Swimmers Put Stock in Precious Medals

Ryan Cox recently swam for Prince Albert. Sionainn Marcoux will soon swim with Janet Evans. Different kinds of royalty, but either way, the idea is to swim to impress.

Cox and Marcoux mastered the task at this week’s U.S. Olympic Festival, where they combined for five medals--two golds for Marcoux, a silver and two bronzes for Cox. The last legs were the most convincing, too, with Marcoux winning the women’s 400-meter freestyle and Cox placing second in the men’s 1,500 free with personal bests Tuesday night at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center.

Marcoux, a June graduate of Santa Ana’s Foothill High School, outclassed a pool full of Orange County neighbors with a time of 4:18.69, more than three seconds better than the rest of the pack. Cox, an incoming senior at Capistrano Valley High, finished 13 seconds behind winner Jim Pestrichelli of River Edge, N.J., but his 15:56.78 time represented a powerful close, moving Cox from fifth to second during the final 600 meters.

Sionainn is a hard name to pronounce. It isn’t Sinead, as in O’Connor, and it isn’t CNN, as in all the news, all the time. (Just say Shannon .) But that’s nothing compared to swimming against Sionainn with a medal and a trip to the nationals on the line.

Marcoux knew most of the faces that lined up alongside her on deck. Amy Ward of Trabuco Hills High, a member of the Olympic Festival’s gold-medal 400 relay team. Christine Otto of Liberty Christian High and, this fall, Auburn University. Michelle Ham of Fountain Valley High. Kim Martin of Kennedy High.

The reunion didn’t last long. Three laps in the water and Marcoux was in the lead for good.

Hello.

Goodby.

Marcoux was pleased with her time--”I was aiming for a 4:18,” she said--but appended a disclaimer to her victory. This may have been the Olympic Festival, but Marcoux knew this wasn’t an Olympic field. Only swimmers 18-and-under with no previous national experience are eligible for festival competition.

“Because of the selection process, obviously the names weren’t here,” Marcoux said. “With the 18-and-under (requirement), it’s a younger crowd. It’s more conducive for making big names, I guess.

“But at the same time, I train myself to face the big names. Here, I had to face the fact that it wasn’t going to be that way.”

But it will soon. This fall, Marcoux will enroll at Stanford, current address of Olympic gold medalist Janet Evans.

As names go, that’s as big as they come.

Marcoux was asked about the prospect of going from intimidator to the intimidated.

“Oh, she’s almost too far ahead,” Marcoux said with a laugh. “She’s so far ahead, it can’t intimidate you. That’s a different level.”

Cox followed Marcoux into the pool, where it was quickly established that Pestrichelli would win the 1,500-meter gauntlet. Pestrichelli nearly lapped the eighth-place finisher. But Cox gave the race its lone suspense, turning what appeared to be a sure silver for Pete Wright of Delran, N.J., into a stretch sprint at the end.

Cox trailed Wright most of the race but moved into fourth at the 1,000-meter mark, took third at 1,100 meters, caught Wright at 1,400 and pulled ahead at 1,450.

He edged him by a stroke’s length.

“I’m pretty much a back-half swimmer,” Cox said. “I try to stay in control the first half and close in the second.”

Then, it’s an all-out, pain-till-you-gain scramble.

“That last 200 really hurt,” Cox noted.

Cox now leaves the festival with a silver to go with his bronze medals in the 200 free and 800 relay. Not a bad haul, considering that Cox claims, “I haven’t done a whole lot of work lately.”

His last competitive swimming came in Monte Carlo, as a guest of Prince Albert of Monaco. The prince invited 10 members of Cox’s swim club, the Mission Viejo Nadadores, to France for an international exhibition. Cox found a way to fit it into his schedule.

“It wasn’t exactly a stressful event,” Cox said. “We just thrashed around.”

Cox had trouble with the other particulars. “It was late April,” he said. “Or early June.”

Or maybe May.

“I think I’m suffering from brain drain,” he said, grinning.

Until the festival, Cox’s audience with the prince had been the highlight of his swim season. With Capistrano Valley this spring, Cox claims, “I didn’t do great”--second in the Southern Section at 200 meters, third at 500 meters.

For that, he blames improper training.

“It’s kind of touchy,” he says, “but my high school coach made me train with my high school team. Usually, they allow you to train with the Nadadores because the longest event in high school is the 500. It became more of a sprint training camp and I’m a distance swimmer. It didn’t do me any good.”

Cox doubts that he’ll swim for Capistrano Valley again as a senior.

“I was kind of foolish,” he said. “I didn’t do what was best for me. I should have stuck with the Nadadores. I imagine I will next year.”

In the meantime, Cox has his medals. Marcoux, too. That’s what happens when you throw enough Orange County swimmers into the pool. Next to sparkling mineral, chlorine is the water of choice inside the shadow of South Coast Plaza.