SwimmingWorldMagazine.com Rewind: 1986 U.S. Short Course Championships

By Jason Marsteller

PHOENIX, Arizona, October 13. WITH the USA Swimming Short Course Championships returning next December after a 17-year hiatus, SwimmingWorldMagazine.com Rewind looks back at previous editions of the meet.

The 1986 edition of the Short Course Championships came down to pure personal pride for the swimmers involved. With the bulk of the top-flight swimmers battling for NCAA titles, the meet featured a wide open battle for USA Swimming crowns in Orlando, Fla.

Here is an excerpt of the story written by Mark Muckenfuss in the May issue of Swimming World Magazine that year.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Troy Dalbey had made his move. With 150 yards remaining in the 500 free he left the position he had established next to Dan Jorgensen and began gaining on the leader. It was a calculated move. This was how Dalbey had wanted the race to go.

"This season I started working on having some momentum at the 350 turn," Dalbey would later say. "I wanted to hang on his (Jorgensen's) hip and at the 350 start motoring."

Dalbey motored his way into a near-even position with Jorgensen by the 400 turn and with a quick flip, left him behind.

"I did?" Dalbey later said, when told how much ground he picked up on the turn. "I thought it was a bad turn. I thought I was going to miss the wall at first. I guess I'll have to try some more like that."

Dalbey picked up more ground and was nearly half a body-length ahead of Jorgensen at the 450 mark. But the race was not over. Now it was Jorgensen's turn to "motor." The winner of the 1,000 free, on the first day of the meet, Jorgensen had a shot at the high point trophy, but he needed this win for insurance. Dalbey was worried.

"I thought I had enough left until about 50 to go," he said. "On the last 25 I thought he was going to pass me."

But he didn't. Dalbey held on to win in a career-best 4:17.30, with Jorgensen only a touch off with a 4:17.45, also a career-best for him.

While neither swimmer came close to the 4:13.06 American record set by Mike O'Brien at last year's NCAA Championships, their times would have placed them second and third at this year's NCAAs.

For the complete Swimming World Magazine article on the 1986 Short Course Championships, click here.

Premium online subscribers can view the entire 1986 May edition of the magazine, as well as any other edition of the magazine back to 1960. For more information on a premium subscription, please click here.

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