Swimmers will be following the suit

OMAHA -- What happens when advocacy intersects with the legal system?

“You know, if I was to respond to that question I would be responding in a way that would give away some of our strategy and I’m just not prepared to do that yet,” USA Swimming’s Mark Schubert said.

The question, in fact, was a bit more complicated on Friday after at a luncheon here at the Mutual of Omaha Plaza Building during the four-day Swimvitational, a test event for the U.S. Olympic swim trials.

Schubert, the national team head coach for USA Swimming, was asked if he was changing his approach with the swimmers since being named as a defendant, along with the federation and Speedo, in an antitrust lawsuit filed by TYR Sport last month. The complaint listed several instances in which he recommended that swimmers wear Speedo’s high-tech LZR Racer.

He did say that he did not think the issue would be resolved before the Beijing Olympics, which begin Aug. 8.

“I doubt it,” Schubert said. “I just look forward to the performances being so outstanding that we won’t even be thinking about it till months after the Olympics are over with and that I really think will happen.”

Speedo’s Stu Isaac said the lawsuit has “surprisingly” not been a distraction during the company’s roll-out effort. The manufacturer will have 50 suits on hand at this meet at Qwest Center for those wanting to test the LZR Racer and 50 more at another meet this weekend in Charlotte, N.C.

“We feel pretty confident the [law]suit is without merit,” Isaac said. “What we’ve been trying to do is keep the focus on the swimmers and the coaches and not make this a distraction.”

Speedo will make 2,500 suits available for swimmers during the trials, which start June 29.

Schubert spoke about the new suit, calling it “another quantum” leap.

“I had somebody ask me, ‘How are you going to figure out the qualifying times for next year?’ ” Schubert said, in reference to World Championships. “And I said, ‘I have no idea.’ Usually we do it with a mathematical progression, from the history of previous years.

“Now with the suit factor, we really have to wait till the end of the summer to see how fast somebody goes.”

A few hours later, Caitlin Leverenz, of Sun Devil (Ariz.) Aquatics won the women’s 200-meter breaststroke in 2 minutes 26 seconds to Katie Hoff’s 2:29.77, and said it was not all about the suit.

“I wore the [Speedo] FS Pro and she [Hoff] wore the LZR, more than anything it’s the swimmer in the suit,” Leverenz said.

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lisa dillman@latimes.com

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Veteran Beard makes a rookie mistake and is disqualified

Better to be disqualified in early June rather than in a few weeks.

But it was a 26-year-old veteran, not a teen-aged rookie, who was unexpectedly disqualified Friday in the 200-meter breaststroke. Amanda Beard, who will be attempting to make her fourth U.S. Olympic team, did it in the morning preliminaries when officials ruled that her elbows were out on the recovery phase of the stroke. Beard and her coach Cyndi Gallagher, of UCLA, didn’t find out about the decision right away and were surprised by the call.

“It’s done. She did it,” Gallagher said. “Now we’re going to have to practice to keep it from happening again.”

Topics du jour

Swimmers are being asked about either the high-tech Speedo LZR Racer suit or the specially constructed indoor pool at the Qwest Center.

“It felt like water,” said Peter Vanderkaay, without a hint of sarcasm.

Vanderkaay flirted with his American record in the 400 freestyle and was only 0.28 off the pace at the 300-meter mark. He finished in 3:45.60. He set the record (3:43.82) last month in Santa Clara.

Distance star Kate Ziegler wore the new Speedo suit for the first time in competition and was pleased to report she needed less than 10 minutes to get into it, saying it felt like a second skin.

She was asked if she had a special “suit-fitter” to assist her.

“I get in it one leg at a time, just like everyone else,” said a smiling Ziegler, who won the 400 freestyle in 4:07.01.

Phelps watch

Two swims, two wins for Michael Phelps.

He opened with a victory in the 100 freestyle (48.56) and closed with another in the 100 butterfly (51.04).

“I’m more happy with the 100 fly than I was with the freestyle,” Phelps said. “I wanted to do a best time in the 100 free. I really wanted to break 51 in the 100 fly, but my finish wasn’t too good. I kissed the wall a little bit.

“It’s not really the way you’re supposed to finish. So hopefully that’s something we can work on the next three weeks.”

-- Lisa Dillman