TCU head swimming coach Richard Sybesma didn't run particularly far or fast, but he was decidedly out of breath after carrying the Olympic torch through campus Wednesday.

He had planned to make the two-tenths of a mile he jogged on University Drive last as long as possible, so the moment could be savored.

Not for himself.

But for Matt Walters, his former swimming pupil who became a website designer for the 2002 Winter Games but died of a heart attack in March.

"It was a blast. It happened so quick," Sybesma said in front of Robert Carr Chapel after handing off the flame to another runner. "I didn't expect that many people here. But this is not about me being in the limelight. This is about honoring Matt and his family."

With Walters' mother Cathy cheering and watching with hundreds of other flag-waving supporters, Sybesma ran arm in arm with support runner Darlene Walters, Matt's wife, as he carried the flame as one of 11,500 torchbearers in the Chevrolet Olympic Torch Relay. The 3-pound torch will be carried across the United States for 65 days, culminating in the lighting of the Olympic cauldron in Salt Lake City to open the 2002 Winter Games. Each torchbearer carries the flame approximately 0.2 miles, with the flame traveling an average of 208 miles during a 12-hour day. During its 13,500-mile journey through 46 states, the Olympic flame will be carried by every means possible.

By hot air balloon in Albuquerque.

By dogsled in Alaska.

By kayak in the Great Northwest.

But no stretch will be more meaningful to Sybesma and the Walters than his route through the middle of campus.

"You saw I was holding hands and hugging Darlene the whole way. It meant a lot to do it together," Sybesma said. "This is emotional for me, for Darlene, Matt's family, for the swim team, for TCU. I wanted to get a lot out of it, and I know a lot of other people did too."

For Darlene, the torch relay was the most appropriate way to honor her husband. "It was a moment of celebration. The Olympic flame represents peace and hope, and that is who Matt was," she said. "Matt made friends with everyone and found ways to connect with people. This is a way of honoring him and showing how blessed and lucky we are to have known him."

The relay also is a means of "carrying on" an interest and passion of Matt's, said Darlene, who was a physical therapist until July when she began work as torchbearer coordinator for the relay. She has traveled with the team since the flame left Atlanta on Dec. 3. Matt's contributions to the Olympics, including his work on the website since 1998, prompted Darlene and Cathy to become involved. Cathy is a finance specialist with the relay.

Both said they did it as a way of honoring Matt. "It's been so important to me to be involved in something that was important to Matt," said Darlene, who will carry the torch herself in Santa Fe, N.M., close to her hometown. "This way, it makes it feel as though we're not really losing him. We are carrying through something that he started." Darlene and Cathy said the event will be a part of the healing process. "It is going to give me a tangible, magical way of honoring him. I can't think of anybody who embodied the Olympic spirit more than he did," Darlene said. "It's all we can do. Things like this ­ it is a way to keep him alive," Cathy said.

During the torchbearer selection process, Darlene asked a co-worker friend to nominate Sybesma to run in memory of Matt. She also wanted Sybesma's .2-mile part of the relay to be through TCU.

"Matt has been a swimmer since he was very young, and his time at TCU was special to him. Coach Sybesma inspired him, and so it seemed fitting that he run in honor of him," she said. "And when this spot came up, it was really important to me. It is meaningful to me that Richard run here, at TCU." Sybesma agrees. "It couldn't have been more perfect ­ the location, the occasion, Darlene being my support runner. It was just perfect. I got the feeling Matt was there with us."

Sybesma remembers Matt's TCU swimming days from 1988 to 1992. He wasn't the Frogs' fastest in the water. But he was the team's ironman, competing in the 200 meter butterfly, 200 meter breaststroke and 400 meter individual medley. "Matt wasn't a sprinter, but he was an extremely tough swimmer and a hard worker," Sybesma said. "He was one of our top performers."

Sybesma recalls Walters helping the swim team finish third in the conference swim meet, edging out Texas A&M for the first time. Third place was TCU's strongest finish ever to that point. Matt's former teammates cheered on their former as well.

"I'm really excited to be a part of a tribute to Matt," said Ken Healy, a former roommate who swam with Matt in the early 1990s. "The combination of Matt, the Olympic relay and TCU makes it very emotional. I think this was exactly what he would have wanted."