By Winston Chua
Daily Bruin Contributor
The Janet Evans Invitational which ran from July 13-16 brought
some of the best athletes in the world to USC’s McDonald Swim
Stadium to compete in one of the last competitions of the
season.
Representatives from Mexico, Costa Rica and as far away as Hong
Kong and Malaysia came to Southern California for a three-day
battle of "can you top this?"
In the middle of it all, several Bruins vied for the chance to
compete in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The meet is a good indicator of how the team will do in the
Olympic trials, said Bruin head coach Cyndi Gallagher.
"It is a great meet of elite athletes which can only make our
team stronger," she said.
A total of 10 Bruins will be competing in their respective
events in the Olympic trials on Aug. 9-16 in Indianapolis, Ind. At
the trials, the top eight in the nation for each event qualify for
the finals round, where only the top two earn spots on the U.S.
Olympic Team.
Each athlete who made it to the Olympic trials swam a qualifying
time in at least one sanctioned meet this season.
Bruin notables competing in Sunday’s event included
sophomores Holiday Powell, Beth Goodwin and Lyndee Hovsepian.
The best finish of the day was Goodwin’s fourth-place in
the championship round of the 100m butterfly with a time of
1:00.72. Also, in the preliminaries of the 100m breaststroke, three
Bruins drew in impressive times: Lyndee Hovsepian placed 25th
(1:16.71), younger sister and incoming Bruin Leslie placed 42nd
(1:18.23) and Powell placed 64th (1:20.14).
Non-Bruin notables who competed at the Invitational included the
likes of American record holder Jenny Thompson, Misty Hymen, former
Olympian Amanda Beard and current 100m backstroke world-record
holder Lenny Krayzelburg of USC. On Sunday, Krayzelburg set yet
another meet record in the 100m backstroke with a time of 54.60
seconds in Sunday’s final.
Asked what he attributed his success to, Krayzelburg responded,
"Talent, discipline, and hard work. I spend close to six hours a
day in the pool, and it involves great dedication."
But this past weekend’s meet gave plenty of practice to
the Bruins, who refused to be intimidated by their tough
competition.
“We’ve prepared ourselves physically all year with
weights and practice time in the pool and mentally before
competitions so that when we’re here the atmosphere can be
relaxing for us," Gallagher said."
The Bruins now have Indianapolis in sight, and at least one
Bruin, sophomore Marilyn Chua, who qualified to compete in the 50m
free for Malaysia on Saturday, has Sydney in sight as well.