Lochte was right behind in 1:54.93. The two slapped hands and headed off to London for the races that really matter.
Lochte got started on a busy night at the trials by winning the 200-meter backstroke.
Lochte was sixth at the first turn, but he quickly moved toward the front and took the lead for good with a brilliant flip-turn off the final wall. Pulling away, the Floridian won with a time of 1:54.54, second-fastest in the world this year behind Japan's Ryosuke Irie.
Lochte is assured of at least four individual events in London.
Tyler Clary took the second spot for London in 1:54.88.
Soni in again, Beard out
Rebecca Soni has claimed a second individual event for the London Olympic, cruising to an easy win in the 200-meter breaststroke.
Soni was slow off the blocks and made the first turn in fourth place, but she surged to the lead on the second lap and steadily pulled away, winning with the fastest time in the world this year, 2:21.13.
Micah Lawrence claimed the second Olympic spot in 2:23.03. Amanda Beard missed out on making a fifth Olympic team, fading to sixth (2:26.42).
Anthony Ervin was the top qualifier in the 50 freestyle semifinals with a time of 21.74. Nathan Adrian and Cullen Jones, who went 1-2 in the 100 free the previous night, also advanced to the Sunday final.
Last lap for Evans
Janet Evans climbed out of the pool and was quickly handed her retirement papers. She was told she had to check temporarily retired or permanently retired.
Her choice was a no-brainer.
"I paused for like one second and moved it to permanent," she said. "That was it."
Evans called it a career - again - after finishing 53d out of 65 swimmers in the 800-meter freestyle preliminaries. Her long-shot bid to make the Olympics at 40 after retiring 15 years ago was over.
She swam her 16-lap signature event in 9:01:59 - more than 45 seconds off the American record she set in 1989 that still stands.
"I swam faster all season, so who knows what happened with that?" Evans said, "But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. It's about trying something, and doing it, and being proud of what you've done."
Evans walked away smiling, buoyed by the cheers from a sellout crowd and shouts of "Go, Janet!"
"I'm just proud of the courage it took," she said. "Getting out of bed every morning and not giving up. I could have slept in every day and just taken my 5-year-old to preschool. . . .
"I'm just looking forward to sitting in the stands finally," said Evans, who plans to be in London during the games. "I don't have to go warm up."
