THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 5, 1994 TAG: 9407050167
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ST. LOUIS LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
By not training a lot for a major swimming competition, Sean Stringer may have stumbled onto a radical new training method.
At least it has worked for Stringer during the U.S. Olympic Festival. Although a job has kept the Virginia Beach resident from his typical two-a-day summer workouts, Stringer still managed to come away with one silver and two bronze medals while swimming personal bests in all three of his individual events, the 100- and 200-meter backstroke and the 200-meter freestyle.
``Don't ask me to explain it,'' Stringer said.
In fact, were it not for record-setting performances by the University of California's Whitney Woolard, Stringer's efforts would look even more stunning. Woolard registered the third-fastest time in Olympic Festival history to beat Stringer in the 200 back Saturday and followed up Sunday with a meet record in the 100 back. Stringer took third.
``But hey, I've got no complaints,'' Stringer said.
Raucous fan support has helped propel Stringer to his surprising performance, he said. Sellout crowds of 3,000 have packed the St. Peters Rec-Plex for each of the three sessions, cheering wildly for athletes who they'd never heard of three days ago.
``The crowd's really into it,'' Stringer said. ``And that really gets you into it.''
Meanwhile, the presence of television cameras and hordes of journalists and meet officials buzzing about gives this meet a feel unlike any ever experienced by most of these athletes - all 18 years old or younger.
``I was more nervous here than I've ever been,'' Stringer said. ``When they introduce you, you have to walk out around this huge television camera. That's when it kind of got to me. You feel like everybody's watching.''
Stringer, who graduated from Salem High School in June, is one of 104 swimmers who christened the Rec-Plex, a brand-new $18 million multi-sport complex 17 miles outside of St. Louis that is housing the swimming, synchronized swimming, diving and water polo competitions. The Rec-Plex, which was completed two months ago, doesn't open to the general public until July 30.
The swimmers were selected for the Olympic Festival based on their performances at either the Phillips 66 National Swimming Championships or the Speedo Junior National Championships earlier this year. Stringer was a 200 back finalist at the Phillips 66 meet.
But while most of the swimmers are of comparable ability, there's a marked difference in how they approached this meet. For some, the Olympic Festival was considered the meet of the season, and months of training had been geared toward peak performance this weekend. For others, the Senior National Championships in August hold more significance, and the Olympic Festival was basically a training meet.
And then there was Stringer, who targeted the Olympic Festival for making a big splash, yet was unable to spend much time in the water. Instead, Stringer, who will attend the University of Tennessee on scholarship, has been using much of his training time working as a lifeguard to earn extra money for college.
``That's why I was a little skeptical about how I'd do here,'' he said.
Despite the lack of training, however, Stringer has had what it takes - except when he needed to come up with a urine sample.
Stringer was chosen at random Sunday for drug testing. Within a half-hour, he produced four samples, but none could be tested.
``I guess I was overhydrated,'' Stringer said. ``They said it wasn't concentrated enough.''
That marked the only time all weekend that Stringer wasn't able to produce. by CNB