GLIDING TOWARD THE OLYMPICS : 11-YEAR-OLD SWIMMER WINS ENDURANCE TESTS.

Byline: Lee Barnathan Daily News Staff Writer

Lindsay Taylor won numerous trophies, plaques and medals as a swimmer when she was 8, 9 and 10. Now she has moved up to the 11-12 age group, in which she recently swam 14 events totaling 4,300 meters over three days.

Why would the 11-year-old Santa Clarita resident push herself like that?

``I've never won a high-point award, and I wanted to add a trophy,'' Lindsay said.

That's what she did last weekend at the University of Southern California. She captured the long-course high-point championship.

``When you age up, it always gets a little harder.''

She was referring to the time standards for Junior Olympics. She had qualified in each of the previous three years, but she wasn't fast enough to make it in the 11-12 division in the Junior Olympics. So the long-course meet at USC was her chance to show she's a serious, competitive swimmer.

And that's exactly what she did. She planned her action before the meet.

``I knew I wanted to get this trophy,'' she said, and decided she would need to swim in as many as five events per day at the meet.

Although she didn't win any event and managed no better than a third-place finish, she still won the championship by 48 points. That's because points were awarded for the top-eight finishers in each event, and Lindsay earned points in 10 of the events. She also swam personal-best times in 10 events. She finished third in the 50-meter backstroke.

Often, she had a rest period of only 10 minutes in between events.

``A lot of people ask why I swim all the time,'' she said. ``I usually say, `Because it's fun and I like it.' ''

``She's wise beyond her years,'' said her mother, Laura. ``She's very goal-oriented. She sets her mind to it, and then she goes out and does it. Before every meet, she figures out what time she wants to get. Then she figures out how fast she needs to swim.''

The next big goal for Lindsay, who swims at Rose Bowl Aquatics in Pasadena, is to earn a berth on the U.S. swim team for the Olympics in 2000. She'll be 15 when the Games begin in Sydney, Australia.

``Amanda Beard was 14, and she won two silver medals in the breaststroke,'' Lindsay said about one of the Atlanta Games swimmers. She said all the Olympics athletes in Atlanta got there partially through self-motivation.

``They believed in themselves and wouldn't let anyone tell them they couldn't do it.''

Lindsay Taylor

Lindsay Taylor swam 14 events in three days. All distances are in meters. Participants received points based on their finishing position. Taylor's cumulative total was highest.

Friday:

200 individual medley: 2 minutes, 53.03 seconds (8th)

400 individual medley: 6:09.12 (8th)

50 breaststroke: 47.49 (17th)

800 freestyle: 11:17.62 (6th)

Saturday:

200 freestyle: 2:35.40 (16th)

50 freestyle: 33.34 (22nd)

400 freestyle: 5:18.64 (5th)

50 backstroke: 38.43 (3rd)

50 butterfly: 36.03 (8th)

Sunday:

100 freestyle: 1:10.63 (11th)

1,500 freestyle: 22:01.04 (5th)

200 backstroke: 2:52.03 (5th)

100 butterfly: 1:18.23 (4th)

200 butterfly: 2:59.46 (5th)

Total points: 243

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: (AV and SAC--color in SAC) Santa Clarita swimme r Lindsay Taylor, 11, is winning trophies and aiming to be on the U.S. Olympics team in 2000 in Sydney, Australia.

Phil McCarten/Daily News

Box: Lindsay Taylor (see text)