ranked among
bes
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wimmers
By NORMAN CANNADA
Success is important to every athlete.
It's a good feeling for one to know that
they are doing well in their sport. The feeling
can be even better if they're ranked among
the best.
Four UNC swimmers know what that feel
ing is like. The four Sue Walsh, Gayle He
gel, Sue Scott and Eric Ericson are all world
ranked in their events. Ericson is currently
ranked 16th in the 100-meter backstroke,
while Hegel is the ninth-rated swimmer in
the 200-meter individual medley. Walsh and
Scott are fourth and fifth respectively in the
50-meter freestyle. Walsh is ranked fifth in
the world in the 100-meter backstroke and
13th in the 200-meter backstroke.
The rankings are compiled each year by
Swimming World a magazine that Walsh
calls "the Sports Illustrated of swimming."
The ratings are based on the times a swim
mer sets in a year. .
Swimming is an unusual sport in that
many of the top performers in the world are
at the high school and college age. This is es
pecially true for women.
"With the girls, I think they tend to burn
out quicker," Hegel said. "They start to date
more and have other interests. It's more ma
cho for men to keep swimming after college."
Hegel, Ericson and Scott all traveled with
a team representing the United States in a
European tour last month. Hegel, a junior,
said the hardest thing that she had to accept
ON SPORTS
was that she was older than most of the
other swimmers.
"I think I'm getting old as far as a swim
mer goes," she said. "In a way I'm slowly
starting to bum out."
Hegel remembers her first world ranking
in 1979.
"It didn't dawn on me as anything big, but
a lot of people started coming up to me and
telling me how good I was. It is kind of nice
to see my name up there."
Walsh is the only current UNC swimmer"
to have ever been ranked first in the world in
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DURHAM COCA-COLA BOTTLING CO.
an event. That was in 1978 when she was the
top swimmer in the 100-meter backstroke.
"I think it's just starting to hit me now,"
Walsh said. "But, in a way it gives me incen
tive to be number one again. It's something I
know I can do."
Walsh has been ranked among the world's
top swimmers since she was 16 years old.
She said that the ratings caused a lot of
headaches with college recruiters.
"I got a lot of offers. They seemed to be
calling all the time. It was pretty aggravat
ing" With a world ranking in three events, one
might think that the 1984 Olympics would
be foremost in Walsh's mind right now, but
that isn't the case at all.
"The rankings are just a list of names un
less you swim in the Olympics and finish in
the top three or so," Walsh said. "But, I try
not to think about the Olympics. That's two
years away. My interest might change."
Unlike Walsh and Hegel, Ericson was
ranked this past year for the first time.
(Continued on page 7.)
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