Sports: Bennett's goal: History repeats only so much

Bennett's goal: History repeats only so much

By JOHN ROMANO

INDIANAPOLIS -- The scene was identical but somehow changed. Like looking in a mirror and seeing a reverse image.

Brooke Bennett walked off the pool deck Monday morning and smiled as Diana Munz held court with a half-dozen reporters. Four years ago, Bennett was the teenage sensation chasing gold medalist Janet Evans in the 800-meter freestyle. Now Munz is the newcomer chasing Bennett.

Bennett caught Evans at the 1996 Olympic trials and won gold at the Atlanta Games. She does not plan on allowing Munz to repeat history.

"I definitely treat the 800 like my baby because of what it meant to me in '96," said Bennett, who lives in Valrico.

Bennett, 20, goes into tonight's final as the No. 1 seed after a time of 8 minutes, 32.84 seconds in Monday's preliminaries. Munz, 18, was right behind at 8:33.47. No one else was within three seconds of them.

"It's going to be a good race," Munz said. "We're both fit. We're swimming well. We'll see who wants to win more."

Munz, who lives in a suburb of Cleveland, won the first meeting between them, out-touching Bennett in the 400 freestyle final Thursday. Bennett declared that race a success because she qualified for the Olympics in the 400, something she was not able to do in 1996.

She will not be nearly as content to finish second and still qualify in the 800. Bennett has held the No. 1 ranking in the world in the event since 1996. Munz has been on her tail the past two years but has not beaten Bennett in a major international event.

The two have become friendly, if not friends, during that time.

"For fierce competitors, they're probably as good of friends as you can be," said Peter Banks, Bennett's Brandon Blue Waves coach. "Brooke definitely wants this one. The gauntlet has been sort of thrown down. She feels like she owns this one."

LOCAL TIE: Former Tarpon Springs swimmer Jerrod Kappler narrowly missed qualifying for the 50 freestyle semifinals Monday. Kappler, who grew up in New York and went to Tarpon Springs High for three years in the mid-1990s, tied Florida's Nathan Summers in 23.36 seconds. Kappler won a swim-off to place 18th as an alternate.

Kappler recently graduated from Texas A&M with a mechanical engineering degree and will begin work with General Electric in Louisville. He said his swimming career is not necessarily complete. "I'm going to keep in as good a shape as I possibly can the next two years, and at that point, I'll see where I'm at and decide if I'm going to continue," he said.

Former Seminole High swimmer Scott Tucker, who was eligible for a spot in the 4x100 freestyle relay, was added to the Olympic team Monday.

DON'T WORRY: Robert Margalis can rest easy. The St. Petersburg Aquatics swimmer scratched from the 200 individual medley final to rest for the 1,500 freestyle preliminaries today. The top two times in the 200 IM final -- Tom Dolan at 2:00.81 and Tom Wilkens at 2:01.38 -- were seconds faster than Margalis has gone.

MONDAY'S OTHER FINALS: Kristy Kowal set an American record of 2:24.75 in winning the 200 breaststroke. Amanda Beard, a 1996 Olympian who had dropped out of the U.S. top 10, qualified for Sydney in second. Lenny Krayzelburg completed his backstroke sweep, winning at 200 meters in 1:57.31.

FAST FIELD: Before Monday, it had been 10 years since a U.S. male had gone under 22 seconds in the 50 freestyle. In the second semifinal heat, Gary Hall Jr. and Anthony Ervin did it. Hall set a trials record in 22.90, and Ervin was right behind in 22.91.