New-York tribune., 1912-04-07
MUCH PROGRESS IN TANK
American Swimmers Show I'M
provement in the Sport.
MANY RECORDS BROKEN
Youngsters Show Particularly
Good Form and Ought to
Develop Well.

To a close follower Of aquatic sports
there Is evidence Of marked and widespread
progress among American watermen in tho
chronicles Of the indoor season OF 1sl2' Al
though in free style swimming few records
were broken, the average performances were
far better than In the past. and the I'M
movement was particularly noticeable
throughout the ranks Of the newcomers
Youngsters under fifteen repeatedly covere1
80 Yards around ?7 seconds. 100 yards IN
minute and 220 yards In the neighoornooh
of a.45. and these times would have placed
them In the championship class not very
long ago When these lads attain maturity
thev should make short work Of the stand
ards. As TO the other branches OF aduatios
rrobah,v world record breakers were de'
veloped.
In free style sprinting Westerners easily
led the field. Phil Mallen. OF the Cnicsso
Athletic Association. brought down the ~
ward record from ~ is seconds to Is 80
seconds, and his clubmate. Kenneth HuH-
zash. lowered Hebner's 5o-yard figures from
244-5 seconds to % as seconds. while Hen
ner. McIlivray and Mallen also traVeilcn
faster than the old mark. The Chicaso
Athletic Association relay team wouid also
unouestionably have bettered the 4oO-yard
standard Of 3 SIS 3-5 In the race FOR the
national championship. which II shoulu
have won had not Quayle stopped at eighty
wards. thinking his work done, ana loSt
some fifteen yards. In practice tho quartet
went consistently around 1853.
Al the flrlong the performances were not
I'D TO expectations, at least in the race for
the title. but the blame must he laid TO
moor conditions Perry McGiilivray OF the
Illinois Athletic Club, the winner, couid
show no better than 2 minutes and 81 ser
onds although a week before he had done
(, In 9 minutes and 2s 2-5 seconds In an ~
foot pool and James Reilly. Bud GOODWIN
Nicholas Nerich Max Ritter. Richard FRI
zelI. Harry Hebner and William Nosourgh
who had previously been clocked IN from
minutes and 90 seconds to minutes and
q seconds. also failed to equal their marks
bv FIVE or six seconds.
Distance honors were captured ny Ne"
York. Reilly. Ritter, Nerich and Goodwin
finishing in this order in tho championship
oy.n, The times Of all four were better
than ever before.
In breast stroke swimming Michael Nc
nermott of the Chicago Athletic Associa-
tion shattered his own American record oi
. minutes and a rs seconds for the classic
NO.yard distance, and established In It's
stead a standard OF minutes and 30 Sec
onds. which is a worlds mark. lie VIII
take some beating, even with the speedles'
foreigners.
Mora remarkable was the back stroke
swimming OF Harry Hebner, OF the Illinois
Athletic Club. Having placed to his credit
a worlds l00-yard record OF ] minutes ana
% seconds he went after the lO-ydrd
figures and twice nicked them, hrst from
, minute and So 2-5 seconds to ! minute and
- 2-5 seconds and then to minute and o
seconds No country boasts his equal at
this style OF natation.
A plunger OF international calibre was
nrod,,ced by Pennsylvania University in
y II. Willis. Early in the season he
stretched Kaiser's standard distance from
75 feet II inches 10 70 feet inches. and IN
the Middle Atlantic utular contest he
again boosted 1t to 50 feet. within the co.
second limit. Plunging without restrictions
he in several instances covered the en-
tire length OF the l0o-f foot home pool.
Fancy divers made rapid strides both in
diyidually and as a class. and there IL no
doubt that the clear complete. instructive
rules formulated by Otto Wahle and adopt
ed by the Amateur Athletic Union were
mainly responsible for the progress. These
rules gave contestants and coafhes some
thing definite to go by. and enabled them
10 work along the right lines. Arthur Nc
Aleenan, Frank Mullen, ]. Dunn and X.
Behrens. OF New York. and George GaId-
zick. Frank Bornamann and f. Burton. OF
Chicago. all exhibited very good form. Gdld-
zIck and McAleenan led the field and VIII
probably represent this country at the
Olvmpics. They should score.
Particularly gratifying was the work of
swimming instructors. In all districts there
were turned out expert young teachers.
who themselves had experience In com
petition, and by close study OF the methods
obtaining here and abroad developed sys-
TENS of their own. embodying the best prn-
ciples of scientific swimming and thorough
ly up TO date. With them To guide and
the racing fraternity growing yearly in size
there is a brilliant future in store for the
sport.