Ron Karnaugh

The omen was a green piece of gum that was stuck on Lane 4. Ron Karnaugh didn't like it so he moved from Lane 4 to Lane 5 to warm up for a pre-U.S. Olympic trials practice last week at the Indiana University Natatorium. When Karnaugh wound up in Lane 5 for the trials finals in the 200-meter individual medley Friday night, Mission Viejo Nadadores Coach Terry Stoddard said: "Ron, be really careful about what you want, you might get it." With his wire-to-wire triumph in 2 minutes 1.

It has been seven years since Whitney Hedgepeth won a national championship, but Friday she won her seventh national title in her seventh different event at the Phillips 66 spring national championships. "I never thought about that," Hedgepeth, 24, said after edging Barbara Bedford in the women's 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1 minute 2.36 seconds. Hedgepeth, who also won the 200 backstroke Thursday, reflects the latest trend in swimming--longevity.

Redsand, a San Diego-based sportswear manufacturer, has named the new shirt that features the modified, shaved-head logo of volleyball standout Steve Timmons, the company's co-owner. Timmons, of Newport Beach, had his trademark flattop removed Tuesday as part of a gesture of solidarity on the U.S. men's volleyball team, which improved to 2-1 with a 15-6, 14-16, 12-15, 15-10, 15-11 victory over Spain on Thursday. What did they call it? Volleybald, of course.

The battle to become the fastest swimmer in the world turned personal, so Gary Hall Jr. was looking for allies in a pool full of rivals and a series of threatening obstacles. The rivals: How about Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands, or two-time defending champion Alexander Popov of Russia, who had once derided Hall's family as a bunch of "losers"?

A 21-year-old Honolulu man was killed near here early Sunday morning in a fireworks accident in which a member of the U.S. canoeing team also was injured. Brad Yim, a paddler who did not make the U.S. team but was here as a spectator with the canoeing and kayaking team, died of massive head injuries on a beach at Castelldefels, 12 miles south of Barcelona. The flatwater canoe events were held at Castelldefels. According to Craig Bohnert, spokesman for U.S.

One of the local 10-year-olds believed she was an Olympic swimmer. Another believed she was the third cousin of Olympic gold medalist Pablo Morales. But Liesl Kolbisen's coach, Keith Strange, knew exactly what she was: crazy. Just crazy enough to upset a field of experienced 50-meter freestyle specialists Tuesday in the U.S. Swimming Junior Nationals West at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center.

The winners at the Mission Viejo Swim Meet of Champions on Saturday ranged from Crissy Ahmann-Leighton, 25, to Amanda Beard, 13, who was the youngest competitor at the four-day meet. Ahmann-Leighton, who has a 20-month-old son, demonstrated the form that earned her two gold medals in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics by winning the 50-meter freestyle in 26.73 at the Marguerite Swim Complex.

After touching the wall to win the 800-meter freestyle Saturday night, Brooke Bennett had to wait patiently for her competitors to finish to find out her time. When she turned to the scoreboard at the far end of the YMCA Aquatic Center pool in Orlando, she squinted. Eight minutes 30.54 seconds. She couldn't believe it. Considering the Phillips 66 U.S. spring nationals ending today is simply a tuneup for next month's U.S.

After a 1988 Olympic Games in which only two Americans, Matt Biondi and Janet Evans, won individual gold medals in swimming, the United States is expected to fare better at the XXV Olympics in Barcelona. It will be interesting to see if the changes made by the governing body of the sport, U.S. Swimming Inc., including scheduling the U.S. Olympic trials four months before the Games instead of six weeks and separating the men's and women's teams, has a positive effect.