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Show The Salt Lake Tribune SPORTS S ns e eaves + Wimmer — Statkeviciute . Back in Pool or ‘ ss ‘ will courses and street courses — Friday, December 7, 2001 What was uncommon was thedi- @ Continued from C-1 mensionof the hole.It wasn'ta Pinhead-sized opening that istypically the norm in such cases, rather a gaproughly thesizeofa dime. Her muscles were receiving just 15 percentofthe regular oxy- ee ee ees : new coach MikeLitzingerjump un could there be than to have the most successful team in Ameri- —sheevenhad “ute” inhername — decided to come to Salt Lake ¢ecision: Give up competitive swimming and deal with thede- ing League as its competitive |, “Ihadn'tseenherswim,”says osing prestige mM IS US U.S. ‘THE ASSOCIATED PRESS “What better affirmation started the process, Statkeviciute can cnoats cametheIndy City. anapolis Motor Speedway owner se cofounderRoger Pen. ‘Tony George said. helfede erth z ana d create forthe rival IRL, a saeae by the most re eae eee IRL founder and Indi- porcine times Were she Penske’s decision was based more on marketing considerations than the caliber of racing comparab! swimme: ME8ee Tiejs le. Sues acre: case, perhaps teed When the Lithuanianpies cessful owner in open-wheel in CART. Last May, Penske's campus, Litzinger, asidefrom ven im al rz, ca*5 Tan in the Indy 500 without SE evils, Hans to race in all TRL se ne ae inchut fo © the’ logos of longtime sponsor &#tion Mariboro because the forms, socialecari eae Seek Look nL Psd Tie Chakie cng settlementforbidsadvertisingon fiallookatSaikeviciate and. re Or, take therisk of ucts onlyin the United States and plans havebeen curtailed by the with our business interests and objectives for 2002.” The Penske statement says 1998 tobacco settlement. Theshifting of the racing op- eration that has accounted for nine CART titles and 11 openwheel championships overall was the latest blow for CART, whichhas been losingprestige in the United States since it left the Indianapolis 500 after formation ofthe IRL in 1996. CART’s growth in recent years has been overseas, with Japan, En- The move aeolleaves CART without a defending champion. Gonewill be Gil de Ferran, who won titles the last two years. It also guarantees that Helio Castroneves, who gave Penske his 1ith Indianapolis 500 victory this year, will defend thattitle next May. its territories, “We believe that the team has noplansto participate iin any other open-wheel se- ries in 2002. Penske also fields stock cars for Rusty Wallace and rookie Ryan Newman in the NASCAR Winston Cupseries. Penske, who has 110 victories and135 poles in open-wheelrac- ing, will later announce his choices for engine, chassis and tire combinations. Since the arrival of the IRL, the core group of open-wheel racing fans has beensplit, and CART’s TV ratings have dipped precipitously. After working with ABC and ESPN for years, CART’s new TV contract offers a handful of races on CBS and the rest on cable’s Speed Channel. Later Thursday, CART exi ske’s decision. i pgmnc “We will remain oo = aan Mysterious Lag: As the team gotinto aerobictraining in thefall of 2000, Statkeviciute conditioning workouts, she weakened. She fell further behind, week by week. In Novemberoflast year, Statkeviciute passed out near the pool after a workout. Litzinger, who had becomeincreasingly frustrated with his ioe's lackof progress, awaited medical tests our No.1 objective — our sport and the CART brand” The IRL said Penske’s defection was anotherindication that apart ofits an- open-heart sur- 2 ; a successful outcome and maybe again. I look Nee P ‘l was scared, PUtEW8SMADPY aa ti i in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyles. More arses her times were lifetime bests. etd ee tember, Statkeviciute retuned, rejuvenated and full ofhope. This season, in six meets, she hasn't _lost a 100-freestyle event. Her 100 timeof51.26 is one ofthe fastest in the United Statesthis year and likely will qualify mee been named the MWC’s swimmer ofthe week twice. havethe opportu. forward to getting in deeeased eater oy nity toswim the pool” backinto the again. men on Utah's team. believable,” says Litzinger. Over the summer, _ciute went home to Lithuania, ing program. Al- gery torepair the. “I’m excited to swim thoughshedid damage, hope for zs not swim, she for’ NCAA championships in March. Over a five-week period, she has “It’s her,” Litzinger says, shaking his head. “Neringa’s the one pool, but re- who decided todothis, and sheis mained tentative doing it. It’s amazing. I NERINGA STATKEVICIUTE TESene Tabu Utah swimmer Tean’t do this. I Litzinger started to believe her. SaaS ee SaysLitzinger: “The doctor. told her, ‘If you could do what you did before with thedefect, you could be a world-class athlete if wefix it’” She entered surgery at LDS Hospital at 6:30 the morning of Dec. 8, 2000, and was awakened more than five hours later in post- op. “WhenI opened my eyes, the first thing I thoughtwas, ‘I'm never going to have open-heart surgery again,’ ”she says. “Oh, my chest hurt.” A few dayslater,still in the can't dothis.” He was unconvinced that the young woman whoonce was a national champion would everrecover enough to be competitive in the Mountain West. Just as he was considering advising Stat- keviciute to transfer to a Division Ill program,Litzinger and other administrators decided to give hera plan and a chance to fully recover. Good idea. Coming Back:By March, Statkeviciute was steadily improving, getting strongerandfaster. By April, in aerobic tests, she In the midst ofthat resolve, ping like a rock, again. “I'm improving,” sh e Says. Statkeviciute’s times are drop“It's been a long time.I'm excited to swim again.I look forward to in the pool. I guess it means if you wantto do something, you can do it. If you really wantit. And Ido.” So, 19-year-old Neringa Stat- keviciute looks at that 10-inch scar on her chest now,and she grins.Ita her: orhepey, hopeful, and “Tt feats me:ot thatdecision Tmadeto go on,” she says. “And I have. That’s good,that’s really good. I look forward to myfuture. It’sgreat.” and was shocked,along with everyone else, whentheresults Rooms Available for Olympics came back. Doctors found thatStatkeviciute had a congenital heart defect, a diagnosis notthat outrageously uncommon. The young swimmerhad a holein herright ventricle that was inhibiting the flow of oxygeninto her working muscles and other bodyparts. ¢ © ° © ¢ A VERY SPECIAL GIFT... @ Florida over the holiday break as nual winter train- in Pen- “The economics of our sport require teams to satisfy sponsors’ marketing needs,” CARTsaid. nasil Hewas right, in more ways than for which he bargained. the IRL is more closely aligned Tiaately,teammates did vintteyanid eine fake r- Thursday in a statement from Trethanonecircuit. liked what he saw. When she got something was roeman, a spokesman jn the pool, her strokes were wrong with me,” ing, Pa. for Marlboro parent Philip Mor- strong, her sizeimpressive. she says, “And Cindric said the decision was rette TS USA,said that since the ciga- ote_Litzinger was thinking, “We've knew they couldfix it.” maker marketed its prodsomethingspecial here.” made in conjunction with Marl- : urtme.My comrade’s spirits. Litzinger took _Statkeviciute with the team to fect, hoping to avoid a possible stroke. i me, but I didn't want her toseeall ofmy Statkeviciute faced a difficult company headquarters in Read- boro, the team’s chief aad whose autoracing marketi pain, says. “And ueddoctors were amazed that mld continue to gain inpopularty. that i male swimmers, and most ofthe mom wanted to come to be wi OW to league losi Caters to | ing physically, but emotionally, she broke down. couldn't keep my tears in anymore,” she says. “I started to and cry and cry. I couldn't stop. I was here, alone. Myfamily out 20hours a week,” Litzinger “Here she had been working Cc was beatingall ofthe other fe- gen volume. : Co-founder deals big blow ° hospital, Statkeviciute was heal- Affordable Rates RoomsSleep 2-8 People Data Ports, Refrigerators and Microwaves Conference Rooms 75 Miles from SLC - 45 Miles from Park City You Can Bet OnIt! 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