Heyns Finishes Record Assault

If South African swimmer Penny Heyns thought she was not in top shape before she arrived at the sixth annual Janet Evans Invitational, imagine what kind of times she’ll swim next month at the Pan Pacific Championships in Australia.

Heyns completed her two-day world-record assault Sunday by breaking her own women’s 100-meter breaststroke mark twice at USC McDonald’s Swim Stadium.

Heyns, who broke the 200 breaststroke record twice on Saturday, swam 1:06.99 in qualifying for the 100 to break her world mark of 1:07.02, then came back to win the night final in 1:06.95.

She completed the four-day meet with a special time trial in the 50 breaststroke, but her time of 31.33 seconds fell short of her world record of 30.95.

“The [100 breaststroke] was kind of the hardest race of them all,” said Heyns, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who now owns three world records. “Mentally, I got to the point where I really wanted this one. All my races have been great experiences. This has been a very spiritual learning experience.”

Jenny Thompson, 26, showed that she is still going strong with three individual titles. On Sunday, she added the women’s 100 butterfly to her list with her third meet record with a time of 58.78 seconds. Thompson had already won the 50 and 100 freestyle.

With her sights set on next year’s Summer Olympics in Australia, Thompson is glad that she still has the drive to compete and the same passion for the sport that she had more than a decade ago.

“I’m the kind of a person who takes things one day at a time. I kind of live in the present,” said Thompson, who swam for Stanford. “I never really looked down the road that far. I’ve always loved [swimming]. I’ve always just gone with my instinct.”

Ryk Neethling of Hillenbrand, Ariz., won his fourth individual title by winning the 1,500 freestyle in a meet record time of 15:19.12.

Neethling, who took home the same four titles last year, won the 200, 400 and 800 in meet records previously over the weekend.

Another multi-event winner was former USC standout Lenny Krayzelburg, who set his second meet record by winning the 100 backstroke in 56.68. Krayzelburg won the 200 backstroke on Friday.

Mysty Hyman of Arizona Desert Fox added the women’s 100 backstroke to her women’s 200 butterfly win by edging Kelly Stefanyshyn in 1:04.32 to 1:04.61.

Kaitlin Sandeno, 16, of El Toro High also won her second title with a victory in the women’s 1,500 freestyle in a meet record of 16:28.52. Sandeno won the women’s 800 freestyle on Thursday. Another two-event winner was Joanne Molar of Calgary, who added the women’s 200 individual medley to her 200 freestyle title.