Lezak Caps Busy Week With Win at USC Meet

It’s something of an understatement to say this hasn’t been a typical week for swimmer Jason Lezak of the Irvine Novaquatics.

In less than seven days, he has gone from his wedding ceremony to an awards ceremony. And no honeymoon in between.

Friday, he stood atop the podium at the Speedo Grand Challenge at USC, having won the 50-meter freestyle in a meet-record 22.51 seconds. Nick Brunelli of Sun Devil Aquatics (Ariz.) took second in 22.95. This was the opener of the three-day meet, hosted by the Novas.

Last Saturday, Lezak got married in Fullerton to backstroker Danielle DeAlva.

A bit stressful?

“Oh yeah, it’s something I’ve never done before,” said Lezak, 28, of the wedding ceremony. “You don’t want to screw anything up.”

Lezak’s importance to the U.S. swim team has increased with the recent retirement of 2000 Olympic champion Anthony Ervin.

Ervin, of Valencia, who tied Gary Hall Jr. for the gold medal in the 50 freestyle at Sydney, filed necessary paperwork during the winter and did not want USA Swimming to announce his decision, officials said. Swimming World broke the story April 14 on its website.

It had looked as though Ervin lost some of his passion for the sport last summer. At the world championships in Barcelona, he failed to get out of the first round in the 50. But Lezak won two medals, anchoring the world-record breaking 400 medley relay. He won a silver in the 400 freestyle relay and finished fourth in the 100 freestyle.

Other winners at USC were Gabrielle Rose in the women’s 200 individual medley (2:15.80), Markus Rogan of Austria in the men’s 200 individual medley (2:03.11), Haley Cope in the women’s 50 freestyle (25.67), Tara Kirk in the women’s 100 breaststroke (1:08.47), Mark Gangloff in the men’s 100 breaststroke (1:02.40) and Kaitlin Sandeno in the women’s 400 freestyle (4:13.06). With the exception of Sandeno and Cope, all of the swims were meet records. Competition continues through Sunday.