Jorgensen Wins 500 Freestyle : Swimming: Trojan sets Belmont Plaza pool record of 4:17.74 and qualifies for NCAA meet in March.

USC’s Dan Jorgensen, a 1988 Olympic gold-medal winner, won the 500-yard freestyle race at the Grand Prix National Invitational college swim meet Friday night in Long Beach.

With a time of 4:17.74, Jorgensen broke the Belmont Plaza Olympic pool record of 4:18.05 set by UCLA’s Brian Goodell in 1978.

“This gives me confidence after the poor year I had last year,” said Jorgensen, who has recovered from a broken arm he suffered while playing basketball.

Jorgensen was one of many swimmers who qualified Friday night for the NCAA meet in March as the Belmont Plaza pool, with its wide lanes and deep water, lived up to its reputation as the fastest short-course (yards) facility on the West Coast.

“Swimmers are more buoyant in deep water, and the waves here are minimal because of the gutter system,” Jorgensen said.

The three-day meet continues tonight and will feature a 50-yard freestyle race between ’88 gold medalists Matt Biondi and Tom Jager. They haven’t raced against each other at 50 yards since the 1986 NCAA meet when Biondi won.

Another pool record was set Friday night by Ray Looze of USC, who won the 200-yard individual medley in 1:47.21. Dave Wharton, Looze’s teammate and world record holder in the 200-meter IM, had set the record at 1:48.12 last year. Wharton finished fifth Friday night with a time of 1:48.84.

The USC men’s team finished the night in first place in the meet, ahead of California, Arizona State, Stanford and UCLA.

California leads the women’s teams, followed by Stanford, Tennessee, Michigan and USC. Heather Reagan of the Golden Bears won the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:45.63.

USC won both the men’s and women’s 400-yard medley relay and qualified for the NCAA meet.