An Unexpected Bonanza for Sandeno

Kaitlin Sandeno’s face was beaming as she sat in front of a microphone in Long Beach Arena early Thursday evening, discussing her unexpected victory in the women’s 400-meter freestyle final on the second day of the U.S. Olympic swimming trials.

All of a sudden, her smile was replaced by a look of horror.

“Oh, a spider,” she said, recoiling as she pointed at the mike.

With a sweep of her hand, she avoided the threat. No spider bite for her. How bizarre would that have been with an invitation to Athens Games in hand?

And how typical.

Bizarre and unexpected ailments have become as familiar to Sandeno as the exhilarating feeling of diving into a pool.

Like the plane ride she took to Austin, Texas, in her freshman year at USC. When she landed, she noticed a pain in her upper back on the right side. By the next day, that pain had become excruciating.

“I didn’t want to complain,” Sandeno said. “I didn’t want to be one of those freshmen who complains a lot.”

But soon, she didn’t have to say anything for others to notice. As a matter of fact, she couldn’t say anything.

“It hurt to take a deep breath. It hurt to talk,” Sandeno said.

It took six months of going from doctor to doctor before she learned the cause of her pain: A stress fracture.

It took two years until she could fully regain her form. But she kept swimming.

“How she made it through, I’ll never know,” said Sandeno’s coach, Mark Schubert.

Then, before the NCAA championships in her sophomore season, Sandeno was involved in a car accident that left her with bumps and bruises. A doctor told her to curtail her swimming until she fully recovered, but she wouldn’t listen.

Then came a bout with flu, resulting in a temperature of 103 degrees.

“It was one thing after another,” Sandeno said. “I was so frustrated. Many times, I was going to give up.”

Instead, she again has qualified for the Olympic Games after winning a bronze medal in the 800-meter freestyle in the 2000 Games.

After having been virtually assured of a spot on this year’s Olympic squad Wednesday with a second-place finish in the 400-meter individual medley, and facing two events today, Sandeno wasn’t even going to swim 400-meter freestyle finals Thursday. But when she clocked a career-best 4:09.81 in the morning preliminaries, she decided to go for it

“I was feeling good, on a roll,” she said. “There was no pressure on me. If I hadn’t already made the team, it might have been different. I’m not going to say I didn’t care, but it was just have fun and whatever happens, happens.”

What happened was that Sandeno finished ahead of the pack in a time of 4:08.07.

“My [previous best] was a 4:10 in 1999 at the Pan Am Games when I was 16,” Sandeno said, “so it’s been five years. I’m completely shocked. I don’t train for it.... I’m definitely overwhelmed. I never thought I would have made it in this event.

“But the party doesn’t start now. It’s just getting going.”

Spiders beware.