SWIMMING / L.A. INVITATIONAL : One Record Down, Two to Go for Karnaugh in 200 Medley

Ron Karnaugh broke the 200-meter individual medley meet record twice at the Los Angeles Invitational Sunday at USC and then predicted that the U.S. record will be his at the Pan American Games next month in Havana.

Karnaugh, 25, of Mission Viejo, lowered Ray Looze’s 1989 meet record in the preliminaries and the finals, the latter by two seconds in 2:05.18, the 26th fastest time in the world this year.

Based on his performance, following the most taxing training period of his life, Karnaugh believes he will go under Dave Wharton’s 1989 American record of 2:00.11.

“The world record is also within my reach,” Karnaugh said of the 1:59.36 set by Hungary’s Tamas Darnyi in January. “This summer would be great to get it. If not, next March at the Olympic trials.”

A 1989 graduate of California, Karnaugh received a one-year deferment from medical school and joined the Nadadores in April to train with Coach Terry Stoddard for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.

Philip Rogers, Crissy Ahmann-Leighton and Lars Jorgensen also broke meet records on the final day of competition.

Rogers, 20, of the Australian Institute of Sport, earned his second meet record in as many days in 1:02.83 in the 100 breaststroke, the 17th fastest time in the world in 1991 and well under the 1:04.45 set by UCLA’s Andrea Cecchi in 1989.

Ahmann-Leighton, 21, of Tucson recorded a 1:01.04 in the 100 butterfly, just below the 1:01.21 established in 1988 by Stanford’s Janel Jorgensen, who finished second.

Lars Jorgensen emerged with his second victory of the meet, following a lengthy 1,500 freestyle battle with Matt Hooper, a 17-year-old from San Antonio. Jorgensen clocked 15:28.30, the 13th fastest time in the world this year, to edge Hooper by five-tenths of a second and shatter the meet record 15:32.50 set in 1988 by Canadian Harry Taylor.

Summer Sanders of California Capital Aquatics won the 200 individual medley to become the only individual triple event winner of the meet. Sanders, 18, touched in 2:17.08 to beat Janel Jorgensen’s 2:18.49. Sanders also finished first in the 200 butterfly and 400 individual medley.

Seven-time Olympic gold medalist Mark Spitz finished 22nd in the 100 butterfly in 58.62 seconds. Spitz, 41, needed a 56.09 to qualify for U.S. Nationals next month.