vs. trials, the Aussie women have the edge in the 200 freestyle (O’Neill), the 200 butterfly (O’Neill’s world-record time of 2 minutes 5.81 seconds) and the 100 backstroke (Dyana Calub).

USC alum Lindsay Benko’s winning time of 2:00.45 in the 200 freestyle was slower than the winning American times at the 1992 and 1996 trials, though Benko went 1:58.86 in the Pan Pacifics at Sydney last year. In the 100 backstroke, B.J. Bedford’s first-place time of 1:01.85 was also behind the winning times at the U.S. trials in 1992 and 1996.

“We’ve got to improve,” U.S. women’s Coach Richard Quick said. “We’re ranked, I think, No. 1 in the world in one event going into the Olympics, the 800-meter freestyle. The rest of the events, we’ve got to improve to have the chance to win.

“We will have to improve and swim better than we have in our lives to do that. I feel good about our relay situation. I think the depth of the U.S. team is our strength in the relays.”

There is another event in which an American woman is ranked No. 1 in the world this year. Megan Quann, 16, is the leader in the 100 breaststroke, setting the American record of 1:07.12 last week in the preliminaries. In the women’s 800, the U.S. has the top two spots, defending Olympic champion Brooke Bennett (8:23.92) and Kaitlin Sandeno, 17, of Lake Forest (8:28.61).

On the men’s side, the Americans lead the Australians, 8-5. Thorpe, obviously, has the best times in the 200 and 400, as do Michael Klim in the 100 freestyle, Geoff Huegill in the 100 butterfly and Grant Hackett in the 1,500 freestyle.

However, Mark Schubert, the coach of the U.S. men’s team, pointed out that the trials have a limited shelf life.

“Whatever happened here really won’t be remembered,” he said. “A lot of times we can go in ranked first and people will swim faster. Or you can go in ranked fourth or fifth and you can improve and other people don’t improve.

“It’s easy to race fast when you don’t have the best person or the second-best or third-best person in the world right next to you. The real challenge is the Olympics. It’s not Pan Pacs. It’s not the U.S. versus Australia. It’s the U.S. versus the best in the world and how can we compete under that type of situation.”

For the first time, the men’s team is younger than the women’s. Dara Torres, 33, made the women’s team in three individual events and a relay after a seven-year absence from the sport.

Seven teenagers made the men’s squad, the youngest being 15-year-old Michael Phelps of Baltimore, who qualified in the 200 butterfly. He is the youngest American male to make the Olympic swim team since 13-year-old Ralph Flanagan in 1932.

Two established stars are being pushed by teenagers. Lenny Krayzelburg of Studio City, the world record-holder in the 100 and 200 backstroke, is finding that his best competition in the world in the 200 is coming from one county away, from 17-year-old Aaron Peirsol of Irvine Novaquatics.

Peirsol, who was second in the 200 at the trials, has the world’s fastest time this year in that event, 1:57.03, in March. Krayzelburg won the trials in 1:57.31, the second-fastest time in 2000.

Then there’s the resurgent Gary Hall Jr. and Anthony Ervin, 19, of Valencia, who are from the same team, the Phoenix Swim Club. They recorded the second- and third-fastest times in history in the 50 freestyle, and naturally, a great deal of attention was devoted to their training regime.

They are on the same sort of diet, according to their coach, Mike Bottom, as this year’s Kentucky Derby winner. Not the trainer or the jockey--but the horse. Ervin says the horse bars--concoctions of protein-enriched grains--”aren’t that bad.”

Well, keep those horse bars away from Thorpe, Hackett and O’Neill.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

SWIMMING TIMES

The United States and Australia are expected to compete for the most medals at the Sydney Olympics. A look at the times during each country’s respective Olympic trials.

MEN

50-METER FREESTYLE

AUS--Brett Hawke 22.29

USA--Gary Hall Jr. 21.76

100-METER FREESTYLE

AUS--Michael Klim 48.56

USA--Neil Walker 48.71

200-METER FREESTYLE

AUS--Ian Thorpe 1:45.51 (world record)

USA--Josh Davis 1:47.26

400-METER FREESTYLE

AUS--Ian Thorpe 3:41.33 (world record)

USA--Klete Keller 3:47.18

1,500-METER FREESTYLE

AUS--Grant Hackett 14:56.30

USA--Erik Vendt 14:59.11

100-METER BACKSTROKE

AUS--Matt Welch 54.14

USA--Lenny Krayzelburg 53.84

200-METER BACKSTROKE

AUS--Matt Welch 1:59.22

USA--Lenny Krayzelburg 1:57.31

100-METER BREASTSTROKE

AUS--Phil Rogers 1:02.59

USA--Ed Moses 1:00.44

200-METER BREASTSTROKE

AUS--Ryan Mitchell 2:14.42

USA--Kyle Salyards 2:13.21

100-METER BUTTERFLY

AUS--Geoff Huegill 52.19

USA--Ian Crocker 52.78

200-METER BUTTERFLY

AUS--Heath Ramsay 1:57.49

USA--Tom Malchow 1:56.87

200-METER INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY

AUS--Matt Dunn 2:01.28

USA--Tom Dolan 2:00.81

400-METER INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY

AUS--Justin Norris 4:16.23

USA--Tom Dolan 4:13.72

WOMEN

50-METER FREESTYLE

AUS--Sarah Ryan 25.90

USA--Dara Torres 24.90

100-METER FREESTYLE

AUS--Sarah Ryan 55.46

USA--Jenny Thompson 54.07

200-METER FREESTYLE

AUS--Susan O’Neill 1:57.70

USA--Lindsay Benko 2:00.45

400-METER FREESTYLE

AUS--Sarah-Jane D’Arcy 4:11.60

USA--Diana Munz 4:08.71

800-METER FREESTYLE

AUS--Hayley Lewis 8:35.56

USA--Brooke Bennett 8:23.92

100-METER BUTTERFLY

AUS--Petria Thomas 58.43

USA--Jenny Thompson 57.78

200-METER BUTTERFLY

AUS--Susan O’Neill 2:05.81 (world record)

USA--Misty Hyman 2:09.27

200-METER INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY

AUS--Elli Overton 2:14.66

USA--Cristina Teuscher 2:13.36

400-METER INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY

AUS--Jennifer Reilly 4:44.20

USA--Kaitlin Sandeno 4:40.91

100-METER BACKSTROKE

AUS--Dyana Calub 1:01.71

USA--B.J. Bedford 1:01.85

200-METER BACKSTROKE

AUS--Dyana Calub 2:13.35

USA--Amanda Adkins 2:12.97

100-METER BREASTSTROKE

AUS--Leisel Jones 1:08.71

USA--Megan Quann 1:07.26

200-METER BREASTSTROKE

AUS--Caroline Hildreth 2:27.69

USA--Kristy Kowal 2:24.75