Buena’s Prichard Keeps Climbing Up the Ladder

VENTURA — Ian Prichard took on the best high school swimmers and won during the Southern Section Division I championships in May.

Next, he will try to take on the world. If Prichard qualifies for the 2000 Olympic Games and wins in Sydney, Mark Bernardino wouldn’t be surprised.

“I’ve just got a gut feeling,” Bernardino said. “We think he’s got that kind of potential.”

Bernardino recruited Prichard to the University of Virginia, where the recent Buena High graduate will compete on a full swim scholarship.

“There’s no question in my mind he’s going to be a top collegiate swimmer,” said Bernardino, Virginia’s men’s swim coach for 22 years. “He was the No. 1 distance swimming prospect in the country.”

Prichard, The Times’ regional boys’ swimmer of the year, earned that status over the past two years.

In 1999, he won Division I titles in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events, recording the fastest 500 time in the nation by a high school swimmer that year.

He improved on that performance this year, successfully defending his titles and breaking the Southern Section record in the 500 with a time of 4:19.34. His nation-leading time eclipsed the previous section record of 4:19.47 set by former Olympian Dan Jorgensen of Mission Viejo in 1985.

“He’s one of the best high school swimmers ever,” said Rob Mirande, Prichard’s coach with the Ventura-based Buenaventura Swim Club. “When you see the record that he broke and who set it . . . I’ve learned not to be surprised by him. He just amazes me.”

Prichard earned the boys’ Division I swimmer of the meet award.

He is a member of the U.S. national junior team and traveled to Spain with the squad for 10 days in May, competing in a European Grand Prix meet against international competition and placing fourth in the 400-meter freestyle and fifth in the 1,500-meter freestyle.

“It’s kind of a reward for all the work we put in, but it’s also just to get a taste of national requirements and what it takes to swim at that level,” Prichard said.

Prichard competed in the 200-, 400-, 800- and 1,500-meter races at the Mission Viejo Meet of Champions last week, placing ninth in the 800 against a world-class field that included Japanese Olympic team member Masato Hirano, who set a meet record with a time of 8:01.88. Prichard placed 12th in the 1,500 (16:24.22) and 18th in the 400 (4:05.40).

Prichard has qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 200 (1:53.20), 400 (3:57.60) and 1,500 (15:37.88) in Indianapolis in August. The top two finishers in each event will qualify for the Olympics.

Prichard can hardly believe the level he has attained.

“I think back to where I was 2 1/2 years ago, and all this seemed so, kind of intangible,” he said. “It was a dream. But now it’s here.”

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* All-region boys’ swim team. Page 11