Prichard Leaves His Foes Behind

In the longest race of a high school meet, Buena High’s Ian Prichard made short work of the competition in the Southern Section Division I swimming championships Friday night at Belmont Plaza.

Prichard’s winning time of 4:21.95 in the 500-yard freestyle was nearly 8 1/2 seconds faster than that of second-place Aaron Peirsol of Newport Harbor, who clocked 4:30.35.

Prichard’s time also topped his blazing preliminary time of 4:24.78 on Thursday and came within six one-hundredths of a second of qualifying for the 2000 Olympic trials in March. He needed a time of 4:21.89 to qualify.

“I’m really happy with my times,” Prichard said. “Coming in, my goal was just to be under 4:25 for the final swim.”

Prichard, a junior, also exceeded expectations in his other event, the 200 free, winning in 1:37.88. He beat second-place Jeff Larson of Huntington Beach Marina (1:40.17) by more than two seconds.

Prichard, who earned All-American status with each of his times and was the region’s lone double winner, was third in both races in the finals last year.

“It’s great to watch him swim and improve like this,” Buena Coach John Siman said. “It’s been a very gradual process, but it’s not surprising.”

It also was no surprise that Mission Viejo won the boys’ team title with 370.50 points. The Diablo boys won their second consecutive title and 21st overall. Westlake, in ninth place with 90 points, was the top finisher from the region.

Irvine was a repeat winner of the girls’ team title with 393 points. Tenth-place Ventura, with 92 points, was the top girls’ finisher from the region.

Thousand Oaks’ Aron Gyuris, who qualified fifth in the 200 free, finished eighth in the final in 1:45.56. He rebounded with a second-place finish in the 100 free (47.05), but he was more than two seconds behind winner Allen Ong of Mission Viejo and off his best time of 46.70.

“I was hoping to do better, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way,” Gyuris said.

Things also did not work out as planned for Ventura’s Jana Richardson.

She qualified second in the 100 free, but was fifth in the final in 52.33.

Division III prelims--Several swimmers from the region qualified for the finals at 11 a.m. today.

Nordhoff senior Jermaine Britton qualified in the 50 free (22.28) and 100 butterfly (52.37), and was part of the 200 medley relay team that had the best qualifying time (1:41.32) and was second in the 200 free relay (1:30.92).

Buckley senior Jamie Zwick had the second-best time in the boys’ 100 breaststroke (1:00.12). He also qualified in the 100 free (49.41).

In girls’ races, La Canada Flintridge resident Carly Geehr, a freshman at Mayfield High in Pasadena, set a Division III record in the 200 IM (2:03.12), breaking the previous mark of 2:03.99 by Alexis Larsen of Harvard-Westlake in 1993. Geehr also was the top qualifier in the 500 free (4:49.58).