Margalis puts heat on coach

By JOHN ROMANO

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 14, 2000

INDIANAPOLIS -- Robert Margalis ruined the night for St. Petersburg Aquatics coach Fred Lewis. Margalis swam too fast.

The former Clearwater High swimmer entered the 200 individual medley as a fun diversion Sunday and wound up qualifying in the fifth spot for tonight's final. But Margalis is a long shot to make the Olympics in the event and, since he is one of the favorites in the 1,500-freestylepreliminaries Tuesday morning, Lewis chose to scratch him from the IM final.

"That is exactly what I did not want to have to do," Lewis said. "It killed me to sign that scratch list, but I know it's the right thing. But if something happens in the IM (tonight) and it looks like he might have qualified, we'll be kicking ourselves."

The schedule had a lot to do with the decision. The 200 IM final is the last event tonight. That means Margalis would be swimming around 9, warming down, eating dinner and getting to bed after 11. Then he would have to swim the preliminaries for the 1,500 meters -- almost a mile -- sometime around noon on Tuesday.

On the bright side, Margalis said he felt terrific after Sunday's swim.

"I feel a lot better than I did after the first two races," Margalis said. "I feel great tonight, so maybe I'm ready to swim great in the mile."

Margalis narrowly missed a spot on the Olympic team in the 400 freestyle (finishing third) and the 400 individual medley (finishing fifth). If he makes the final in the 1,500, he could be the only male swimmer to qualify for the finals in four events.

ON HIS WAY: Former Seminole High swimmer Scott Tucker appears to be heading back to the Olympics for a second time. Tucker swam a career-best 48.95 to finishthird and virtually guarantee himself a spot on the relay team. Tucker, who now lives in Auburn, Ala., was .11 seconds from a second-place finish that would have qualified him for the individual event.

"I'm thrilled. I couldn't be happier I'm going back," Tucker said. "Although tomorrow I might think, "Damn, I was that close to finishing second.' For now, I'm happy."

FALLING SHORT: Maritza Correia thought she hit bottom when she swam poorly and failed to qualify for the semifinals of the 200 freestyle Friday.

She was wrong.

When she watched the final Saturday night and saw a 2:01.49 could have possibly gotten her on a relay team, she felt worse. The Brandon swimmer has had a 2:02.03 and thought she could have done a 2:01.

"She was disappointed after the 200 and seeing what it took to make the Olympic team last night," coach Peter Banks said. "Knowing she could have done that easily is probably more depressing to her at this stage."

Correia also failed to qualify for the semifinals of the 100 free, finishing 18th with a :56.86. She was .21 from making the semifinals.

"I'm going to use this as an experience, a lesson to be learned. I'm never going to let this happen again as far as not becoming part of a team when I know I can," Correia said.

SUNDAY'S FINALS: Kyle Salyards was the surprise winner in the 200-meter breaststroke, passing favorites Ed Moses and Tom Wilkens in the final 50 meters. ... Misty Hyman, the 1998 NCAA Swimmer of the Year at Stanford, won the 200 meter butterfly at 2:09.27.

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