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Swimming / John Weyler : A New Tidal Wave Now Beginning to Sweep Across U.S.

Ray Essick, the executive director of United States Swimming, says: “This is an exciting time in U.S. swimming.” He then admits in the same breath that “most of our top names finished brilliant careers last summer at the Olympics.”

If that sounds contradictory, one need only consider that Essick has water on the brain, in a manner of speaking. American swimming is in a rebuilding stage to be sure, but unless you’re a swimmer, coach or one of those few aficionados with a fascination for the sport, it’s pretty hard to get excited about trying to predict which of today’s promising youngsters will be bringing home gold from Seoul, Korea in 1988.

Maintaining fan interest between Olympiads is basically a losing proposition for a sport that is not exactly an ideal spectator competition to begin with. Let’s face it, except for one week every four years, swimming gets about as much attention as kick boxing in this country.

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To compound the problem, the overwhelming majority of swimmers who emerged from obscurity and into a few million households last summer have retired. Gone are Steve Lundquist, Rowdy Gaines, Tracy Caulkins, Nancy Hogshead and a whole slew of other medal winners--and with them the little bit of interest they generated for a week last year.

So, if you’re interested in checking out swimming’s new wave, don’t worry about finding a parking place at East LA College during the U.S. Swimming Short Course National Championships April 2-6.

“We’re re-shuffling the deck,” said Jeff Dimond , the USS director of information services. “To tell you the truth, I don’t have any ideas about who the new stars will be . . . especially in the men’s races. I don’t think anyone knows. That’s what makes it so exciting.”

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Backstroker Rick Carey, butterflier Pablo Morales and breaststroker John Moffet (who pulled a groin muscle during the Olympics and had to withdraw) are clear favorites in their specialties, but there is a tidal wave of young talent preparing to overthrow the old guard.

Here’s just a few of the young male swimmers to watch:

--John Hodge, a high school sprinter from Buffalo.

--Craig Oppel, a prep freestyler/butterflier from Des Moines.

--Scot Johnson, a 16-year-old backstroker from Tucson.

--Sam Schwartz, 17, a breaststroker from Mill Valley, Calif.

Triple-gold medalist Mary T. Meagher and silver medalist Jenna Johnson will give each other plenty of competition in the women’s butterfly events, and Olympic veterans Tiffany Cohen, Michele Richardson, Mary Wayte and Amy White are favored in some of the other women’s events.

Trying to project which women will be on top in 1988 is really difficult, however, considering that many of America’s best female swimmers in the next Olympics are 11, 12 or 13 years old right now.

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Swimming Notes

This short-course nationals does have one top drawing card, though. Defector Jens-Peter Berndt, who is now swimming for the University of Alabama, will be making his first trip to the West Coast since walking away from his East German teammates at the Oklahoma City Airport in January. Berndt will be available to the media during an April 1 press conference, and U.S. Swimming officials are hoping most of them will come back to watch the next five days of competition. (Don’t count on it, guys). . . . John Troup, a 27-year-old Ph.D. in Muscle Physiology from Marquette University, has been named sports medicine director for U.S. Swimming. Troup’s newly designed sports medicine program for swimming has been designated as a model for other sports by the U.S. Olympic Committee. . . . Amy Shaw won three 13-14 girls’ events (the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke and 200-yard individual medley) to lead the Mission Viejo Nadadores to the team championship of the Southern California Junior Olympics last month in Barstow. La Habra’s Darren Ward, swimming for Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team, won the 100-yard freestyle, the 500-yard freestyle, the 200-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard IM. . . . Four college coaches have been named to coach in the National Sports Festival (July 22-Aug. 4 in Baton Rouge, La.). Nort Thorton (Cal) will head the West team, Frank Keefe (Yale) will coach the East, Frank Comfort (North Carolina) is in charge of the South and Jon Urbanchek (Michigan) will lead the Central squad.

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