Looks Like Mission Possible

Ask any five baseball coaches to name the best team in the major leagues today, and you're likely to get five different answers. But ask the nation's top swimming coaches to pick the winner of this week's United States Indoor Swimming Championships and the chorus rings almost in unison--Mission Viejo.

Coach Mark Schubert's Nadadores won last year's indoor nationals at Austin, Texas but were edged out by the Cincinnati Pepsi Marlins in July's outdoor championships at Irvine. Calif. For this week's meet, Mission Viejo looks stronger. Cincinnati has lost some big point scorers, and the Nadadores are the clear favorite to take home the team crown.

The pre-meet prognosticators also give Mission a slight edge in the races for both the men's and women's titles. A quick glance at Schubert's line-up will show you why. It reads like an all-star team.

While most coaches are fielding teams decimated by the effects of a post-Olympic year and letdowns after last month's NCAA and AIAW meets, the Nadadores return the likes of Steve Barnicoat, Brian Goodell, and Marybeth Linzmeier from last spring's championship squad. Building on this base, Schubert has added Cynthia Woodhead. Bill Barrett, and David McCagg, and has Jesse Vassallo returning from last spring's back problems.

This group alone would place a team high in the standings, but in addition, the Nadadores will show up with a group of younger swimmers like 14-year-old distance freestylers Florence Barker and Tiffany Cohen, that many feel will turn some heads when they debut this week.

While Mission Viejo has been adding top names to its roster, Coach Pursley's Cincinnati club has been hit by a post-Olympic exodus.

"Because it was an Olympic year last year there were a number of swimmers willing to make the sacrifice to come here to train," Pursley said. This year Mary T. Meagher and Lisa Buese have moved back to Louisville, Stephanie Elkins is in Indianapolis, and Barrett has joined Mission Viejo.

But don't write off the Pepsi Marlins completely. Pursley still has Olympic backstroker Kim Carlisle, last year's 200-meter breaststroker winner Glenn Mills, and perhaps the only girl in the country capable of challenging Tracy Caulkins in the 100-yd. breaststroke--Kim Rhodenbaugh. His corps of young swimmers making their first appearance at a senior national meet may turn as many heads as the youngsters from the Nadadores. And the unbridled enthusiasm that carried Cincinnati to the overall title last summer seems unabated.

The defending champion Nadadores may be consensus favorites to win the combined team title, but not everyone is willing to concede them the men's and women's titles as well. Florida Aquatics Swim Team (FAST) tied with Mission Viejo for the men's crown at Irvine, and Coach Randy Reese's team may be well up in the running again this time around based simply on its depth. The road is going to be much more difficult this week, however, because Florida will be going without the aid of its top three freestyle sprinters from last season: Rowdy Gaines, McCagg, and Bill Forrester.

Based on their performances in last month's NCAA championships, the men of Longhorn Aquatics Swim Team (LAST) would also look to be pushing for top honors in their division, but key absences are going to dim their chances as well. Clay Britt, the reigning NCAA champion in the 100-yd. backstroke, will definitely not be here this week. Also notably absent will be Scott Spann, who has been invited to travel with a team to South Africa. Other outstanding Longhorn men such as Kris Kirchner, Nick Nevid, and William Paulus will probably swim, but their status is not definite.

On the women's side, Longhorns will probably be a much greater challenge to Mission Viejo. In the sprint freestyles, the Nadadores' Woodhead and Longhorn's Jill Sterkel are the class of the field, and in the distance races the same holds for Mission's Linzmeier and Longhorn's Kim Linehan. If these four are all entered in the 200-yd. freestyle, then look for one of the week's best contest.

Besides Sterkel and Linehan, Longhorn Coach Paul Bergen expects top performances from distance freestyler Linda Irish, butterflyer Carol Borgmann (who finished second behind Sterkel in both the 50- and 100-yd. butterfly at last month's AIAW championships), and IMer Karen Werth. Werth has never been to Nationals before but already has the third fastest 200-IM in the country this year to her credit.

Nashville Aquatics is also sure to figure on the women's side of the slate, if only for the presence of one Tracy Caulkins.

Caulkins is the perennial Kiphuth Award winner as high point scorer at Nationals and practically a team in herself. Nashville is weakened this year by the departure of distance ace Michelle Ford to Australia and former world record breaststroker Graham Smith to the University of Calgary, but Nashville Coach Ron Young feels that Tracy, sister Amy, and their colleagues can still make a very respectable showing.

While most teams are suffering from defections and semi- and permanent retirements this year. Industry Hills joins Mission Viejo as a team expected to improve performance.

"The key to a good showing for us is to get the girls in AIAW programs to come back and to pull together as a team." Industry Hills Coach Ed Spencer said, and, with seven returning finalists on the women's team and a group of promising high schoolers coming up from the team that won junior Nationals at Fort Lauderdale last year. Industry Hills looks like a team that may well be pulling itself up in the standings.

While Industry Hills has things looking up, last spring's fifth-place finisher in the combined standings. Concord-Pleasant Hill, may be headed in the opposite direction.

"It's a really rugged assignment for the college kids to come back this soon after NCAA's." Concord-Pleasant Hill Coach Nort Thornton said. Many aren't coming at all. For Thornton this means that his top freestyler. Pelle Holmertz, and world record holder Par Arvidsson are going to Sweden for the Swedish Nationals. Add to this the retirement of last year's double winner in the backstroker. Peter Rocca, and you'll know what led Thornton to say. "We're certainly not the team we were last year."

Although the uncertain positions of many swimmers is keeping the team standings tough to predict outside of Mission Viejo's obvious strength, certain individual races are already looking good. If both Longhorn and Mission Viejo enter their two stars in the race, the women's 200-yd. freestyle will be a classic. And the men's 400-yd. individual medley could coneivably include Alex Bauman (the current world record holder in the 400 meter event), Jesse Vassallo (the man whose record Baumann broke last month). Brian Goodell (the three-time NCAA champion in this event), and Djan Madruga (last year's winner).

So the final line is this: Don't worry about trying to figure out who's here and who's not. (You'll know when they reach the blocks, anyway.) Don't miss the big races. And, above all, don't bet against Mission Viejo.SIPPY WOODHEAD