Carvin Wins by Finishing Second

Chad Carvin continued his comeback Friday with an 800-meter freestyle national championship in the USA Swimming Nationals at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

Carvin, who had a heart condition in 1996 and back injuries last year, earned the title with a second-place time of 8 minutes 0.53 seconds. South Africa’s Ryk Neethling won in 7:59.41, but swimmers who aren’t American citizens are ineligible for the championship.

Carvin, who lives in Laguna Hills and trains with the Mission Viejo Nadadores, had time to stop and readjust his goggles 150 meters into the race. He was followed by Mark Warkentin of Santa Barbara in 8:02.20 and Brendan Neligan of Hempstead, N.Y., in 8:08.43.

Carvin also will be competing in the 400 and 200 individual medley and the 200 and 1,500 freestyle.

In the women’s 800, 1996 Olympic gold medalist Cristina Teuscher of New York won in 8:38.68.

About 1,400 swimmers are competing in the five-day meet, which is expected to provide 10 additional qualifiers for the U.S. team that will compete in the Pan Pacific games Aug. 22-28 at Sydney.