Evans claims 38th national title

Evans claims 38th national title

FEDERAL WAY, Washington (AFP): Four-time Olympic gold medalist Janet Evans captured her 38th national swimming title here Saturday with a victory in the 400m freestyle at the US Swimming Championships.

The win, her second of the week after her victory in the 800m freestyle on Wednesday, left her just 10 shy of Tracy Caulkins' record of 48 national titles.

"Thirty-eight feels pretty good to me," Evans said. "Before the race, somebody told me, 'you've only got 10 more to go, no problem.' But it's not that easy."

Evans clocked 4mins 11.01secs, nearly eight seconds outside the world record she set in 1988. Trina Jackson and Christina Teuscher tied for second in a distant 4:14.48.

Evans surpassed the 36 national titles amassed by Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller with her 800m victory. She is likely to win her 39th in the 1,500m free on Sunday, the last day of the championships.

Tom Dolan, 18, became the first three-event winner of the championships with his victory in the men's 400m free.

He swam the second-fastest time ever in winning the 400m individual medley on Friday and had won the men's 800m free on Wednesday.

"I was hurting after yesterday," he said. "I wasn't tired, just sore. My goal tonight was just to win."

Norbert Rosza of Hungary won the men's 100m breaststroke in a personal best time of 1:01.24. Canada's Guylaine Cloutier won the women's 100m breaststroke in 1:09.83.

Brad Bridgewater edged world record-holder and Olympic silver medalist Jeff Rouse by eight hundredths of a second to win the 100m backstroke in 55.85 seconds. US Olympian Lea Loveless won the women's 100m back in 1:01.80.

Selected results (USA unless stated):

Men 100m backstroke 1. Brad Bridgewater 55.85 2. Jeff Rouse 55.88 3. Brian Retterer 56.10 400m freestyle 1. Tom Dolan 3:53.70 2. John Reich 3:56.26 3. Ryan Cox 3:56.35 100m breaststroke 1. Norbert Rosza (Hun) 1:01.24 2. Todd Torres 1:02.59 3. Seth VanNeerden 1:02.79 100m butterfly 1. Brian Alderman 53.76 2. Peter Horvath (Hun) 54.19 3. Mark Henderson 54.31

Women 100m backstroke 1. Lea Loveless 1:01.80 2. Barbara Bedford 1:02.35 3. Jen Eberwein 1:02.66 400M freestyle 1. Janet Evans 4:11.01 2. (tied) Trina Jackson and Cristina Teuscher 4:14.48 100m breaststroke 1. Guylaine Cloutier (Can) 1:09.83 2. Kelli King-Bednar 1:10.23 3. Kristine Quance 1:10.95 100m butterfly 1. Misty Hyman 1:01.46 2. Whitney Phelps 1:01.52 3. Angie Wester-Krieg 1:01.58