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5th Annual Janet Evans Invitational

Jul 23, 1998

LOS ANGELES - 1996 Olympic gold medalists Amanda Beard and Tom Dolan and 1996 silver medalist Tom Malchow as well as a host of World Championship and U.S. National performers and NCAA titlists are among the competitors at the fifth annual Janet Evans Invitational at the USC McDonald's Swim Stadium from Thursday through Sunday (July 23-26).

The Janet Evans Invitational is one of the largest U.S. Swimming Grand Prix Meets in the nation with close to 600 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. 11-15 in Clovis, Calif.

Among the local stars to compete this weekend will be Olympic gold medalist Beard (Irvine), seven-time U.S. national champion Jennifer Parmenter (Granada Hills), U.S. national team member and 1998 CIF Southern Section Division I Swimmer of the Year Jamie Cail (Marina High/Huntington Beach), U.S. national team member and four-time NCAA title winner Lindsay Benko (USC/Los Angeles), two-time 1998 NCAA All-American Philippe Demers (Rancho Santa Margarita), 1998 NCAA All-American Mark Kwok (Laguna Hills) and 1997 NCAA All-American Josh Ilika (Los Angeles).

Other top swimmers scheduled to compete include 1998 three-time NCAA champion Ryk Neethling, 1998 U.S. World Championship performer Ugur Taner, 1998 NCAA champion and U.S. World Championship member Tom Wilkens and 1996 U.S. Olympian and 1998 NCAA champion Trina Jackson.

The Invitational is named after one of the world's 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 23) 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 McDonald's 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