CAPTURES TOUGHEST RACE
Closing Kick Boots Glick
To AAU Distance Title
By JOHN FLYNN
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Eddie Glick, 17-year-old defending champion from
Huntingon, Ind. and
George Mollis, a 52-year-old Akronite, finished the National AAU Men's
Senior long distance swimming race over a four mile course Saturday at
Wyoga Lake.
Glick had to beat off the challenge of two other
swimmers to win the
championship in a blanket finish. One was not Mollis who came in
some two hours behind the winner in three hours, 29 minutes, 23.8
seconds.
Long after the other competitors had finished, Mollis'
friends and relatives
gathered around the dock to welcome George home. One of the
well-wishers
was George's daughter, Maria-Elena. Mollis entered the race to
show
her he still had the get-up-and-go to swim the distance.
Mollis, a bit pale after the race, still had the
stamina to trot to
the Wyoga dressing room. Glick, in the "toughest race I ever have
swum,"
had to sprint the final 220 yards to nip Ed Naber and George Saldana in
the fantastic finish for a four-mile race.
Coming down the stretch, Naber and Glick wet stroke
for stroke with
Saldana, a 17-year- old Mexican from Detroit Patton Pool, refusing to
fold.
Glick sprinted under the wire in 1 hour, 26 minutes,
13 seconds, a mere
two seconds ahead of Naber who was clocked in 1:26:15.2 and some three
yards ahead of Saldana who was timed in 1:26:19.0.
Naver, from Oak park, Ill., was the surprise of the
race, along with
Saldana who cane to Detroit seven years ago from Nuevoloredo, Mex.
Naver might have upset Glick if he had been able to
hold a straight
course. Glick summed up the race when he said, "I'm sure glad Naber
wasn't
able to swim a straight line. He must have logged about four and
one-half miles."
Glick's clocking was under the national championship
meet time of 1:26:45.3
held by Roy Saari, but didn't match the American citizens record of
1:25:41.5
set by Winston Pendleton. The American standard is 1:25:14.5 held by
Australian,
Murray Rose.
Patton Pool walked off with the team title,
placing Saldana third,
Doug Webster fourth and Monty Blashill fifth in the 34-man field.
Kathy Baker of Long Beach won the women's senion in 24:29.4. Sandy
Olson
of Cleveland was second in 27:23.0
Peggy Sherk of Patton Pool won the half-mile event for
girls 8-10. She
was timed in 14:21.7, beating Ellen Cochrane of Rubber City who clocked
15:35.1, Brenda Job of Cortland was third and Rex Stewart of Water
Works
was fourth.
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