Buyukuncu Sets Record

Irvine Novaquatics Coach Dave Salo told Derya Buyukuncu that if New York lost the NBA championship series, he would owe Buyukuncu $50. But if the Knicks won, the Turkish Olympian would owe him a 2:01 in the 200-meter backstroke at the Swim Meet of Champions. That was two weeks ago.

Salo is out $50, but he did get from Buyukuncu a performance of 2 minutes 01.77 seconds in the event, good enough for a meet record Friday, the second day of competition at the Marguerite Aquatics Complex.

In Friday’s preliminaries, Buyukuncu had the second-fastest time behind Stanford’s Jeff Rouse. But Buyukuncu said he was holding back, saving his best for the finals.

“I just wanted to swim as fast as I could go and get the meet record,” Buyukuncu said. “But I mean, I was up against Rouse. He has the world record in the 100 back. But I didn’t want that to interfere with my race.”

Buyukuncu’s swim shattered the mark of 2:15.32, set by Royce Sharp of Stanford.

In addition to his 200 back victory, Buyukuncu, who was The Times Orange County swimmer of the year, took first in the 100-meter freestyle (51.60), defeating Steve Vandermeulen of the University of Calgary.

To no one’s surprise, Janet Evans won the 400 freestyle (4:13.24), swimming seven seconds faster than her time in the preliminaries, and finishing 10 seconds ahead of runner-up Lisa Jacob. Chad Carvin won the men’s event in 3:57.47.

Cheryl Murphy, 16, of Mission Viejo High and the Nadodores, was able to hold on to defeat Kathy Monar of the University of Calgary in the 200 backstroke, posting a 2:19.25.

Ugar Tanner of the Chinook Swim Club won the men’s 200-meter butterfly in 2:03.69. Angie Wester-Krieg of Stanford won the women’s event in 2:13.61.

In the women’s 400-meter freestyle relay, the Trojan Swim Club just touched out Stanford in 3:56.56. Stanford’s men defeated Calgary by a second, posting a 3:31.17.

Competition resumes at 9 a.m. today with finals scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.