By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
For Nicole Beck, the Olympic swim trials are a way to redeem the
scared girl who four years ago failed to even put up a fight.
For Brighid Dwyer, the trials themselves represent all the
Olympic dreams she’s ever harbored.
And for Keiko Price, the trials can lead to a last hurrah for a
stellar career.
From Aug. 9-16, eight members of the UCLA women’s swim
team and two members of the disbanded men’s program will
compete at the Olympic swim trials in Indianapolis for a chance to
represent the nation in Sydney.
“This is the fastest meet in the world,” said Bruin
head coach Cyndi Gallagher. “It’s faster than the
Olympics.”
About 1,300 people will participate in the trials, with at least
100 swimmers in each event. But in each event, save for the
100-meter free, only the top two competitors will go to the
Olympics. The 100m free takes six.
That means that for both the men’s and women’s U.S.
teams, there are only 48 spots.
“It is the elite of the elite,” Gallagher said.
Many of the Bruins going aren’t expecting to earn an
Olympic berth ““ their goals are more personal.
The last time Nicole Beck went to the Olympic trials for the
Atlanta Games, she was 15, young and scared.
To top that, in her heat she was placed right next to a
backstroking powerhouse.
“I was in the lane next to Beth Botsford. She was top in
the country,” said Beck, who will be a junior next year.
“So when I found that out, I was like, “˜Oh God,
I’m not that fast.'”
Botsford went on to win the gold for the 100m backstroke at the
Atlanta Games. When Beck watched that on television, her immediate
reaction was, “Dang, that’s who I was right next
to!”
But the 2000 trials will be different for Beck.
“This time I’m not going to be worried about who
I’m racing,” she said. “I’m swimming for
myself.”
The format at the trials for races of 200 meters and less is
that the fastest 16 swimmers out of all the heats continue to the
semifinals. After the semifinals the top eight qualify for the
finals the next day. And in the finals, this year’s Olympians
will be decided.
“We’re just trying to get as many people in the top
eight as possible,” Gallagher said. “Once you get in
the top eight, anyone has a shot.”
Beck’s goal is to make it to the finals.
“That’s all I’m concentrating on,” she
said. “It would be cool to make the Olympics, but it’s
such an outside shot. Just to be in the heat that decides who makes
the Olympics would be awesome.”
Likewise, Brighid Dwyer’s goal at the trials is to make
the semifinals in her events, the 100m fly and 100m back. Her other
goal ““ one she is certain she will meet ““ is to swim
faster than she ever has in her life.
“I know I’m going to go best times,” said
Dwyer, a senior-to-be. “I don’t know how, but
there’s no question about it. It’s just a matter of how
much.”
Dwyer had another Olympic goal: just to make it to the U.S.
trials.
“I didn’t really have the Olympic dream like
everyone else,” said Dwyer, who added that qualifying for
Indianapolis is enough.
“The pressure’s off,” she said. “All I
have to do is swim it.”
Keiko Price, a 2000 graduate, has the best chance of making the
Olympic team because one of her events is the 100m free, the only
event that takes more than two people. She is also ranked highest
in the nation out of all the Bruins.
“I’m definitely going out there hoping to make the
team,” Price said.
But she made sure to add that she wanted to have fun at the
trials, too.
“It’s going to be one of my last meets ever,”
Price said. “I’m looking forward to being done with
swimming and moving on. It’s a bittersweet thing.”
Like Beck, Price attended the 1996 trials. And like Beck, Price
didn’t swim as well as she could. She wasn’t even
close.
Coming in seeded as one of the top 16, Price ended up placing
last ““ out of all the heats.
“I didn’t really think I belonged there. I
didn’t care how I did,” she said. “I was just
going through the motions. My heart wasn’t in it.”
That was 1996. This is 2000.
“This is a new year,” Price said. “It
definitely won’t be like last time.”
Rounding out the Bruins roster is junior Katie Younglove in the
100m and 200m fly and senior Beth Goodwin, who has the
ninth-fastest time in the U.S. in the 200m fly. Sophomore Leanne
Cadag, junior Lyndee Hovsepian and sophomore Erin Zehntner are also
competing in Indianapolis.
Two members of the UCLA men’s swim team, which was
disbanded in 1994, are at the trials as well.
Byron Davis (’93) will again attempt to be the first
African American male swimmer to represent the U.S. at the
Olympics. At the last trials he came in first in the preliminaries
in the 100m fly, but in the finals he placed fourth.
Brian Kurza (’94) will also be at the trials, competing in
the 50m and 100m free. Both he and Davis, at 30, are among the
oldest swimmers at the trials.
Though the women’s team has been training specifically for
the trials since the NCAA Championships ended in March, coach
Gallagher says that the swimmers are not putting too much pressure
on themselves.
“We don’t look at it as Olympic trials. We look at
it as, we got a few laps to swim our best,” she said.
“I don’t ever tell anybody I expect them to make the
Olympics,” Gallagher added. “I expect them to do their
best. If they do what they’re capable of doing, they’ll
all make the Olympics.”
UCLA SWIMMERS AT U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS Ten Bruins
will be competing against at least 100 swimmers in each event for
one of two spots at the Olympic Games in Sydney. 1 Nicole
Beck (junior-to-be): 100m, 200m backstroke; 100m butterfly
2 Leanne Cadag (sophomore): 100m backstroke 3
Byron Davis (’93): 50m freestyle, 100m butterfly 4
Brighid Dwyer (senior): 100m butterfly, 100m
backstroke 5 Beth Goodwin (senior): 100m, 200m
butterfly; 50m freestyle 6 Lyndee Hovespian
(junior): 100m, 200m breaststroke 7 Brian Kurza
(’94): 50m, 100m freestyle 8 Keiko Price (2000):
50m, 100m freestyle 9 Katie Younglove (junior):
100m, 200m butterfly 10 Erin Zehntner (sophomore):
200m, 400m freestyle SOURCE: Sports Information Original graphic by
YU WANG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Web adaptation by CHRISTINE
TAN