FUTURE OLYMPIANS

[This article consists of a photograph--see below]

COLOR PHOTO: GABE PALACIO VANESSA ATLER CANYON COUNTRY, CALIF. Guard Young OKLAHOMA CITY Vanessa, 14, competing in the junior girls' division, won the gold medal in the all-around at both the National Gymnastics Championships in Knoxville, Tenn., and the American Classic/World Championships Trials in Tulsa. Vanessa has been a U.S. junior team member since last year, when she finished second in the all-around at the nationals and third at the Olympic Festival. Guard, 19, won the junior men's all-around title at the nationals, improving on his second-place finish of last year. Guard, whose father, Wayne, was on the 1976 Olympic gymnastics team, is a freshman at Brigham Young University. [Vanessa Atler]

COLOR PHOTO: MATTHEW R. SMITH [See caption above--Guard Young]

COLOR PHOTO: NATALEE WATERS FRANK DURST AUGUSTA Frank, 18, won the 119-pound title against an impressive international field at the Atlanta Boxing Classic. He was a quarterfinalist in the 119-pound class at the 1995 U.S. Junior Championships and finished second among 100-pounders at the '93 Junior Olympics. [Frank Durst]

COLOR PHOTO: RICH PEDRONCELLI MICHAEL STEMBER FAIR OAKS, CALIF. Stember, 18, clocked the third-fastest indoor mile by a high school runner in history when he ran a 4:07.10 at the L.A. Invitational. His 4:04.00 finish at the 1995 state finals was the closest a prep runner had come to a sub-four-minute mile since Richard Kimball's 4:02.40 in 1974. [Michael Stember]

COLOR PHOTO: DENNIS M. KINSELLA STACEY DRAGILA POCATELLO, IDAHO Dragila, 25, broke the U.S. women's pole vault record when she cleared 13'91/4" at the Olympic trials in Atlanta, surpassing the mark of 13'9", which she had set in April while a senior at Idaho State. The women's pole vault is expected to be an Olympic medal event in 2000. [Stacey Dragila]

COLOR PHOTO: TIM ROGERS MISTY HYMAN PHOENIX Misty, 17, won both the 100- and the 200-meter butterfly at the International Grand Prix, in Phoenix, defeating several U.S. and Canadian Olympians. At the Olympic trials she missed making the squad by .03 of a second when she finished third in the 100 fly. [Misty Hyman]