TRACY CAULKINS: SHE'S NO. 1 - Swimming World Magazine

USS NATIONALS con,.ue~100 BreastAMERICAN AND U.S. OPEN RECORDSteve Lundquist, SMU (3-27-81) 25.23 52.93DEFENDING SHORT COURSE CHAMPION (Cambridge, 4-11-81)Steve Lundquist. Dallas-Dr. Pepper 25.2 53.83DEFENDING LONG COURSE CHAMPION (Brown Deer, 8-16-81)Nick Nevid. Longhorn1982 FINALISTS (April 10, 1982)Steve Lundquist, 21, Mustang 25.35 53.84Bill Barrett. 22. Mission Viejo 25.72 54.62Bob Jackson. 22. Tacoma 25~96 54.69John Moffet. 17. Beactl 25.76 54.92Joe Jiminez, 22 Nashville 26.31 55.89.John Ulibarri, 19. Arkansas 26.10 55.92Doug Soltis. 19. Florida 26.18 56.12Robert Lager, 21. Mission Viejo 26.57 56.74In April 1972, Santa Clara's Brian Job won his fourthconsecutive AAU short course national title in the 100yard breaststroke.Since the event came into the national program twodecades earlier no other male swimmer had won fourconsecutive 100 breast championships.A decade later another swimmer would equal Job'srecord here in Gainesville when Mustang's Steve Lundquist,American record holder for both the 100 yard and100 meter breast races, won his fourth straight nationalcrown.Job's streak began 13 years earlier with his 58.1 victoryat Belmont Plaza in Long Beach. Lundquist'sstarted a decade later with his 54.77 triumph at East LosAngeles College, just up the freeway from Belmont.In subsequent years Lundquist won at Austin, Cambridge,and now in Gainesville. His initial national indoortitle bettered the American record (54.77 in thefinals and a still quicker record swim of 54.08 fromprelims). And a year later, when the championship meetwas long course, he smashed John Hencken's domesticrecord for the 100 meter breast with a 1"03.08.When he's "on," Lundquist is unbeatable over 100yards or 100 meters. He's won the NCAA 100 breast thethree years he's swum it (withstanding furious chargesfrom I JCLA's Bill Barrett every time) and at the U.S.Nationals, he has similarly been unbeatable.Lundquist was the race's top qualifier at 54.79 to Mission'sBarrett, 54.93. In the finals after the first turnthere wasn't any doubt who would emerge victorious.The Mustang speedster hit the 50 in 25.35, over threetenthsahead of Barrett's 25.72, and simply outdistancedthe balance of the field.He won in 53.84, .01 slower than his 53.83 winningeffort from 1981, and as in the other times they've facedeach other for a 100, Mission's Barrett was No. 2(54.62).Lundquist's American-u.s. Open record for 100yards is 52.93 from the 1981 NCAAs. His American-U.S. Open record for 100 meters is 1:02.88 from the IrvineOlympic Trials. That ranks him No. 2 on the alltimelist to the 1:02.86 world record of West Germany'sGerald Moerken.Third in Gainesville was Tacoma's Bob Jackson(career-best 54.69 for the perennial NCAA Division IIchampion from Puget Sound), while fourth (also in acareer best) was Beach's Stanford-bound John Moffet(54.92).Conspicuously absent was Palm Springs' Rickie Gill,Lundquist made history of his own via a 4th straight 100 breast win.the world's fastest 100 meter breaststroker last year(1:03.20 to win the USA-USSR dual meet). No explanationfor Gill's absence from the meet was given althoughspeculation ran along the lines that he was "savinghimself for the World Championship Trials."In any event, Lundquist continues as king of thesprint breaststroke both at the collegiate and U.S.Nationals level, and the SMU junior seemingly has nonew worlds left to conquer."Not quite. My goal now is to win the World Championshipand set a world record," he said after winninghis eighth national title. "Then I want to win a couple ofmore NCAA titles next year and hopefully the teamchampionship (for SMU)."When Job won his last AAU title a decade ago Lundquistwas a hot shot 10-and-under swimmer who rankedthird nationally in the 50 free (27.42), fourth in the 100(1:00.8), sixth in the 50 breast (36.31) and seventh in the100 breast (1:21.6). For variety he was also second in the50 fly (29.78)and fourth in the 200 IM (2:32.21).Who were Lundquist's 10-and-under contemporariesa decade ago/Some included Dennis Baker, now a world-class flyerfor Coach Dick Jochum's University of Arizona team;Clay Britt, winner of the last three NCAA 100 backtitles for Texas, Ron Zhiss, a member of Coach RonBallatore's NCAA champion UCLA Bruins; and Eric-Finical, a sprinter on Coach Eddie Reese's 1981 TexasLonghorns NCAA titlists.Lundquist represented the Forest Park Swim Teamthen while today he swims for Coach GeorgeMcMillion's Mustang outfit. ~Swimming World/June 35