Junior Olympic Swimming : Barager Surprises Field, Himself

You just couldn’t blame Matt Barager for looking like someone who had just won a lottery that he had forgotten he’d entered. There he was, tired head hanging after a warm-down swim, his facial features radiating a mixture of amusement and disbelief.

Barager had just won the men’s 800-meter freestyle at the U.S. Junior Olympic Championships at Mission Viejo International Sports Complex. His time of 8 minutes 19.92 seconds was not only more than four seconds faster than runner-up Daniel Pierce’s (8:24.19) but also fast enough to qualify him for the senior nationals. His effort was also 15 seconds faster than he had ever swum. He went into the race seeded third with his personal best of 8:34.69, clocked last month at the University of Texas.

Runner-up Pierce swims for Chula Vista, and third-place finisher David Gillespie (8:24.48) for Industry Hills.

In the only other race Tuesday, Shauna MacEwen of the Conejo Simi team won the women’s 800-meter freestyle in 8:53.87. Stacie Duncan, her teammate, was second (8:58.26) and Joyce Lightfoot, of Fullerton’s Aquatic Swim Team, was third (8:58.72). All three women qualified for the senior nationals.

“For me, I thought the senior nationals was almost not possible,” said Barager, 16, who swims for the Omaha (Neb.)-Suburban Aquatics. “But it was always in the back of my mind.”

Now, the seniors are in his back pocket. And Barager tucked them away there just when things hadn’t been working out very well for him.

“The last two times I’ve swum the 800 or 1,500 (freestyle), I’ve gone out and died,” Barager said. “I started out too fast.”

And was going nowhere fast.

Said his coach, Jack Jackson: “I think he was a little worried last week when he was a little tired and things weren’t falling into place. But I knew he would do it once he got here. He always swims well when he’s rested.”

Jackson thought his prodigy would do well to average 1 minute 3 seconds for each 100-meter leg. Barager, though, was almost a full second faster than that. He also swam his second 400 meters (4:10.3) almost as fast as his first 400 meters (4:09.6).

“I was watching the clock most of the way,” said Barager, who said he doesn’t have a sprinter’s speed, sticking instead to distance races.

He will be watching the 1,000 or so other swimmers today as the western portion of the Junior Nationals continue with men’s and women’s competition in the 200-meter breaststroke, 200-meter butterfly, 200-meter backstroke and 100-meter freestyle. Preliminary heats begin at 10 a.m. and finals follow, beginning at 6 p.m.

Thursday, though, Barager will be concentrating on the clock again when he competes in the 400-meter individual medley and again Friday in the 400-meter freestyle. When the meet winds up Saturday, Barager will be competing in his favorite event, the 1,500-meter freestyle. He happens to be seeded first.

“We wanted him to make the Olympic Trials cut in the 1,500,” said Jackson, referring to next year’s competition. “I think he has a really good chance at that now.”