Vendt, Phelps Spark Meet

For a little more than four minutes Saturday night, the Janet Evans Invitational had the atmosphere of an Olympic-caliber swim meet.

That’s the time it took Erik Vendt and Michael Phelps to deliver a spine-tingling race in the 400-meter individual medley, producing the top two times in the world in the event in front of about 500 at the McDonald’s Swim Stadium at USC.

Vendt, the NCAA men’s swimmer of the year at USC last spring, won in 4 minutes 13.93 seconds, a personal best by three seconds and the 12th-fastest time in the world this year. Phelps, who was voted athlete of the year by USA Swimming last year, finished second in 4:14.15, a lifetime best by one second.

“When you’re racing against Phelps, you’re racing against nothing short of excellence,” said Vendt, the 2000 Olympic silver medalist. “I think we pushed each other to a new level.”

Phelps, a 17-year-old from Baltimore and the world-record holder in the 200 butterfly, had a two-second advantage over Vendt after the opening butterfly leg. Vendt, 21, shaved a second off Phelps’ lead on the backstroke, then moved ahead for good during the first half of the breaststroke.

Lindsay Benko, a USC graduate, won the women’s 200 freestyle in 1:59.11, just over a second off the meet record.

Klete Keller won the 200 freestyle in 1:51.97. Keller swam for USC last spring but left with two years of eligibility remaining to turn professional.

Amanda Beard, who won two silver medals in the breaststroke at the 1996 Olympics before her sophomore year at Irvine High, finished second to Tara Kirk in the women’s 200 breaststroke. Kirk finished in 2:29.25, Beard in 2:29.29.

Ryosuke Imai won the men’s 200 breaststroke in 2:16.40, just off the meet record of 2:16.09.

Roland Schoeman won the men’s 50 freestyle in 22.61, just ahead of Jason Lezak of the Irvine Novaquatics (22.76).