Stars Leave Meet to New Talent

A scheduling conflict has left the Janet Evans Invitational without the swimming star power it has had in the past. But organizers are hoping the four-day meet, which ends today at USC, has instead served as a showcase for future stars.

The world championship team departs for the University of Maryland today, and because of that conflict many top-echelon swimmers skipped the event. The world championships, held in Montreal, begin July 24.

“It’s a few things,” said Mark Schubert, the men’s and women’s swimming coach at USC and an organizer of the invitational. “It’s a typical post-Olympic year where the meet is smaller. But we can use this time to start identifying up-and-comers.”

Schubert said the same conflict occurred in 2001.

“We always have this event 3 1/2 weeks before the national championships in Irvine,” he said. “It kind of allows the swimmers that didn’t qualify for worlds to be the stars. We’ve had a lot of swimmers qualify for nationals. That’s a big goal for the people here.”

Hayley Peirsol, younger sister of Olympian Aaron Peirsol and a silver medalist in the 2003 world championships, is using the meet to prepare for next month’s World University Games in Turkey.

“It’s kind of nice to have the best against the best, but for people who don’t normally get first this is a good chance for them to win,” said Peirsol, who won the 800-meter freestyle Thursday with a time of 8:37.83.

Last year’s invitational, held at Long Beach’s Charter All-Digital Aquatic Centre, served as a test run for the U.S. Olympic trials and featured veteran Olympians Amanda Beard, Natalie Coughlin, Lenny Krayzelburg, Jason Lezak and Jenny Thompson. In one showdown, Lezak defeated Australian Olympian Ian Thorpe in the 100-meter freestyle.

Although those types of names skipped the meet this time, five Olympians and 10 swimmers participating in the 2005 World University Games are competing in what is the final Grand Prix Series event of the season.

Among the more than 650 athletes are 2004 Olympians Rhi Jeffrey, Kalyn Keller, Gabe Woodward and teams from Canada and New Zealand.

“We try to set the times not to conflict, but sometimes it doesn’t go that way,” said Everett Uchiyama, national team director for USA Swimming.

Said Schubert: “Sometimes this is the premier meet in the world. When you have that date in July, it’s either going to be spectacular or they’re going to be some conflicts. But I still expect some really good performances.”

Olympians Kaitlin Sandeno and Larsen Jensen, students at USC who have participated in past Janet Evans meets, were training on Friday before departing today for Maryland.

“This has always been a really fast meet,” said Sandeno, a four-time Olympic medalist who swam in the meet the previous seven years. “It’s always nice to swim at a home meet, but I’m really excited about worlds, so it’s OK.”

Sandeno will compete in the 400 individual medley and 800 freestyle relay at the world championships, Jensen in the 800- and 1500-meter freestyles.

For Jensen, the invitational comes secondary to his preparation for Montreal.

“The world championships are a lot more important,” the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the 800 freestyle said. “The Evans Invitational has little or no significance on the national or international scale.”

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Nick Brunelli, who flew from Arizona solely for the 50 freestyle, won in 22.64 seconds Saturday, beating second-place Simon Burnett by more than half a second.

Peirsol won her third event of the invitational, the 400 individual medley, in 4:48.50, edging out Katie Carroll, who clocked a 4:48.67.

California senior Lauren Medina won the 200 freestyle in 2:01.96, edging teammate Ashley Chandler, who had a 2:02.10.