Bennett Puts End to Evans’ Streak : Swimming: Florida teen-ager’s victory in 800 snaps eight-year run for Olympic champion and could signal beginning of a new era.

One flip turn was all it took to shake the foundation of U.S. swimming Monday night in the Phillips 66 National Championships at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena.

With that turn 250 meters into the women’s 800-meter freestyle, Brooke Bennett, 15, of Plant City, Fla., surged ahead of world-record holder Janet Evans and never looked back on a hot, windy evening in the Arroyo Seco.

Will U.S. swimming ever look the same?

Perhaps it is too early to call it a defining moment, but not only did Bennett win her first senior national championship race, she ended Evans’ eight-year winning streak in the 800.

She ended it with such conviction, that Evans, who last lost in the event at the 1987 Pan Pacific Championships, finished a surprising fourth behind two other teen-agers.

“I thought my place was wrong,” said Cristina Teuscher, 17, of New Rochelle, N.Y., who was third, just behind second-place Trina Jackson, 18, of Jacksonville, Fla.

Who could blame her? Evans, 23, from Placentia, was the defending two-time Olympic and world champion in the race and attempting to win her 46th national title.

Instead, she had one of those rare days when she failed to live up to expectations.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Evans, smiling so that she wouldn’t cry.

The time was so slow it was difficult to explain other than to call it an aberration. Bennett’s winning time of 8 minutes 31.84 seconds was well off Evans’ world record of 8:16.22 set in 1989. And Evans’ 8:37.39 was more than four seconds slower than her meet-record time 25 days ago at the Janet Evans Invitational at USC. In that race, Bennett was second in 8:41.12.

But unlike that race, Evans never got a jump on her challengers. Swimming in the center lane, she was flanked by Jackson on her right and Bennett on her left. Jackson stayed close to Evans in the first 200 meters, then Bennett made a move with quick, rhythmic strokes and one powerful kick turn.

“I think she felt she would easily go out in the first 400 meters,” said Mark Schubert, Evans’ coach at the Trojan Swim Club. “When she [didn’t], she got disappointed.”

Once Bennett passed her, it was apparent Evans was unable to challenge the teen-ager who last March at the Pan American Games in Argentina said Evans was no longer her idol and she was going to defeat her.

As Bennett pulled away a half-body length at a time, Evans fell further back, first losing ground to Jackson and finally to Teuscher. She barely held off Erika Hansen, a former training partner, for fourth.

After it ended, Evans turned to Bennett and said, “Good job.” Then she was first to exit the pool, the others savoring the moment a little longer.

After Evans warmed down in a nearby pool, a girl approached.

“She said, ‘You still have a huge fan club, don’t worry,’ ” Evans said. “That made me feel better.”

Bennett, her braces showing through her smiles, was feeling pretty good, but speaking cautiously for fear of causing another controversy between her and Evans.

“It will be something that I will always remember,” she said, adding she was surprised at Evans’ place. “She said, ‘Good job,’ I’m sure there were hard feelings in there.”

Evans’ time was so uncharacteristically slow, her competitors were giving the five-time Olympic medalist ample benefit of doubt.

“It’s just one race,” Teuscher said. “One race is not an end of a career. Everyone is human.”

Jackson, who will swim seven more events before the nationals end Friday, fended off questions by saying, “Everyone is trying to make [Evans] sound so bad.”

Jackson, who won the 800 at the Pan Ams by defeating Bennett, was so surprised by the result, she did not talk to Evans at the finish although she was next to her.

“I didn’t know what to say,” she said.

Neither did Evans, really. She entered this meet with the hopes of tying Tracy Caulkins Stockwell’s record of 48 national titles. Although she has three events left, she has little chance of reaching that goal considering she is not favored in Wednesday’s 200-meter freestyle and will have a tough race in the 400-meter free.

Her best shot was in the longer races--the 800 and 1,500 free, events in which she had won 12 consecutive national titles.

But Evans cannot be discounted after 10 years of world-class performances. She said Monday’s race sent “a message to myself.”

She said she was unimpressed with the winning time and is not deterred from attempting to make her third U.S. Olympic swimming team.

“If they had won with an 8:19 . . . I’d say, ‘See ya,’ ” said Evans, who is having her tonsils removed in two weeks.

Evans realizes the problem she has created for herself by such lofty achievements over the years. She knows one poor race will bring on the doomsayers. She has been fending them off in the last three years since she has lost her invulnerability in the pool.

But even in defeat, even while fighting back tears, Evans said she will continue.

“Hey, I’m not dead,” she said.