Twenty years ago, Jay Mortenson reached the pinnacle of competitive swimming when he won a gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

As a member of the U.S. medley relay team, Mortenson and his teammates set a world record en route to their victory.

Long before he tasted Olympic glory, though, Mortenson was introduced to swimming at a young age through the Madison All-City Swim Meet.

"You come to the city meet at the end of the summer -- which comes all too soon, I might add -- and you just have this massive collection of everything from tiny little 5-year-olds to 17- and 18-year-olds," said Mortenson, reached by phone in Los Angeles Thursday, where he lives and works as a quantitative analyst for an investment management firm.

"It was a great introductory experience to swimming and a lot of fun."

Swimming for Maple Bluff in 1980, Mortenson set the pool record at the West Side Swim Club, the site of this year's event, in the 100-meter backstroke in the 13-14 division with a time of 1:08.03, a record that stood for 28 years.

Until Thursday.

Nakoma's Drew teDuits, who will be a sophomore at Madison Edgewood in the fall, crushed Mortenson's old mark, finishing in 1:01.68 in Thursday morning's preliminary round.

When Mortenson was told his record had been broken, he admitted he didn't even know it had lasted this long.

"It's kind of fun to hear that there's still some of the (records) standing," said Mortenson, who also set an American record in 1987 while swimming at Stanford. "A little dusty at this point, but it's fun to hear."

TeDuits wasn't aware of what the top time was, either, but knew he had a chance to beat it.

"I was kind of aware -- 1:08-ish, " teDuits said of what he thought was the time to beat. "I was hoping I'd break that today. I just swim my own race and wait until afterward to see how I did."

Since he doesn't swim again until Saturday's finals, teDuits will head to Milwaukee today to take part in a state meet, which runs through Sunday.

As for his long-term plans, he plans to keep swimming at least through college.

But for now, he's just enjoying his time in the pool.

"I think it's really neat that I have the opportunity to swim," he said.