Santa Barbara's Sports News and Information
A pair of season-best times highlighted Wednesday evening's Nite Moves event in Santa Barbara.Josh Stichter recorded the fastest 5k time of the young season at 16 minutes and 41 seconds.Ben Brewer did the same in the 1k swim with a time of 13:20.Stichter, 28, lowered the fastest time in the 5k by nine seconds while Brewer, 14, lowered olympian Mark Warkentin's time from last week by two seconds.There were 280 runners and 118 ocean swimmers.COMPLETE RESULTSLisa Dunn was … [Read more...]
EDITOR'S NOTE: Presidio Sports will be unveiling its Sports Figures of the Month for the summer months during this first week of September. Stay tuned for articles on Bill Pintard (July) and Orlando Johnson (August) next week. Nominations for September can be made here.It’s takes a community to raise a stadium – and San Marcos High School has done just that.The school's two-year Field of Champions project to raise $1M for a new synthetic turf and track is nearing completion thanks … [Read more...]
Olympian Mark Warkentin led three swimmers under 12 minutes in the 1k ocean swim at Wednesday’s Nite Moves Series at Leadbetter Beach.Warkentin, who swam in the 10k open-water swim at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, came in first Wednesday in a time of 11 minutes, 38 seconds. Cameron Whiting, 18, a standout prep swimmer from Renton, Wash., finished second in 11:48 and Santa Barbara’s Walker Bell, 14, placed third in 11:59.COMPLETE RESULTSThe top female finisher was local … [Read more...]
Chris Braden completed the fastest Nite Moves aquathon of the season Wednesday night, finishing the 1k-swim and 5-k run in 32 minutes, 30 seconds at Leadbetter Beach.Braden, a Dos Pueblos graduate and a member of the University of Colorado triathlon team, covered the ocean swim in 13:40 and ran up and back down Shoreline Drive in 18:51.COMPLETE RESULTSThe previous fastest time of the season was 35:06 by Al Sladek and Kyle Visin.Ireland’s Donncha O’Siadhail finished behind … [Read more...]
In one of the fastest Nite Moves of the season, U.S. Olympian and Santa Barbara local Mark Warkentin held off Australia’s Heydn Tierney in a blistering 1k ocean swim on Wednesday at Leadbetter Beach.Warkentin, who competed in the open-water swim at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, finished Wednesday’s race in 11 minutes, 55 seconds. Tierney, an ocean lifeguard and avid open-water swimmer in Australia, finished in 11:57.COMPLETE RESULTSThird place went to 11-time 2011 Nite Moves … [Read more...]
After a career of competing around the world, swimmer Mark Warkentin has become a homebody.That doesn’t bode well for competitors who aim to win events like the Semana Nautica 1-mile ocean swim.Warkentin, a U.S. Olympian in open-water swimming, cruised past the record-field of 144 swimmers on Saturday to win the race along East Beach in 16 minutes, 49.53 seconds.Unlike the last two years, conditions were near perfect with water temperature around 63 degrees and a fairly smooth … [Read more...]
Mark Warkentin of the Santa Barbara Aquatics Club placed fourth at the U.S. Open-Water 10-kilometer championship on Friday in Fort Lauderdale.The event was held in rough water conditions. There were 109 swimmers (66 men and 43 women) who started, but officials allowed only the top swimmers to complete the race because of the conditions.Warkentin, a former national champion and a 2008 U.S. Olympian in open-water swimming, finished in 2 hours, five minutes, 43.84 seconds.The race … [Read more...]
Laguna Blanca junior Milo Filip will try his hand at open water swimming next month.He will compete in the 5k at the U.S.Open Water National Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on June 12.Filip is coached by U.S. Olympic open-water swimmer Mark Warkentin, who competed in the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and is a former national champion. He will accompany Filip in Fort Lauderdale to swim in the 10k race.To qualify for the national championships, Filip had to meet the time cut for the … [Read more...]
For former San Marcos softball phenom, NCAA All-American, Division-I record holder and current Police Officer for Chicago’s LaGrange Park, Stefanie Christoferson, the initial contact initially came via Facebook.“I was surprised to then get the call,” she said. “I’ve been gone for so long and now I’m right back in it. It’s an awesome honor!”Christoferson (’97), along with six others — Alan Everest (‘68), Anthony Hunter (‘81), John Pate (’77), Satini … [Read more...]
As an Olympian in marathon swimming, Santa Barbara's Mark Warkentin has racked up a lot of miles.On Friday, he will swim more miles than he ever has in one competition, and he has a chance to break a world record in the process. The San Marcos High grad and 2008 Beijing Olympian will join three other swimmers in a grueling 28.5-mile race around the island of Manhattan.The current record for encircling The Big Apple is five hours, 42 minutes, set by Australian Shelly Taylor-Smith in … [Read more...]
Olympian Mark Warkentin made it a clean sweep in the Semana Nautica 1-mile and 3-mile open-water swims this weekend, finishing off the 3-mile in 58 minutes and six seconds on Sunday morning.The water temperature dropped considerably from Saturday to Sunday, making for slower times. The reading on Saturday was 63 degrees but fell all the way to a winter-like 58 degrees on Sunday."It's probably the coldest I've ever swam in for that long of a race," Warkentin said.COMPLETE 3-MILE … [Read more...]
