Marshall Serves Notice

The jockeying and maneuvering -- for even the slightest of edges -- are among the fascinating byproducts leading into the U.S. Olympic swim trials in Long Beach.

Example No. 1: The men’s 100-meter backstroke.

At least six swimmers are viewed by many as viable contenders for the two slots on the Olympic team and some think it could take going under the world record to make it. Three challengers were on hand at the Speedo Grand Challenge on Sunday at USC: Peter Marshall of Stanford, Lenny Krayzelburg of the Irvine Novaquatics and Jeff Rouse, 34, the 1996 Olympic champion in that distance.

And that was the order of finish. Marshall won in 55.33 seconds. Krayzelburg, the Olympic champion in 2000 in the 100 backstroke, took second in 55.70 and Rouse was third in 55.76.

Marshall was pleased, especially with his morning preliminary swim of 54.91. Krayzelburg was visibly annoyed. And Rouse was quietly satisfied with his result in his continuing comeback. He resumed swimming about 18 months ago, having practically stayed out of the pool from 1996 to 2002.

Rouse decided to make the comeback largely out of curiosity. Krayzelburg was feeling curious himself after his performance. “To be honest with you, I don’t know why I swam so slow,” Krayzelburg said.

Krayzelburg has always been generous with praise about his opponents, and Sunday was no exception. Internationally, Marshall is not as well-known as Aaron Peirsol, Krayzelburg and his boyhood idol, Rouse.

The jockeying at the lead-in meets even included athletes not at the USC meet. Jason Lezak of the Novaquatics won his second event of the meet, taking the 100 freestyle in 49.38, an impressive time at this point of the season and a meet record.

Apparently, his ability has caught the attention of Gary Hall Jr., and Lezak alluded to a growing rivalry with the often unpredictable Hall.

“You know what I think it is -- I’ll say this, I think he’s intimidated because he sees how fast I’m swimming and he knows I’m definitely good competition for him and it’s not going to be an easy win,” Lezak said. “He wants to do everything he can to get the edge.

“And if he thinks talking trash to me or whatever is going to make me scared or give him an edge, then let him try.”