SWIMMING : Evans Measures Up to Her Teen-Age Self

On a day dominated by Olympians, Janet Evans swam like her teen-age self, winning the 400-meter freestyle at the Swim Meet of Champions in Mission Viejo in four minutes 11.69 seconds, her fastest unrested and unshaved time in years.

In the absence of competition--with the exception of the 400 freestyle at the Barcelona Olympic Games, she has not lost a distance freestyle race since 1987--Evans, 21, has been forced to measure herself against her younger self.

On Friday, the four-time Olympic gold medalist from Placentia finished an astounding 12.25 seconds ahead of Canadian Tanya Tighe. Her time was only 0.68 slower than her winning time, rested and shaved, at the national championships last March.

The key, according to Team Trojan Coach Mark Schubert, was the second half of Evans’ race.

“She finished the back half of the race better than she has the last few years,” said Schubert, who attributed her strong finish to training full time with men. “It has raised her level in workouts. She’s doing things in practice that I haven’t seen her do.”

Evans, winner of the 200 backstroke only 15 minutes before the 400 freestyle, was surprised that she recovered from her backstroke triumph so quickly.

“That shows that I have a lot of endurance, that I’m doing OK,” she said.

Barcelona Olympian Angie Wester-Krieg also won two events. A late bloomer, the 28-year-old clocked a 2:14.03 in the 200 butterfly, finishing 3.9 seconds ahead of runner-up Michelle Collins, 16, of North Coast Aquatics in San Diego.

Wester-Krieg was slightly pressed in the sprint by Emily Mastin, 12, of Tempe, Ariz., Rio Salado. She touched in 58.41, to Mastin’s 58.91.

Wester-Krieg’s Stanford teammate and fellow Olympian, Joe Hudepohl, scored a wire-to-wire victory in the men’s 100 freestyle. In edging Bjorn Zikarsky, formerly of USC, Hudepohl posted a 51.25, his second-best unshaved time.

Stanford sophomore Ray Carey, the fourth-fastest American 200 butterflyer in history, won his specialty in 2:02.49. Turkish Olympian Ugur Tanner was second in 2:04.40, Chad Carvin of Laguna Hills was third in 2:08.77.

Carvin made a furious comeback in the last 100 meters of the 400 freestyle to tie Canadian Brett Regan. Both touched in at 4:02.89. Amazingly, Carvin’s last 100, a 59.41, was faster than his opening 100, a 59.98.

Bart Sikora, a Polish native training with the host Nadadores, pulled away from Jason Stelle to win the 200 backstroke.