Friday, July 24, 1998

Tiffin swimmer headed for Junior Goodwill Games

By Andy Cole
Sports Writer

Before Rachel Wahl of Tiffin was ever even born, Ted Turner came up with the idea of mixing good will among nations with sports to schedule around re-runs of ''Perry Mason'' and ''Gilligan's Island''.

His brainchild became the Goodwill Games, another venue for America's athletes to compete and a chance to get shaky relations between western world and communist block athletes on more stable ground.

Times changed. Rachel started swimming, and now she's going to be a part of Turner's great project. Part of a new program that allows kids ages 8-13 to participate in the event. The nine-year-old will swim the 50 meter freestyle at the Junior Goodwill Games. She takes to the water for her event at 7:30 p.m. July 31.

''The competition's in Long Island, and she's going over there with her dad that Thursday,'' said Maria Wahl, Rachel's mother.

''The people at the Games are paying for her airfare and the hotel. She's going to get to see the Global Pavillion and the Statue of Liberty and some other things, and I think it will be a great experience for her.''

Rachel's first place finish in the Parks and Recreation Department's competition at Hedges-Boyer Park qualified her for the Toledo Sectional. She won the 25 meter race in Toledo, and her time there gave her a trip to Long Island, not to mention something real interesting to tell her friends when she returns to school as a fourth grader at Krout Elementarty this fall.

''It's nice to have my brother and sister swimming, too,'' said Rachel about her 11-year-old David and her six-year-old sister, Laura. David, who advanced to the Toledo Sectional himself, will be going to Long Island to cheer on Rachel.

''It's just nice to have somebody there to swim with.''

Rachel started swimming when she was in kindergarten. She and her siblings swim for the YMCA during the season, and in the summer she gets her practice in on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

''Rachel's dad was a swimmer, and got her involved at the start,'' Maria Wahl said. ''I like to see the kids swimming because it's an alternative to the more popular sports.

''It can be four nights a week of practice during the winter, but she works hard and she's willing to put the time in to it. Swimming is a team sport, but it lets the kids excel as individuals, and that's one of the great things about it.''

''I'm not really nervous now, but I probably will be when it actually happens,'' Rachel said. ''I think I'll do well, but if I don't I think it will still be great to be there. I'll be happy anyway.''