SWIMMING : Hudepohl, 19, Continues to Be Dominant in Sprints

When he emerged in 1991 as America’s fastest schoolboy sprinter, Joe Hudepohl began to be compared to 11-time Olympic medalist Matt Biondi. Those comparisons increased when Hudepohl became the youngest member of the 1992 U.S. Olympic men’s swimming team.

In Barcelona, Hudepohl swam on the same freestyle relay with Biondi, earning an Olympic gold medal. Upon his retirement last spring, Biondi was succeeded by Hudepohl, who swims three of the events Biondi dominated in his prime, the 50, 100, and 200 freestyles.

At the Swim Meet of Champions Saturday in Mission Viejo, Hudepohl, 19, of Cincinnati and Stanford pulled away from the field at the 75-meter mark of the 200-meter freestyle, touching in 1 minute 51.17 seconds, an impressive 2.3 seconds ahead of runner-up Ugur Taner, a Turkish Olympian.

In the 50, Hudepohl hit the wall in 23.73, the same instant as Seth Pepper of Hillenbrand, Ariz., Aquatics. They also posted identical times--23.75 in separate heats--in the preliminaries. Earlier in the meet, Hudepohl won the 100 freestyle.

In the women’s 200 freestyle, four-time Olympic gold medalist Janet Evans of Placentia won her fourth event of the meet in 2:01.89. Evans is the world record-holder in the 400, 800 and 1,500 freestyles.

“She swam the middle of the race as good as I’ve ever seen her,” Trojan Swim Club Coach Mark Schubert said.

Also Saturday, Jon Cleveland of the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada was timed in 2:18.71 in the 200 breaststroke. Cleveland, a Fresno native who moved to Canada in 1985, has dual citizenship. He competes internationally for Canada, however, out of loyalty to his coach, Deryk Snelling.