SWIMMING LONG COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS : Evans Is Winner Over Hansen This Time

Janet Evans, who lost her 400-meter individual medley title on Sunday, bounced back and won the 400-meter freestyle Tuesday night at the U.S. Swimming Long Course Championships.

It was the 13th national title for Evans.

The 18-year-old Evans, the only American woman to win a gold medal at the 1988 Olympics, won the 400-meter freestyle in 4 minutes 08.67 seconds to beat Erika Hansen of Texas, who upset Evans Sunday in the 400-meter individual medley. Hansen was second in 4:11.01.

“I’m so tired of warming up, I just wanted to win,” said the Stanford sophomore, who also swam at the Goodwill Games last week in Seattle, Wash. “I’ve been swimming for two weeks now and it’s been a long two weeks.

“It is not so much fun having to swim back-to-back meets.”

University of Texas national champion Shaun Jordan won the 100-meter freestyle in the fastest recorded field in history, with all eight swimmers finishing within a second of each other.

Jordan won with a personal best of 49.68. Jon Olsen of Jonesboro, Ark., was second at 50.03, while Bob Utley of St. Petersburg, Fla., was eighth in 50.53.

“I was getting scared like always,” said Jordan, who was the NCAA champion in this event in 1989. “I do a lot better being scared. This was definitely the biggest race in my life, the biggest breakthrough.”

Jeff Rouse of Stanford won the 200-meter backstroke with a clocking of 2:00.13. It’s the third-fastest American time ever.

U.S. Olympian Steve Bigelow finished a disappointing third in the backstroke in 2:01.26 and failed to earn a spot on the U.S. squad for the 1991 World Championships in Australia next January. “The Olympics were great, but I don’t want to be a one-time deal, where people will say it was a fluke I made the Olympic team,” Bigelow said.

Jodi Wilson of Texas took the 100-meter backstroke in a time of 1:02.52. Lorraine Perkins of Seminole, Fla., was second in 1:02.70.

Olympic silver medalist Beth Barr started too quickly and could not sustain her pace, finishing third behind Wilson and Perkins with a time of 1:02.79.