The Reed Girls

Tense and terribly serious, the tall, tanned young (17) swimmer on the starting block took a couple of deep breaths, shook her head and shoulders with a nervous shrug and coiled into her starting crouch. At the gun, Shelley Mann, an Arlington, Va. schoolgirl, lit out in an angry, ungraceful crawl. Four laps and 58.7 seconds later, she slapped the pool wall, winner of the 100-yard final at the National A.A.U. Senior Women's Indoor Championships.

Worry Wart. As the championships got underway last week in Daytona Beach's Welch Municipal Pool, the sleek-muscled star of the Walter Reed Swim Club* had more reason to collapse than to set records. All night Shelley Mann (daughter of an electrical engineer) had lain awake worrying. Even the presence of Tommy, her good-luck Teddy bear, had not lulled her to sleep. In the morning, she ground out a fast 58.9-second qualifying dash for the 100-yd. freestyle. Later, she led her qualifying heat once again as she clocked 5:31.8 in the punishing 400-yd. individual medley.

After a light lunch--rare filet mignon, peas, fruit compote, tea--Shelley tried once more to sleep. This time, in an earnest effort to relax, she read a few chapters of her favorite book: Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking (see RELIGION). Refreshed, Shelley sprinted to the 100-yd. title, and a short half-hour later she won the 400-yd. medley championship as well.

Churning Machines. Such stamina is the secret of the Walter Reed girls' success--and it is not easily come by. Year-round, the youngsters let nothing, not even their school work, interfere with training. Every day finds them out in their sagging, stark black swim suits, ready to start a practice session by 7 a.m. And every morning, under the calm and skillful guidance of Army Pfc. Stan

Tinkham, 23, they splash through a workout that leaves them panting and near exhaustion.

A varsity swimmer from the University of North Carolina, modest Stan Tinkham inherited the team in the spring of 1954, when he took over from a talented but terrible-tempered civilian named James Leonard Campbell. That April, when the squad left for Daytona, everyone predicted disaster. Tinkham brought home a team of winners.

Since then the girls have worked as hard as ever. Gut-wrenching wind sprints, body-building exercises, clowning relays with the girls swimming in pajamas or blowing up balloons between laps, all combine to melt the teen-age fat from their hips, harden their midriffs and toughen their arms. Somehow they also find the strength to practice the fine points of flip turns and racing starts.

Last week, Shelley went on to take the 250-yd. freestyle and help her teammates to the 400-yd. medley relay title. Army Lt. Betty Mullen, oldest of the Reed girls and a freestyle specialist before she swam for Tinkham, set a sure world record in the 100-yd. butterfly (1:05.4). With the whole team pitching in, the Walter Reed Swim piled up 95 points for their third championship in a row. Marveled a rival coach: "A crazy bunch of churning machines."

* Formed three years ago at Walter Reed Medical Center "to provide the opportunity for members of the armed forces, their dependents and others to engage in competitive swimming."

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