SWIMMING / THERESA MUNOZ : More U.S. Teen-Agers Emerging

With berths on the line for the teams representing the United States in a quartet of long-course meets--the Pan Pacific Games, Pan American Games, World University Games and U.S. Olympic Festival--the U.S. Spring Nationals wrapped up the short-course season with a long-course flair.

For the first time in a non-Olympic year, the meet was held in a long-course pool, 50 meters, instead of a short-course pool, 25 yards, which is the size used in high school and NCAA meets.

Making only one turn per 100 meters, instead of the usual three, teen-agers Anita Nall, Kristine Quance, Joey Hudepohl and Janie Wagstaff made their marks, as did a surprising trio of postgraduates--Lawrence Frostad, Seth Van Neerden and David Berkoff.

Nall, who foreshadowed her abilities at the U.S. Open in Indianapolis last December, wowed the crowd in Federal Way, Wash., when she lowered the U.S. record in the 200 breaststroke twice.

Her final time, 2 minutes 27.08 seconds, is the fastest in the world among active swimmers.

“I see a superstar in her,” said Mike Barrowman, men’s 200 breaststroke world record-holder. “She really has a feel for the water.”

In reference to Nall, 14, and runner-up Quance, who finished in 2:29.88, an astonishing four seconds better than her previous best time, Dennis Pursley, U.S. national team director, said: “A couple of days ago the breaststroke was a weak event for us. Now it is a strong event.”

Quance, 16, of Northridge, made her first breakthrough at the 1990 summer nationals when she finished third in the 200 breaststroke and the 400 individual medley.

Hudepohl, 17, of Cincinnati, won the 200 freestyle in 1:49.71 and clocked 49.9 in finishing third in the 100 freestyle. He is believed to be the first teen-ager to break 50 seconds in that event.

In an impressive display of versatility, Hudepohl also finished third in the 400.

The other teen-age star, Wagstaff, 16, of Mission Hills, Kan., set an American record in the 100 backstroke, 1:01.10.

Frostad, 24, who now goes by his first name, Lawrence, instead of his middle name, Keith, won the 400 and 800 freestyles and has made great strides since graduating from Miami and moving to Texas Aquatics.

Van Neerden, 22, who hasn’t made an impact since the 1986 Sports Festival, clocked 1:01.67 in the 100 breaststroke, just over the U.S. mark of 1:01.65, and Berkoff, 24, came out of semi-retirement to win the 100 backstroke in 55.57, 1.06 off the world record he set in the 1988 Olympic Games.

When Berkoff set the record, he used a 35-meter underwater start, which has since been replaced by a maximum of 15 meters.

Placentia’s Janet Evans is not only leaving Stanford as a student, she will no longer train with Cardinal Coach Richard Quick.

Instead, she is expected to join Texas Aquatics and train with Mark Schubert, who also coaches the University of Texas women’s team and has been unofficially named women’s coach for the 1992 U.S. Olympic team.

“It is surprising that she is leaving, but I knew she was a little unhappy,” said Stanford freshman Summer Sanders, the top scorer at the NCAA meet.

“It is a letdown for the team. You don’t like to see a good teammate leave, but if it is for a good reason, needing to train, I think she must do what’s best.”

Sanders says she would not consider leaving school because she would be bored.

“I need balance,” she said. “A little school, a little fun, a little swimming, and I want to be with my friends. I’d miss them.”

Swimming Notes

Melvin Stewart admitted a strange strategy at the NCAA meet. He held up at the wall in the preliminaries of the 200-yard butterfly, allowing Anthony Nesty to beat him. “I wanted to let him know I was in control,” said Stewart, who beat Nesty handily that evening. . . . Before his announcement that he will not return to Tennessee for his senior season, Stewart was refreshingly honest. “I have dollar signs in my eyes,” he said. He will get $100,000 if he sets a world record while competing for Las Vegas Gold, a club backed by Bob Stupak, a Las Vegas hotel owner.

A rest and a shave didn’t do much for fourth-place USC at the NCAA meet. Although the Trojans lost points when Greg Larson made a false start in the 100 freestyle and because a pulled hamstring kept Gary Anderson out of the 100 breaststroke, their main problem was a lack of versatility. They were shut out in the 500 and 1,650 freestyles and the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, and they scored in only one of the 16 places in the 200 backstroke. Things don’t get easier with the graduation of Dave Wharton, the seventh-leading scorer in the meet, and top sprinters Erik Ran and Bjorn Zikarsky. . . . USC’s ninth-place women also faltered partly because backstrokers Sheri White and Diana Fridley suffered severe cases of flu. White managed to get through the 100 backstroke, where she was 11th. Fridley did not swim at all.

USC will have a benefit celebrity swimathon Saturday, featuring Greg Louganis, Steve Lundquist, and Betty White, to help enable disabled student-athletes to attend USC. Ron O’Brien, former Mission Viejo diving coach, was named U.S. Diving’s first national technical director.