Evans Wins 800, Larsen Swims a Promising 2nd

As usual, the presence of Olympic gold medalist and world record-holder Janet Evans turned the women’s 800-meter freestyle into a battle for second place Thursday in the Janet Evans Invitational at USC.

Alexis Larsen, of CLASS Aquatics, put a move on Jamie Johnson of Florida Aquatics at the 500 mark, gaining a three-second lead by 600 meters on the way to a runner-up finish in 8 minutes 50.58 seconds. Johnson fell back to 8:57.79. Evans won in a meet record 8:34.53.

Larsen’s time was her best unrested and unshaved by a solid 10 seconds, boosting hopes that her performance at the national championships July 26-30 in Austin, Tex., will be her best yet.

“That was great,” CLASS Coach Bud McAllister said. “I would have been happy if she broke nine minutes. I know she’s training fast right now, but typically she doesn’t swim this well when she’s tired. We have one week before her (rest period) so I’m gonna kill her (with grueling workouts).”

Larsen, 16, feared that Johnson would have the upper hand because Johnson has put in more distance work. While Larsen was training with the women at a recent national high-altitude training camp in Flagstaff, Ariz., Johnson, 15, trained with the men, whose workouts are more extensive.

“I thought I was gonna start to (slow down) and she would catch up and beat me,” Larsen said.

Larsen, who will be a senior at Harvard-Westlake, gave no thought to Evans, who took a substantial lead from the start.

“She’s so great,” Larsen said. “You know she’s just gonna go out and win. The race is always gonna be for second place. I don’t think any girl will be close to her times for a long time.”

Larsen could not even see Evans for the majority of the 16-lap race.

“She’s not even in my breathing range,” Larsen said.

Since Evans made her imposing presence felt in 1987, the United States has not produced another distance freestyler to contend for an Olympic medal. Larsen is a promising candidate for the 1996 Olympic team as are Sarah Nichols, 15, of Conejo-Simi Aquatics and Rebecca Gilman, 13, of Buenaventura Swim Team.

Nichols finished sixth in 9:01.49 and Gilman placed eighth in 9:01.85.

Like Larsen, they turned in career bests without benefit of shaving their body hair or dramatically reducing their training, instead preserving those strategies for the national championships in two weeks.

Gilman’s time was 12 seconds faster than her previous unrested and unshaved best. It proved a pleasant surprise for Buenaventura Coach Steve Baxter, who didn’t expect Gilman to recover so well from a particularly demanding set of practices earlier this week.

“That’s gonna give her some confidence because she swam with some of the girls who are going to make the finals at nationals,” he said.

Gilman’s rapid improvement coincides with her new training schedule. For the first time, she is training twice each day.

“She’s in the best shape of her life,” Baxter said.

Still, the race, particularly the last 200 meters, was painful.

“She was really hurting,” Baxter said with a snicker. “But that’s just the way it is.”

Gilman said that the competition in her heat--including Evans, Larsen, Johnson and Nichols--inspired her.

“With all those big swimmers in there I really had to work hard to keep up,” she said. “The last four laps were torture.”

Swimming Notes

Ten area swimmers were among the field of 54 who competed in the men’s 800 freestyle. Three finished in the top 20.

Matthew Prezzano, 17, of Conejo-Simi Aquatics, placed 18th in 8:47.75. He was followed by Michael Carroll, 19, of Buenaventura, in 8:47.78, and John Barbie, 17, also of Buenaventura, in 8:47.92.

Twelve local swimmers were among the 60 in the women’s field. Heather Ballard, who will be a Cal State Northridge sophomore and represents Glendale YMCA, placed 21st in 9:17.26. Her 14-year-old sister, Gretchen Ballard, finished 33rd in 9:26.14. Natalie Shapiro, 14, of Conejo-Simi Aquatics, was 34th in 9:26.45.

* BRUNER SPARKLES: C14