Swimming

7 p.m. [Animal Planet] From the Yahoo description: "Examining lions that have taken to swimming in order to survive in the African wilderness of Botswana's Okavango Delta." If you're reading this, Michael Phelps, we sense a new training technique with lots of incentive to swim faster.

NORTH EAST - State Forest and Park Service officials announced yesterday that the public swimming area at Elk Neck State Park in Cecil County has reopened. The area was closed last Friday after high concentrations of fecal coliform bacteria were detected in the North East River side of the park. The state reopened the swimming area after county health department workers retested the water and found that the levels of bacteria had subsided.

Water quality in the Spa Creek headwaters has improved to normal and the advisory against swimming has been lifted, the Anne Arundel County Department of Health announced yesterday.The advisory was issued for the headwaters and areas downstream from the Truxtun Heights Park boat ramp after a sewage spill July 9.

Towson State has restored its men's and women's swimming programs, which had been cut Aug. 11 as a cost-saving measure.Athletic director Bill Hunter announced the reversal yesterday but did not say whether the swimming teams would survive past the 1992-93 school year. The men's and women's indoor track and field teams, also cut Aug. 11, were not given a reprieve."The university has reconsidered its suspension [of swimming] primarily because the students who would want to compete intercollegiately had no recourse for this year," Hunter said in a statement.

Julia Gorman and Jill Johnson Chasson, former North Baltimore Aquatic Club members who earned international recognition over the past 10 years, are the newest members of the Maryland Swimming Hall of Fame.Inducted during the group's sixth annual awards program last week, they are the 24th and 25th selections since Arthur "Red" Hucht became the first in 1985.At the same time, members Patrick Kennedy and John Considine were formally recognized. Both had been inducted in a less-formal setting a decade ago.Kennedy was an All-American at Loyola High School and the University of Florida, and an Olympian, (eighth in the 200 breaststroke in 1984 at Los Angeles)

An autopsy was to be performed today on a man who apparently drowned yesterday afternoon while swimming off a pier at Fort Armistead Park in South Baltimore. The man's name was withheld pending notification of his family. Chief Kevin Cartwright, a city Fire Department spokesman, said the victim and some male friends were fishing in the Patapsco River off the pier about 1 p.m. when the victim decided to go swimming. Moments after entering the water and swimming for a short distance, the victim called for help, Cartwright said.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is advising people to avoid swimming in sections of the Potomac River with blue-green algae blooms near the border of Prince George's and Charles counties. Accidental ingestion of the algae Microcystis can lead to fever, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Blooms of the algae have been reported along the Potomac from Piscataway Creek to Smith Point, the agency said yesterday. People are advised to wash their skin if they touch parts of the river colored by bright-green scum.

At the age of 14, Anita Nall is swimming in fast company.The Towson High student and North Baltimore Aquatic Club member registered the third fastest time in American history in the 200-meter breaststroke in winning the event at the U.S. Open swimming meet Sunday in Indianapolis.Her time of 2:30.53 ranks only behind those of Amy Shaw (2:29.58 in 1987) and Tracey McFarlane (2:29.82 in 1988) in the United States. Since August, when she posted a 2:34.73 in the 200 breaststroke, Nall has risen from No. 39 to No. 7 in the world.

`TC David Miller has set some pretty high standards for his college swimming career.Although just a sophomore at UMBC, Miller already has plenty to live up to. At last year's Eastern Intercollegiate Championships, he won two events, broke five school records and earned Most Outstanding Male Swimmer honors.With this year's Eastern Championships less than a month away, Miller is determined to be the top man again."I would kind of feel like I took a step backward if I didn't get it this year," said the Centennial High graduate.

Sam Colangelo has been there from the beginning -- the start of an organized high school swimming program in Harford County. Sixteen years later, Colangelo and his wife Judy are one of three married couples coaching teams in the county league.Joining the North Harford pair in this category are Jeff and Lisa DeMott of Bel Air and Ted and Marianne Smith of Joppatowne."In 1978, I was at North Harford and Kevin Fleming was at Bel Air, and we were charged by Al Cesky [supervisor of county athletics at the time]