Geehr, 13, Feels Like a Veteran

By MICHAEL LAZARUS

Aug. 8, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE — Carly Geehr long ago ran out of room on her bed frame.

Nearly 100 medals cover the top of the frame, awards she’s earned since beginning competitive swimming five years ago. The overflow is stuffed in drawers in her room.

The medals are far from the only touch of creations by Carly in the Geehr household. In addition to being one of the top young swimmers in the country, Geehr is also an accomplished artist.

Geehr’s paintings adorn nearly every room in the house. Still-life, oil paintings, drawings; some she created when she was 7 years old.

But a budding career as an artist has taken a bit of a back seat. Especially since last summer, when Geehr burst upon the national swimming scene.

As Geehr, 13, trains for the Phillips 66 U.S. National Swimming Championships, which begin Tuesday in Fresno, she can look back to her breakthrough meet--the 1997 Nationals--with the experience of a veteran.

Geehr, then 12, made the finals in several events, including a fourth-place finish in the 100-meter breaststroke.

The big surprise came at the end of the meet. Geehr, who had already returned to California, was the last female selected for the Pan Pacific Games in Japan, the biggest international meet for the U.S. except for the World Championships.

She had 36 hours to get ready for the biggest meet of her life and be separated from her family for the longest period ever.

“It felt kind of weird letting her go with all of these strangers,” said her mother, J.T. Geehr. “But they were all really good to her.”

The trip was an adjustment for Carly, who was the youngest competitor by three years on the 26-member team. She racked up $300 in phone calls in a week.

“I was calling home every day,” Geehr said. “But I’m really glad I got that experience when I was so young. Now I have it under my belt and know what it’s like.”

The last year hasn’t been quite as glamorous. Geehr worked though the kind of adversity--injuries and a coaching change--usually reserved for veterans. Geehr will still be one of the youngest competitors in Fresno.

Although a final list of events isn’t set, Geehr will probably swim the 100 and 200 freestyles, 100 breaststroke and 200 individual medley in addition to a few relays.

More importantly, it will be the first meet all year where Geehr is healthy. Shortly after returning from Japan, she suffered a groin injury, then aggravated it again in February, shortly before the spring championships.

“Those kind of things happen when you have a young athlete who is growing quickly,” Rose Bowl Coach Gary Anderson said.

While Geehr’s breaststroke--her best event--was hampered, the injury may have been a blessing.

“It got a little frustrating,” Geehr said. “But I got a chance to work on my other strokes. I feel a lot more confident about my [individual medley] now.”

In the midst of her rehabilitation, Rose Bowl was faced with a crisis.

When Coach Terry Stoddard’s job was eliminated in a cost-cutting move in January, Geehr was also one of the few national-caliber swimmers to stay at Rose Bowl. Geehr had worked with Stoddard for just three months and elected to stay with Anderson, who was Geehr’s age-group coach.

“It wasn’t as big a deal for me as the others,” Geehr said. “The first day it happened, everybody was crying. I just sat on the deck and got ready for practice.”

Geehr’s take-life-as-it-happens approach belies her competitive spirit. She began swimming with Rose Bowl after a neighborhood boy challenged her to a race and he won.

Although Geehr was a strong swimmer from the time she began five years ago, her parents charted a tactful path through her preteen years.

Geehr first competed in the U.S. Nationals in the Spring of 1997, and was a finalist in the 100-yard breaststroke. The spring championships are less competitive because most of the top college swimmers concentrate on the NCAA championships.

So Geehr’s expectations weren’t so high entering last summer. She competed in the major warmup meets like the Mission Viejo Tournament of Champions and the Janet Evans Invitational with some success. Geehr’s parents didn’t feel she was ready for international competition but said she could go if she qualified.

“It was like putting the carrot out there as a goal,” J.T. Geehr said. “None of us had any idea she would actually go out and do it.”

“I definitely didn’t think I could do it,” Geehr said.

But she did. And Geehr received plenty of attention. Last fall, she’s was profiled on the U.S Swimming web site, featured in Sports Illustrated for Kids and a syndicated television show followed her to a workout. She finished 1997 by setting nine National Age Group records for 11- and 12-year-olds.

But since her injuries, she’s been dedicated to practice. Besides the twice-daily workouts, Anderson has added some unconventional training, including rope climbing, to diversify workouts.

Although Geehr is the only individual qualifier from Rose Bowl, a group of athletes closer to Geehr’s age is emerging. Several competed at the Junior Championships West in San Jose this week and five others will swim in relays in Fresno.

Many of them attend Mayfield High, a private girls’ school in Pasadena, which Geehr will attend as a freshman next month.

Mayfield appears to be a good fit in more ways than one. Geehr spent four days a week this summer in a ceramics class, rediscovering her artistic side.

“I’ve been drawing and painting for a long time,” she said. “Now with the ceramics I’ve done just about everything.”