40 years of swimming world: August

Swimming World and Junior Swimmer, Aug 1999 by Whitten, Phillip

25 Years Ago: August 1974

A smiling Heather Greenwood, Fresno SC, graced our cover after setting a world record in the 400 free (4:17.33) at the Santa Clara Invitational. The meet was billed as a "going away party" for Coach George Haines after 24 years at the club. Mitch Ivey was announced as the new Santa Clara coach.

Aside from Greenwood's WR, there were two American records set in Santa Clara: Karen Hazen's 16:59.41 in the 1500 and the Santa Clara men's 400 medley relay of Mike Bottom, John Hencken, Steve Baxter and Joe Bottom (3:54.27).

Across the Atlantic, early intimations of East Germany's shameful, steroid-fueled dominance of women's swimming were sounded as East German women cracked four world records at the DDR Nationals. Ulrike Richter, Kornelia Ender and Annkatrin Schott were the record-setAround the U.S.: Nort Thornton was named the new coach coach at the University of California; Vincente Vassallo and Christi Woogler were the top 10-and-unders at the Florida Gold Coast JOs; and Kim Peyton took six senior women's titles at the 83rd Annual Multnomah A.C. Invitational in Portland, Ore.

20 Years Ago: August 1979

Fourteen-year-old phenom, Sippy Woodhead, was our cover girl after winning five gold medals and setting a world record in the 200 free (1:58.43) at the Pan Am Games in Puerto Rico. Two other world records were set at the Games, which were thoroughly dominated by the U.S.: 14-year-old Mary T. Meagher's 2:09.77 in the 200 fly and Jesse Vassallo's 2:03.29 in the 200 IM.

15 Years Ago: August 1984

Campolindo High School accomplished "Mission Impossible," winning the boys' national high school championships and breaking Mission Viejo's string of seven straight titles. Coach Stu Kahn's charges did it by the thinnest of margins, 90-89.

Paced by Tiffany Cohen, Mission notched its eighth straight girls' title, topping Saratoga H.S. by a mammoth 99 points. Mercersburg and Bolles won the boys' and girls' prep school titles, respectively.

Olympic diver Wendy Wyland, a gold medal hopeful for the L.A. Games, was our cover.

5 Years Ago: August 1994

Germantown Academy won the girls' National High School Mythical Championship, outdistancing The Bolles School by 10 points. The boys' title went to Kingwood High School of Houston, Texas, which topped Carmel (Ind.) 100-88.

Derya Buyukuncu of California's Woodbridge H.S. (by way of Turkey) was our High School Swimmer of the Year. Buyukuncu set a national high school mark in the 100 yard back (47.50) and also ranked first in the 50 free (20.27).

In recruiting, Michigan got the cream of the high school crop, signing Buyukuncu and Jason Lancaster, who set a national high school mark in the 200 IM (1:46.90) and ranked first in the 100 fly.

The Disabled Sports Organization held its first-ever swimming camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The camp was designed to help swimmers prepare for the 1995 International Special Olympics and the 1996 Paralympics.