Pooling His Talent

It wasn’t long ago that Ian Prichard was just one of millions of American kids involved in age-group swimming through youth clubs.

But in a sport in which one-hundredth of a second often separates winning and losing, Prichard has become a one-in-a-million swimmer almost that quickly.

“A year and a half ago, nobody except people around here knew who he was,” said Rob Mirande, coach of the Ventura-based Buenaventura Swim Club for which Prichard competes.

Prichard, a senior at Buena High, introduced himself by way of a breakout performance in the Southern Section Division I finals in May at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

“After that, everybody on the high school level knew who he was,” Mirande said.

Prichard won the 500-yard freestyle in 4:21.95, the fastest time in the nation by a prep swimmer this year. His winning time of 1:37.88 in 200 freestyle wasn’t as good, ranking only fourth-best in the nation.

Prichard hopes to leave competitors in his wake again in the Phillips 66 U.S. Summer National Championships today through Tuesday at the University of Minnesota.

“By the middle of next week,” Mirande said, “I’m hoping everyone in the country’s going to know who he is.”

Prichard, 17, has qualified for four events in the long-course meet, considered the top event of the season for older age-group and college swimmers during non-Olympic years. The meet will feature most of the top 500 amateur swimmers in the nation.

“No one wins nationals with ease,” Prichard said. “But I definitely do feel ready and I’m really excited about it. I’m looking forward to swimming there and seeing what I can do.”

So is Mirande.

“This is a pretty big meet for him,” Mirande said. “We always kind of envisioned this for him, but you never know. But the bottom line is, he’s worked really hard, and now I think the sky’s the limit.”

Prichard has his sights set on top-eight finishes in the 200-, 400-, 800- and 1,500-meter freestyle events.

In addition, he will seek qualifying standards in the 200, 400 and 1,500 for the U.S. Olympic trials next August.

“I really never thought I would seriously be able to maybe make the Olympics at this point,” Prichard said. “My success has definitely changed my plans. I don’t know if I’d make the team next year, but I’m definitely not ruling out 2004.”

His winning 500-yard time in the Southern Section finals was nearly three seconds faster than he had posted in the prelims the previous night and would have qualified him for the NCAA championship finals. The time was six one-hundredths of a second off the Olympic trials short-course qualifying standard of 4:21.89.

Prichard’s section titles earned him All-American status in the 500- and 200-yard events. He finished third in each race as a sophomore.

In March, Prichard finished eighth in the 800- (8:18.27) and 1,500-meter (15.54.22) freestyle races in the Phillips 66 Spring National Championships.

Two events during his sophomore year helped shape Prichard’s development.

He gained a competitive training partner when Mark Warkentin, a USC sophomore and former San Marcos High standout, joined the Buenaventura Swim Club. Then, Prichard decided to give up water polo to concentrate on swimming.

“It was a hard decision [to give up water polo], but I’m sure I’ve improved more since then,” he said. “I’m glad I played, though. I might be a little faster if I hadn’t spent that time on water polo, but I might not enjoy swimming as much now either. I could have gotten burnt out on it.”

Warkentin helps Prichard complete a 20-hour training regimen each week.

“If Mark hadn’t come to the team, I probably wouldn’t have improved as much as I have,” Prichard said. “I chased [him] for like, six months, and then after a while I moved up on him. Now we pretty much swim head-to-head.”

The competition is welcomed by Warkentin, who will compete in all the same events as his younger teammate in the national meet.

“We compete, but it’s never a problem,” Warkentin said. “We’re both moving forward, both making progress, and that’s what’s important.

“Ian’s made a lot of progress lately. All of a sudden, it was so obvious that he was a swimmer to be reckoned with. He’s going to have a lot of success, but he’s just getting started. This is just the tip of the iceberg for him.”

Prichard can only hope so. And continue to train.

“It’s a lot easier for me to keep going because I see the results,” he said. “The more success that I have, the more that I’m willing to train, because as much time as that takes, it’s really not that much.

“I have so far to go, and the thing is, it’s all about times. It’s all what the clock says. That’s what tells you you’re good.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

REGIONAL QUALIFIERS

Phillips 66 U.S. Summer National Swimming Championships

at University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn.

Today through Tuesday

*

BOYS

Matt Carter, Buenaventura Swim Club

Jason Conley, Buenaventura Swim Club

Anthony Ervin, Canyons Aquatics

Ryan Parmenter, Canyons Aquatics

Ian Prichard, Buenaventura Swim Club

Mark Warkentin, Buenaventura Swim Club

Jason Weber, Conejo Simi Aquatics

*

GIRLS

Maureen Farrell, Canyons Aquatics

Amy Jones, Canyons Aquatics

Jana Richardson, Buenaventura Swim Club