U.S. Swimming and Diving : Poland’s Wojdat Wins 200 Freestyle; Louganis Takes 40th Title

Artur Wojdat of Poland surprisingly won the 200-meter freestyle Wednesday night during the U.S. Swimming Championships at Santa Clara.

Wojdat, who came to the United States 10 months ago to swim for the Mission Viejo Swim Club, is using this meet as a tuneup for next week’s World Championships in Spain. He was timed in 1:51.05.

Earlier, Wojdat failed to place in the 100 and 800 freestyles. He will compete in the 400 freestyle today and the 400 medley relay Friday.

Paul Robinson was second to Wojdat, in 1:51.11, and David Kerska was third in 1:51.34. They were followed by Troy Dalbey, Rich Saeger, Gary Brinkman of South Africa and Joseph Parker, whose time was 1:51.90, as all seven finished within a second of each other.

There were only three other finals Wednesday. Susan Habermas won the women’s 200 freestyle in 2:02.52; Whitney Hedgepeth won the women’s 400 individual medley in 4:51.57, and William Stapleton won the men’s 400 individual medley in 4:21.69.

Greg Louganis scored 9s on his final and most difficult dive off the one-meter springboard to win his 40th national title in the Phillips 66/U.S. Diving Championships at Orlando, Fla.

The Olympic double gold medalist managed to withstand pressure from Ron Meyer, who trailed by less than six points entering the 11th and final round.

Louganis’ last effort, a reverse 2 1/2 somersaults, pike, was one he had never used in competition. Its degree of difficulty, 3.2, is the highest of any one-meter dive. Needing a solid performance to win, Louganis scored 84.48 points to Meyer’s 63.90 to clinch his 16th U.S. one-meter title.