Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 31, 1994 TAG: 9408020052
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
``They beat us every year,'' Fonder said of Roanoke Country Club's swim team.
But not in last year's Whitenack meet, and not this year either.
Fonder set meet records in all five events he entered as the Elks Club won the 20-team, two-day meet with 5,595 points to RCC's 5,032. Blacksburg was third (4,217) followed by Hidden Valley (3,960) and Radford (2,936).
Elks Club didn't top its 1993 Whitenack-record 6,349 points.
Swimmers can't enter more than five events. Fonder (in the 9-10 age group) and teammate Lindsey Maze (11-12) were 10-for-10 in their events. Maze set one meet record, in the 50-meter butterfly. Fonder aced the backstroke, 100-meter intermediate, 50 freestyle, 50 butterfly and 100 freestyle.
Even then he was hard to please.
``I wish I could've gone a little faster in some of my events,'' he said, eyeing an extra three seconds in the 100 freestyle.
Maze's 50 butterfly time of 29.5 seconds set a record, but, like Fonder, her bliss was tempered.
``I could've asked for more records,'' she said. ``[But] that's all I wanted to do, was to come down here and win all five.''
Fonder and Maze weren't part of last year's Elks Club victory in the Whitenack but drew praise from Elks Club coach Elizabeth Callahan. Maze, she said, is ``phenomenal.'' And Fonder...
``We may see him in a few years in the Olympics,'' she said. ``It is so beautiful to watch him in the water.''
The water at Radford University's pool framed more than Fonder's performance. Swimmers broke 47 meet records and tied one.
Brent Newcomb of Lake Drive matched Fonder's outing by breaking five records in the 19-24 age group - 100 individual medley, 50 freestyle, 50 butterfly, 50 breaststroke and 100 freestyle.
Carolyn Bucher helped keep RCC close with four meet records in the 13-14 age group - backstroke, 100 intermediate, 50 breaststroke and 100 freestyle. Other multiple-record breakers included Kay Kriz of Blacksburg with five in the 40-and-over age group; Chris Turman of Hunting Hills with four in the 25-39 age group; Brian Manning of Radford with three in the 17-18 age group; and Brooke Adams of Aquanet with three in the 17-18 age group.
Bucher's effort couldn't give RCC the Whitenack title. Elks Club's numbers helped - it had 172 of the meet's 1,123 swimmers to RCC's 107. Included in the Elks Club lineup are 18 swimmers age 25 or over, more than most clubs have, Callahan said.
``We're very deep. I always have somebody swimming,'' she said. ``Our gold-medal winners are important, but so are our bronze-medal winners.''
Callahan said she prizes a swimmer setting a personal best over a team victory, a priority enthusiastically refuted by Fonder and Maze.
RCC was thinking team-point-total.
``The kids want to beat Elks Club,'' assistant coach David Feldman said near the end of the meet, when Elks Club was ahead on most scorecards. ``You always try to knock off No.1. We're elated that it's even close. If we wind up second, we're going to walk out with our heads held up high.''
Feldman credited RCC's 6-under girls with a strong day, but Elks Club had more help from more places. And, of course, its meet-record parade.
``It was very, very, very, very difficult,'' she said of Fonder's records. ``These are fast times. ... Last year, when they were set, everyone said, `My goodness, they'll never be broken.'''
by CNB