Lezak Makes Amends in Meet Record Time

After swimming a dismal 100-meter freestyle during preliminaries on the last day of the Speedo Grand Challenge on Sunday, Jason Lezak wanted to make up for it somehow.

He did, and he did it in record fashion.

Lezak, a U.S. national team member who swims for the Irvine Novaquatics, won in 50.94 second--more than two seconds faster than his prelim tim--beating the record of former Woodbridge High star and Turkish Olympian Derya Buyukuncu by nearly a second.

“[Sunday] morning I was really tight and cold and wasn’t very fast during my prelim swim,” Lezak said. “So when I got up to do my race [during the finals], I figured, ‘I’m going for the record.’ ”

“That’s my best time ever for being unshaven and unrested,” said Lezak, a former Irvine High standout. “I want to have a good meet at Mission Viejo next month, and then focus on the Pan Pac games.”

Swimming with Lezak in the 100 freestyle final was Chad Carvin, who up until then had won his three events with record times.

Carvin, primarily a distance swimmer, had some people scratching their heads, wondering why he would compete in that event, then get right back on the block and swim the 1,500 freestyle.

“Why not?” asked Carvin when the question was posed.

“I swim to win, so I’m not doing this as a warmup. And if you want to be a good 200 freestyler, you have to have a good 100. And for the most part, I try to go out as fast as those guys doing the 100.”

Carvin finished second in 52.41, took couple of minutes to catch his breath, and then swam the 1,500 freestyle, winning in a meet-record 15:42.15 for his fourth victory.

Kristen Caverly, swimming for the Aquazots, the new club at UC Irvine, won the 200 breaststroke. Caverly, a freshman at San Clemente High, finished in 2:35.70, two seconds off Amanda Beard’s meet record. Beard, who swam in some events during the three day meet, was unable to compete in the event because of an injured ankle.

Notes

Steve West of Huntington Beach won his second event of the meet, the 200 breaststroke in 2:18.97, to break his 1997 record of 2:19.11. . . . Juan Veloz of Mission Viejo set a meet record in the 100 butterfly, winning in 2:04.95 to break Jeff Julian’s 1996 mark of 2:05.37. . . . Kristine Quance-Julian of the Trojan Swim Club won her second event of the meet, the 200 butterfly in 2:17.64. . . . Marylyn Chiang of Walnut Creek just missed a meet record, winning the 100 freestyle in 57.98. . . . Swedish swimmer Asa Sandlund, who is training with the Mission Viejo Nadadores, won the 800 freestyle in a meet-record 8:56.10. Sandlund’s time was nine seconds faster than Victoria West’s 1996 mark. Novaquatic Carly Geehr, 14, was second in 9:02.41.