Janet Evans Invitational Starts Thursday
July 12, 1999 | Men's Swimming & Diving
July 12, 1999
Los Angeles - Olympic gold medalists Jenny Thompson, Amanda Beard, Kristine Quance-Julian, Catherine Fox and Brad Bridgewater, World Championship gold medalists Lenny Krayzelburg and Ugur Taner and a host of U.S. national champions and NCAA All-Americans are among the headliners at the sixth annual Janet Evans Invitational at the USC McDonalds Swim Stadium from Thursday through Sunday (July 15-18).
The Janet Evans Invitational, presented by Speedo, is one of the largest U.S. Swimming Grand Prix Meets in the nation with close to 750 swimmers in competition, including club teams throughout Southern California and much of the Western United States. The invitational is the last major meet before the U.S. Summer National Championships on Aug. 6-10 in Minneapolis, Minn.
Among the local stars to compete this weekend will be Beard (Irvine Novas), Quance-Julian (Trojan Swim Club/Northridge), Krayzelburg (Trojan Swim Club/Studio City), two-time U.S. national champion and five-time NCAA title winner Lindsay Benko (Trojan Swim Club/Los Angeles), two-time 1998 Goodwill Games medalist Erik Vendt (Ocean State Squids/Providence, R.I.), 1997 World University Games medalists Robert Brewer (Irvine Novas) and Jason Lezak (Irvine Novas), 1997 U.S.S. Swimmer of the Year Chad Carvin (Laguna Hills/Mission Viejo Nadadores), 16-year old U.S. National B Team member Kaitlin Sandeno (Mission Viejo Nadadores) and 15-year old Aaron Piersol (Irvine Novas).
Other top swimmers scheduled to compete include three-time 1999 NCAA champion Ryk Neethling, 1998 U.S. World Championship member Tom Wilkens, U.S. National B Team member Dod Wales and 1999 NCAA All-Americans Marylyn Chiang and Francisco Sanchez.
The Invitational is named after one of the worlds greatest female Olympic swimmers, Janet Evans, who was a four-time Olympic gold medalist and former USC assistant coach.
The meet kicks off on Thursday (July 15) at 5 p.m. with timed finals of the 800m freestyle. Preliminaries will begin at 9 a.m. and finals start at 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
Tickets will be available for purchase at the USC McDonalds Swim Stadium each day of the event: $2 for prelims, $4 for finals and $5 for an all-day pass. Children age 6 and under will be admitted free. For more information, call (213) 740-8444.
Janet Evans Invitational Event Schedule
Thursday: 800m freestyle
Friday: 100m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 200m backstroke, 400m freestyle, 400m freestyle relay
Saturday: 200m freestyle, 200m breaststroke, 50m freestyle, 400m individual medley, 800m freestyle relay
Sunday: 100m butterfly, 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke, 200m individual medley, 1500m freestyle, 400m medley relay
