Sports: Area's best train with nation's best

Swimming

Area's best train with nation's best

Nicole Margaritondo went to the Olympic Training Center to perfect her techniques. Lauren Bullock is next.

By ERIC VICIAN

CLEARWATER -- An elite swimmer's day is structured and demanding. First is the wee-hour wake-up call for practice and weightlifting at 5 a.m. Then it's school, followed by practices and, in some cases, meets.

Most of the top Pinellas County athletes swim for club teams in addition to their school teams. Nicole Margaritondo and Lauren Bullock have taken it a step further.

Both were invited to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. for the 1999 USA Swimming Select Camps.

The camps are divided into two sessions -- Oct. 7-10 and Nov. 4-7 -- and four divisions: Eagle, the most competitive, Gold, Silver and Bronze.

Bullock, a 15-year-old Dunedin sophomore who swims for the Clearwater Aquatic Team, is making her second consecutive trip. She will go to the November camp. Margaritondo, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Admiral Farragut who swims for St. Pete Aquatics, just returned from the first camp.

Swimmers from across the nation are selected based on performance and age. Bullock and Margaritondo are the only two Tampa Bay area swimmers to attend the prestigious camp, which draws approximately 80 athletes, including six from Florida.

Athletes train and are videotaped in the pool and the testing flume, a large tub where swimmers work against a controlled current. The USA Swimming staff and some Olympic swimmers are on hand to offer advice and develop the talent for the future.

"We work on educating the athletes and collecting information that will help the coaches and athletes in the long-term process," said Scott Allen, the sport development coordinator who runs the camps.

Last year, Bullock went as a Silver competitor, and this year, she missed the Eagle division by .01 of a second at last year's junior nationals.

"I'm pretty mad," Bullock said of settling for Gold. "It's going to be a good learning experience for me."

CAT coach Chuck Burgess has Bullock on a training schedule preparing her for big meets. Her long-course time in the 200 freestyle (2 minutes, 4.83 seconds) is one of the best 16 times this year in her age group and qualified her for the Olympic Trials. She also will participate in the U.S. Open Dec. 2-4 in San Antonio (shown on ESPN2) and the Phillips 66 National Championships in Federal Way, Wash., starting March 28, before the Olympic Trials.

"This year, she is in tremendous shape," Burgess said.

Margaritondo, who attended the October camp as a 500 free swimmer, already has seen the benefits. She swam 5:04:38, second in the country in the 11-12 age group (she turned 13 last week) and also made the top 16 in the 200 free (1:57.59).

"It was really fun and exciting," Margaritondo said. "You meet so many girls that are so much better than you. I have to do better kicks, better stroke technique, and I have to keep my fingers together."

Sound nit-picky? Not at this level and not when you come from a swimming background. Margaritondo's brother, John, is a senior at Northeast who was fifth in the 100 back at the 1998 state meet.

"She is probably the toughest kid I've ever met," Admiral Farragut coach Allison Beebe said. "She is self-driven. She has all the characteristics to be successful in the future."