SWIMMING : Burgess Wakes Up in Time to Shatter Meet Record

Greg Burgess, the 1992 Olympic silver-medalist in the 200-meter individual medley, won the event at the Janet Evans Invitational at USC on Sunday night with a time of 2:03.32, breaking the meet record he set last year by 1.27 seconds.

Burgess had given little indication that he would go that fast in the finals after clocking a relatively slow 2:08.82 in the morning’s preliminary heats.

“I just get a little sluggish in the morning and when there’s not very much competition,” said Burgess, 22, of Jacksonville, Fla.

Burgess’ performance gives him momentum going into the U.S. national championships at Indianapolis, Aug. 14-19, when he will compete for a chance to represent the United States at the World Championships in Rome in September.

Unlike Burgess, who used the meet as a warm-up for the U.S. nationals, Christopher Mitchell, 22, of Atlanta, Ga., used it to jump-start his career.

Mitchell won the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.90, after winning the 200 breaststroke on Saturday.

Mitchell was diagnosed with mononucleosis last August and dropped out of swimming.

He decided three months ago that he would try to make a comeback.

Ashley Tappin, 19, of Metairie, La., won the 100 butterfly in 1:02.52.

Allison Wagner, 17, of Gainesville, Fla., won the 200 individual medley in 2:17.22.

Hisato Yasui set a Japanese national record in the 1,500-meter freestyle, winning in a meet-record 15:26.18. Yasui’s Japanese teammates ran around the pool deck waving a Japanese flag while he accepted his award.

Kyoko Iwasaki, 15, of Japan also set a Japanese record when she won the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.59. Kristine Quance of the Trojan Swim Club finished second in the event, .33 seconds behind Iwasaki. She also placed third in the 200 individual medley.

Quance, 19, of Northridge, won four events at the 1992 U.S. nationals, but is recovering from a shoulder injury.