L.A. Invitational Swim Meet : Evans Wins Two More--Unbeaten in Four Events

The question no longer seems to be whether Janet Evans will win. The question now is which record she will break.

Evans won two more events in the L.A. Invitational at USC’s Olympic Swim Stadium Saturday, making her four for four during the weekend.

She won the 200-meter freestyle in 2:02.54 Saturday by catching and passing Francie Oleary in the last five meters. Evans then won the 400-meter individual medley in 4:47.26. That was a meet record, but even more impressive was the fact that the next closest competitor finished more than 15 seconds later.

“In workouts I’m going a lot faster than ever before,” Evans said. “I think I’m getting bigger, stronger and getting faster with age.”

Evans won the 200 freestyle at least in part because Silvia Poll was not in it. Poll won the silver medal in that event last year at Seoul (Costa Rica’s first-ever Olympic medal), but hasn’t competed in that event since. She will resume training in the 200 at the end of this month.

“We train with conviction, not obligation,” said Francisco Rivas, her coach. “There was a lot of pressure because the only result possible for Silvia was winner. Nothing else was acceptable, so she wanted to rest for a while.”

Poll, who is 6-foot-6 and still growing at 18, is working on other short-distance events during the respite. She won the 50-meter freestyle Saturday in 26.66 seconds.

Olympian Dan Jorgensen won the 200-meter freestyle in 1:52.14, breaking his meet record by .13.

“I’m farther ahead in my program than I’ve ever been,” Jorgensen said. “My expectations are running real high right now for Nationals.”

The Nationals will be held at this pool July 31-Aug.4. Those who qualified Saturday were Chris Baskett in the men’s 400 individual medley, Brian Jacobson in the 50 freestyle and Karen McClure in the 200 breaststroke.

The L.A. Invitational will conclude today with preliminaries at 8:30 a.m. and finals at 4 p.m. Admission is free.