Swimmers

Tom Popdan cannot help remembering the first time he swam the length of the pool or the first time he won a race. He relives those events each time one of his Hilltop swimmers achieves a similar goal. Popdan, 29, began competitive summer swimming 23 years ago at the Primos- Secane Swim Club. Now he is head swim coach for 100 children, ages 6 to 18, at Hilltop Swim Club in Havertown. Popdan, who also coaches the University of Virginia swim team and Team Foxcatcher in Newtown Square, returned to the Delaware County Swim League two summers ago after a brief coaching stint at Temple University.

It's Tuesday afternoon at 4:00 o'clock, after school, goof-off time for most kids. But for two dozen dedicated youngsters it is time to swim - to train - in the steamy humidity of the Marcus Foster Recreation Center in Nicetown. Steadily, seriously, they glide back and forth in a six-lane pool that's 25 yards long - less than half the standard 50-meter length of a standard competitive pool. For these kids that's no handicap - it's just another challenge. They are members of the PDR (Philadelphia Recreation Department)

Holly Kleiderlein of Wayne will pass up a mid-Atlantic junior Olympics swim meet this summer so she can participate in the Keystone State Games in August. The talented 12-year-old swimmer, who belongs to the Upper Main Line YMCA team, will lead a contingent of just 22 from the Southeast region to Wilkes- Barre. Many of the region's best athletes have opted to attend the prestigious junior Olympics, or are committed to summer league programs. That leaves a small roster, which will be filled with 15 swimmers from elsewhere in the state, said Fay Knecht, the Games' state sport director for swimming.

Downingtown boys' coach Steve Curtiss knew this would be a good year. He had a solid nucleus of talent in Doug and Steve Petrie and Karney McNear and a group of young up-and-coming swimmers led by sophomores Ed Paradise and Skip Reif. What Curtiss didn't know was that this year would turn out to be the most successful swimming season in the Whippets' history. In the regular season, the Whippets coasted to the Tri-County League title with a perfect 6-0 record (13-2 overall)

Washington Township's swimming teams proved they were more than one-trick ponies. Township's boys' and girls' teams, led by two of South Jersey's - if not the state's - top swimmers in Eric Brumberg and Heather Meng, showed off their depth as both retained their Gloucester County titles last night at the championship meet at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology. "There's no doubt they're our best swimmers," sophomore Megan Noonan said. "But we do have depth and a lot of other good swimmers.

America's top 150 swimmers will face random, off-season testing for steroids for the first time starting next year, the sport's ruling body decided last night. The U.S. Swimming Federation's House of Delegates, concluding its week-long meeting in Bloomington, Minn., also tabled a proposal that would have awarded prize money to medalists at the Olympics and other major international competitions. The United States is the first major swimming power to require off-season testing for performance-enhancing drugs, according to federation spokesman Jeff Dimond.

Olympic star Kristin Otto and other members of East Germany's record- shattering women's swimming teams were part of a systematic doping program, according to secret-police records published in an American magazine. The December issue of Swimming World carries results from the Stasi, the East German secret police, showing Otto, winner of six gold medals at the 1988 Olympics, with steroid levels almost three times the limit needed to trigger a positive result. Otto's ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone of 17-to-1 topped a list of test results from Aug. 9, 1989 that also included world-class swimmers Daniela Hunger, Dagmar Hase and Heike Friedrich, according to Stasi documents quoted in the magazine.

Most successful swimmers are focused solely on their sport during the season. North Penn freshman Ashley Jernigan is an exception, splitting time between indoor soccer and swimming - and she succeeds at both. On Sunday nights at the Woodhaven Sports Center, Jernigan plays in an indoor soccer league. Every day but Sunday, Jernigan is devoted to swimming on the North Penn team. Jernigan has been a huge asset for the Maidens, swimming the 100-yard breaststroke (with a personal best of 1 minute, 9.9 seconds)

After six hours of competition at last weekend's Cherry Bowl swimming championships came the awarding of the coveted silver bowl. Old Orchard lost the cup for the first time in 13 years last year and wanted it back. Barclay Farm won it last year. The announcer listed the results: In third place, Barclay Farm. In second place, Downs Farm. And in first place, Old Orchard. Old Orchard team members hoisted the bowl, ate the cherries in it and dumped their coaches into the pool.

Area swimmers will be making waves Saturday and Sunday at Cherry Hill's Fox Hollow Swim Club, which is hosting the 54th annual Burt German Tri-County Swimming Championships. The pool will be overflowing with young competitors from 36 summer swim clubs that make up the Tri-County Swimming Pool Association in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties. Boys and girls ranging from eight and under to 15-18 are competing in 17 events, beginning with the 100-meter individual medley and ending with the 200 freestyle relay.