Victory in 800 Freestyle Gratifying to Neethling

Ryk Neethling left the blocks in the 800-meter freestyle race at the sixth Janet Evans Invitational Thursday hoping to learn if he was fit enough to challenge the best in the world.

A little more than eight minutes later Neethling discovered he was, the proof coming with a convincing win over Chad Carvin and Erik Vendt at USC McDonald’s Swim Stadium.

Neethling’s time of 8:01.36 highlighted the opening day of the four-day meet, which kicks off a summer of international meets for the South African Olympian.

Neethling, who in March won three individual NCAA titles for the second consecutive year as an Arizona Wildcat, established a personal non-converted best in the 800--he also broke his own meet record by nearly six seconds--which surely will boost his confidence for next month’s Pan Pacific Championships in Sydney, Australia.

The victory also was special for Neethling because he defeated Carvin, a friend and former training partner. Carvin, from Laguna Hills and a 1996 graduate of Arizona, is making a comeback after a series of back injuries last year.

Carvin was named USA Swimming’s swimmer of the year in 1997 after overcoming a heart condition a year earlier. He finished second in 8:07.28--5.6 seconds ahead of Vendt, an incoming USC freshman who swims for the Ocean State Squids of North Easton, Mass.

“He’s the Lance Armstrong of swimming,” Neethling said, comparing Carvin to the resilient U.S. cyclist and current Tour de France leader. “The guy has been through so much adversity and he always comes back.”

Last fall, Neethling invited Carvin to South Africa, and a bond was created between the former college teammates.

“We went on safari and traveled through pretty much the whole of southern Africa,” said Neethling, who also will compete in the 200 and 400 freestyles at the Evans meet. “We were there for three or four months.”

The women’s 800 freestyle was a bit more competitive, with Kaitlin Sandeno winning in 8:36.21 over runner-up Joanne Malar of the University of Calgary Swim Club (8:38.22). Sandeno, 16, who attends El Toro High, did not top her personal best but her victory made a statement for her summer season.

“I’m really happy with the race,” said Sandeno, the Junior National champion in both the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyles. “It gives me a good idea on how I’ll do at the [Pan American Games, July 23-Aug. 8 in Winnipeg, Canada]. I wanted to go under 8:40 and I did, and it’s not too far off my best time [8:34.91].”

Preliminaries in both the men’s and women’s 100 freestyle, 200 butterfly, 200 backstroke, 400 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay will begin at 9 a.m. today, with finals starting at 5 p.m.

In the men’s 200 backstroke, current American record holder Lenny Krayzelburg will try to break the world record of 1:56.57 held by Martin Zubero of Spain.