Olympic Veterans Founder Top Names In U.S. Swimming Sink At National Championships

Janet Evans was teary-eyed, Mel Stewart got mad and Crissy Ahmann-Leighton looked stunned after losing to younger swimmers in the Phillips 66 National Championships.

It was a bad week for the sport’s biggest names, leading many of them to reassess their training less than a year before the Atlanta Olympics.

With the exception of two American records, times were slow as most swimmers trained through the meet to prepare for the Pan Pacific Championships beginning Thursday in Atlanta.

“As a coach, you always think it’s going to be a little faster,” said Richard Quick, head coach for the U.S. women’s 1996 Olympic team.

“But when you look at it and truly think a lot of people are on a two-year cycle, then you can understand why it’s not quite as fast as it might be under different circumstances.”

Stewart admitted he was tired and made mistakes in Pasadena, but believes he’ll have a better idea of where he stands after the Pan Pacific.

“My 100 and 200 (butterfly performances) are off. I’m upset about losing, but I’m really curious about what’s going to happen with seven more days’ rest,” he said. “I felt awful this week. I was fighting for my life.”

Stewart, 26, continues to tinker with his technique in the 100, where he swims nearly half the race underwater using a dolphin kick. He was first to the wall at 50 meters, then faded to third.

“You’re going to see some people who are using this kick do really well. It’s the future of fly,” he said. “I felt tired. The plan was to rest enough to win here. The plan went awry.”

Evans decided not to swim in the Pan Pacific meet after losing the 1,500 freestyle Friday night. A case of inflamed tonsils affecting her breathing and she will have surgery next week.

A badly beaten fourth in the 800-meter freestyle, Evans came back strong to finish second in the 400 free and faded to fifth in the 1,500. At 23, she remains the world record-holder in those events, yet trailed in losing each race to 15-year-old Brooke Bennett.

“I feel like I didn’t have the front-end speed this meet,” Evans said. “It would have been very easy for me to give up and write this meet off and say, ‘Obviously, I’m having a bad meet. This kind of stinks.’

”(Coach) Mark Schubert helped convince me that I really need to stick in there, if not for fast times, just for my own confidence and my own pride.”

After the Pan Pacific meet, everyone will focus their training on the Olympic Trials next March in Indianapolis. Evans has a shot at tying Bonnie Blair as the most decorated female Olympian if she qualifies and earns her fifth gold in Atlanta.

A handful of ‘92 stars failed to make the Pan Pacific team. Only the top two in each event are guaranteed spots. Depending on the time, a third-place finish might be good enough.

That didn’t help Ahmann-Leighton, Anita Nall or Tom Jager.

Ahmann-Leighton, the defending Olympic silver medalist, finished fourth in the 100 fly after sitting out nearly three years. She was fifth in the 50 free Friday night.

Jager, the 50 free world record-holder, failed to make Friday’s finals.

Summer Sanders, a double gold medalist in the Barcelona Games, had mixed results in her third meet since coming out of retirement. She didn’t qualify in either the 100 or 200 butterfly events, but made the Pan Pacific team by finishing second in the 200 individual medley.

Lea Loveless won the 100 backstroke title in her comeback.

In Friday’s action, Amy Van Dyken lowered her American record in the 50 freestyle by five-hundredths of a second, winning in 25.13 seconds on the meet’s final night.

Bennett finished the 1,500 in 16:17.84.

“My goal was to win a national title and I won three,” she said. “I know where I am now. I know where I can set my goals for the future.”

At the halfway mark, she opened a lead of three body lengths over Evans and was ahead by 15 meters with a lap to go.

Van Dyken gulped one breath at the wall and cruised home ahead of ‘92 Olympian Jenny Thompson in the 50 free.

“When I looked up there and heard the crowd, I was so shocked,” said Van Dyken, 22, of Englewood, Colo. “I didn’t expect to do this here. I just wanted to go for the win.”

The winner of the 200 IM was Allison Wagner of Gainesville, Fla., in 2:15.99 to Sanders’ 2:16.33.

Paul Nelson of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., won the men’s 200 IM in 2:02.11.

Jon Olsen won the 50 free in 22.42. Carlton Bruner of Atlanta swam 15:17.17 to win the 1,500.

Ashley Tappin, Kelli King-Bednar, Ahmann-Leighton and Melanie Valerio won the 400 medley relay in 4:11.01. The men’s title went to Jeff Rouse, Tyler Mayfield, Matt Thomson and Gary Hall Jr. in 3:41.56.