GOODWILL GAMES : Evans Suddenly Learns It’s Summer Time : Swimming: She finishes second to teammate Sanders in 400 individual medley.

Janet Evans was the only U.S. woman to win a swimming gold medal in the 1988 Summer Olympics, but if the first two days of the Goodwill Games are an indication, there is a fresh, new wind blowing that is reviving the U.S. women’s program.

On Saturday, it was a Summer wind.

With her 4:39.22 in the 400-meter individual medley, the eighth fastest time ever and a personal record by almost nine seconds, Summer Sanders handed Evans her first defeat in the event since 1986. Indeed, it was her first loss in any of her specialties since 1987.

But U.S. women’s Coach Richard Quick stressed that the result should be interpreted not as a loss by Evans--her time was a respectable 4:39.99--but as a victory by Sanders.

Actually, it was a victory for Quick. As the head women’s coach at Stanford University, he already has Evans, the Placentia native who recently finished her freshman year, and soon will have Sanders, a recent high school graduate from Roseville, Calif., who will arrive at Palo Alto in the fall.

“I think they both looked great,” Quick said. “Those were two terrific swims. It was not Janet’s best time, but take no credit away from Summer. She was outstanding. She beat a very good Janet Evans today.”

Although the outcome no doubt stunned many in the sellout crowd of 2,472 at the King County Aquatics Center, Quick said he could have predicted it.

For one thing, Evans did not look particularly sharp in winning the 800-meter freestyle Friday night. “There was a collective gulp among the coaching staff,” said Jeff Dimond, U.S. Swimming Federation spokesman.

For another, Sanders, 17, has been considered a comer since finishing third in 200-meter individual medley as a high school junior in the 1988 Olympic trials. She had the third fastest time in the world last year in the 200-meter butterfly.

“I’ve said for some time that if there’s anyone who could beat Janet Evans, it was going to be Summer,” Quick said.

Sanders was not so confident.

“I was shocked; I really was,” she said of her reaction when she touched the wall first at the end of eight laps.

She was so dazed when she climbed out of the pool that she almost fell. Regaining her balance, Sanders, who seems as spontaneous and carefree as her first name implies, danced a little jig for the television cameras.

“I think I knew in my mind that I wouldn’t be here unless I was as good as she was,” she said. “But I didn’t expect to win.”

Evans, who won three gold medals as a 17-year-old high school senior at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul and was ranked first in the world in four events last year, obviously did not expect to lose. She was gracious in defeat, but the depth of her disappointment was apparent when she almost broke into tears at a post-race press conference.

“You never want to lose, but that’s life, isn’t it?” she said. “That’s competition. That’s why I love the sport so much.”

Evans said she knew she was beaten when she entered the final 50 meters of the fourth and last stroke--the freestyle--more than two seconds behind.

As expected, Sanders opened a substantial lead in the first stroke, the butterfly. But when Evans failed to close in the next two disciplines, the backstroke and the breaststroke, it seemed as if Sanders would have to drown in order to lose.

Based on experience, she seemed to think that was not out of the realm of possibility.

“I guess you don’t know it until you swim it, but there’s a lot of pain in the 400 IM,” she said. “If you don’t pace it right, you’re dead by the final 100. I’ve been there many times when I’ve been first and seen all these people pass me in the freestyle. It makes you want to crawl under a rock.”

So she took nothing for granted even when she finally allowed herself to look at the lane next to her with 50 meters remaining and saw Evans struggling to catch her.

“I knew she was there, man,” Sanders said. “She’s a freestyle maniac. If she hadn’t been there, I knew she would be soon. I just put my head down and went.”

Evans incredibly cut the lead by 1.25 seconds in the final 50 meters, and, although it was not enough, she said she enjoyed the challenge.

“I love trying to catch up at the end,” she said.

A little more than a hour later, she had an opportunity for even more fun when she began the final 200 meters of the 800-meter freestyle relay almost three seconds behind East Germany’s Heike Friedrich.

Although Evans made up more than a second and a half on Friedrich, no small feat considering that the East German is the world record-holder in the 200-meter freestyle, she had to settle for her second silver medal of the day.

But her performance should have renewed her confidence for today’s swim against Friedrich in the 400-meter freestyle, a rematch of the Seoul final in which Evans set a world record.

Quick said he expects Evans to be as confident as ever today despite Saturday’s losses.

“I think that will help her,” he said. “That’s just the way she is. She’s such a great competitor that she’ll find a way for it to help her.”

She will have to to maintain her starring role on a women’s team that could spoil the East Germans’ going-out party next January at the World Championships in Perth, Australia. That will be the final international competition as a separate country for East Germany, which has dominated women’s swimming for more than a decade.

That came only moments after the star of the U.S. men’s team in Seoul, Matt Biondi, swam the seventh fastest 400-meter relay leg ever (48.24) in anchoring the United States to an easy victory over the Soviets and East Germans. Having won his 50-meter freestyle showdown Friday with Tom Jager, it was Biondi’s second gold medal of the Games.

Besides Sanders and Evans, other young gold medalists here include Nicole Haislett, a University of Florida freshman who won the 100-meter freestyle Saturday, and Janel Jorgensen, a Stanford sophomore who won the 100-meter butterfly Friday. Janie Wagstaff, a high school junior from Overland Park, Kan., finished second Friday in the 200-meter backstroke.

“Now you’re seeing that we have more than a one-woman team,” Quick said. “I think we have quite a few people who are just beginning to realize how good they are. Summer is an example of that.”

That could make for many pleasant summers ahead.