Sport: Five in the Pool

The U.S. tossed an impressive challenge at Australia’s confident women swimmers last week in the pretty form of five frolicking California teenagers. Gamboling around Indianapolis’ huge Broad Ripple Pool like schoolgirls at summer camp, the youthful quintet laughingly struck kooky, cross-eyed poses for photographers, completely captivated the capacity crowd, and set A.A.U. officials rewriting the record books. In just three days at the Women’s A.A.U. Swimming Championships, three world and ten American records were smashed, and tarnished U.S. aquatic prestige was suddenly enhanced.

The girls and their records:

¶Carolyn House, 14, a sturdy, 5-ft. 4-in. blonde from Los Angeles who still sports braces on her teeth and looks young enough to crash the ticket gate for half fare, gracefully stroked her way to a new American record of 19 min. 45 sec. in the 1,500-meter freestyle, longest and most grueling of all swimming events.

¶Chris von Saltza, 16, a seasoned, polished veteran and the chief U.S. Olympic hope in the shorter freestyle distances, who first thrashed to a new U.S. record of 1 min. 1.6 sec. in the 100-meter freestyle, returned to crack another in the 400-meter freestyle (4 min. 46.9 sec.), broke a third by swimming the 200-meter freestyle in 2:15.1.

¶Lynn Burke, 17, a backstroke specialist from Santa Clara Swim Club, who broke two world records on successive days: in the 200-meter backstroke, pushed by Teammate Von Saltza, Lynn hit 2 min. 33.5 sec., a full 3.6 sec. faster than the world mark set by Japan’s Satoko Tanaka earlier this year; in the loo-meter backstroke, she clocked an equally astonishing time—1 min. 10.1 sec., knocking nine-tenths of a second from the world mark.

¶Ann Warner, 16, another Santa Clara star, pretty and blonde, who won the 200-meter breaststroke by 7.5 sec., set a new U.S. record of 2 min., 53.3 sec.

¶ Donna de Varona, 13, a 102-lb minnow from Berkeley, who turned in the most stunning performance of the meet. Trailing World Record-holder Sylvia Ruuska by two strokes in the last lap of the exacting 400-meter individual medley (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle). Donna summoned a last burst of speed, overtook 18-year-old Sylvia in the final yards, broke the world record by almost 3 sec.