SWIMMING: LEZAK OUTSHINES ALL FORMER ATHENS OLYMPIAN STEALS SHOW.

Byline: ERIK BOAL Special to the Daily News

Swimmers, coaches, officials and spectators surrounded the pool Saturday night at USC's McDonald's Swim Stadium to get a closer look at the 50-meter freestyle showdown between 10-time Olympic medalist Gary Hall, Jr. and South African star Roland Schoeman.

After the crowd collectively exhaled, it was another American veteran, not the 31-year-old Hall, who had stolen the spotlight at the 13th annual Janet Evans Invitational.

Jason Lezak, who finished fifth at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics in the 50 free behind the gold-medal winning Hall and Schoeman's bronze, upstaged his talented rivals in the meet's marquee event, clocking 22.51 seconds to win his second title in as many days.

Lezak, representing Irvine Novaquatics, joined Cal graduate Natalie Coughlin and former USC standout and Hungarian national teamer Tamas Kerekjarto in winning multiple events. Auburn senior Adrienne Binder-- a San Marcos High of Santa Barbara graduate -- became the meet's first individual to be victorious in three races on a night that also saw former Saugus standout and Mission Viejo senior John Criste defend his title in the men's 200 breaststroke.

Lezak, 30, who broke his own meet record Friday in winning the 100 free, created the biggest buzz with his electrifying performance Saturday.

``I knew it was going to be a tight race, I just didn't know it was going to be that tight all the way through,'' said Lezak, who held off Sun Devil Aquatics' Nick Brunelli (22.53) and Algeria's Salim Iles (22.57) -- the eighth-place finisher in Athens -- with Schoeman (22.70) taking fifth and Hall (22.76) sixth.

``It's not all that often that you can get a group like that together (in a non-Olympic year or outside of nationals).''

Criste, 17, overcame a recent illness that kept him out of training for two days and a late surge by 20-year-old competitors Ivan Barnes (Tucson Ford Dealers Aquatics) and Chris Ash (Stanford Swimming) to become the youngest champion at this year's meet.

After building his lead to more than a second at the 150-meter mark, Criste - representing Irvine Novaquatics - beat Ash and Barnes to the wall by three one-hundredths to win in 2:20.37, just off his winning time of 2:20.08 a year ago.

``This race was especially important to me because it shows no matter the conditions, I can still be a racer,'' Criste said. ``It came down to whoever's fingers touched first. I'm happy with my finish and I'm going to take (the victory) and run.''

Coughlin had no such issues in the women's 200 free, building a half-body length lead over Cal Aquatics teammate Erin Reilly 25 meters into the race and extending it throughout en route to a victory in 1:58.20, the best time by an American female and sixth-fastest in the world this year.

Binder and Kerekjarto continued their success with victories in the 400 individual medley. Binder, representing Santa Barbara Swim Club, added to her wins in the 400 and 800 freestyles by defeating the field by more than four seconds with a time of 4:47.20. Trojan Swim Club's Kerekjarto, who won the 200 butterfly Friday, overcame a slight deficit at the midway point to clock 4:24.39, good for a 2.5-second victory.

Stanford graduate Tara Kirk won the women's 200 breaststroke (2:28.67) and Lacey Nymeyer bettered Tucson Ford Dealers Aquatics teammate Courtney Cashion, 25.6 to 25.75, in the 50 free.

Southeastern Swim Club's Jayme Cramer captured the men's 200 free (1:49.87).

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Jason Lezak waves after winning the men's 50-meter freestyle at the Janet Evans Invitational.

Chris Carlson/Associated Press