Warkentin, Cail Make Big Splashes in Victories

Mark Warkentin of Santa Barbara San Marcos and Jamie Cail of Huntington Beach Marina specialize in distance races, which isn’t conducive to high school swimming.

With only one race over 200 yards, distance swimmers must make do, but it didn’t prevent Warkentin and Cail from excelling at the Division I finals Friday night at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

Warkentin, who has signed with USC, won the 200 freestyle in 1:38.45, beating the field by almost two seconds.

In the 500 freestyle, Warkentin was looking for the division record of 4:19.47 after finishing in 4:21.38 in the preliminaries. But he fell short of his standard, finishing in 4:25.54, beating James Thornton of Foothill by just over two seconds.

“Ever since I touched the wall in the prelims, everybody’s been asking me about the record,” Warkentin said. “People I don’t even know. After a while I thought I was going to do it.

“But in the meantime, I forgot about the race I had to win . . . When I saw the guy next to me was right next to me after 100 yards, I knew something was up.”

Warkentin commutes 40 minutes each way to train with the Buenaventura Swim Club’s Rob Mirande, who coached, among others, Chad Carvin.

“He’s insane but it works for me,” Warkentin said.

Cail, a junior, had the fastest time in the nation in the 500 freestyle, finishing in 4:44.64. She also won the 200 individual medley in 2:01.59, beating Shannon Cullen of Redlands by 1.04 seconds.

Mission Viejo easily repeated as boys’ champion, finishing with 333.5 points, 106 ahead of second-place Irvine.

Mission Viejo was led by junior Allen Ong, who won the 50 freestyle in 21.29, the 100 freestyle in 46.31 and was named male swimmer of the meet.

Irvine used superior depth, including victories in all three relays, to win its second consecutive title, finishing 171 points ahead of second-place Marina.

Junior Amanda Beard, a gold medalist at the 1996 Olympics, won the 100 breaststroke for the third consecutive year for the Vaqueros, finishing in 1:02.80. Beard was named the swimmer of the meet.

Stephanie Hsiao was Irvine’s other individual champion, winning the 100 freestyle in 51.38.

Irvine junior Daniel Kim was the repeat winner for the boys’, finishing the 100 breaststroke in 57.03.