Riley Mita, left, and Ben Brewer, right, reach the finish line first on Saturday.
Riley Mita won his first Semana Nautica 1-Mile Ocean Swim on Saturday by taking a cue from five-time champion and 2008 Olympian Mark Warkentin.
“It’s funny because when I used to swim this I would just go and sprint the whole thing and see how I could do. But everytime I did it, Mark Warkentin would come at the last part and just beat me. And this happened three years in a row,” Mita explained.
Five-time champion Nicole Antonuik
After a two-year absence from the event, the 19-year-old returned more experienced to win in a time of 21 minutes and two seconds.
“He’s gotten smarter,” Warkentin said of Mita. ?”There were a few times at this race where I just totally used him. He just made some boneheaded mistakes so it’s good to see his education has come to the point – I mean, he’s one of the better open water swimmers in America now.”
“It’s good to see that’s he’s not just physically in better shape, but he’s got a better strategy.”
Mita, who is a sophomore at the Naval Academy, adopted the strategy he saw Warkentin use in past races to guide his path to victory. Mita drafted behind second and third-place finishers Ben Brewer and Walker Bell until the final portion of the race.
“At the last orange buoy I started to go a little faster and pick it up a little bit, and drafted, and then just tried to carry it into the finish,” Mita said.
A leading pack of six all crossed the finish line within 20 seconds of each other.
Nicole Antonuik returned to triumph in the women’s race for the 5th-straight year. The Cal Poly swimmer isn’t currently in heavy training but decided at the last minute to defend her title, leaving San Luis Obispo at 5 a.m. to make the 9 a.m. race start.
“Today my mentality was just go out there, have fun, just try and finish the race,” Antonuik said. “And I felt good in the water.”
Antonuik, in seventh overall, finished with a time of 22:14 to top second-place swimmer Olivia Smith by 17 seconds.
Antonuik and Mita, both originally from Santa Clarita, competed at the USA Swimming Open Water National Championships at Lake Castaic in May. Mita placed 14th in the 5k and 16th in the 10k. Antonuik was 28th in the 5k.
RESULTS
- Riley Mita ?21.02
- Ben Brewer ?21.03
- Walker Bell ?21.08
- Chris Braden ?21.13
- Ian Bidwell ?21.16
- Robert Margalis ?21.22
- Nicole Antoniuk ?22.14
- Olivia Smith 22.31
- Mark Warkentin 22.33
- Patrick Simpkins ?22.34
- Alex Roderick ?23.12
- Arjun McAvoy ?23.13
- Sean Tucker ?23.13
- Ed Smith ?23.15
- Lucy Fars ?23.18
- Adrienne Brown ?23.20
- Erick Linhelm-Marx ?23.22
- Courtney Weigand ?23.29
- David Lederman ?23.50
- Beth Margalis ?23.53
- Eric Shanteau ?23.57
- Katy Sonksen ?24.02
- Reagan Eickert ?24.20
- Tom Barton ?24.33
- Brad Shenfeld ?24.37
- Chip Blankenhorn ?24.49
- Dan Leonard ?25.05
- Walker Bowen ?25.08
- Kevin Childs ?25.15
- Kyle Voulgaris 25.17
- Kurt Baron 25.19
- Murray McEachron ?25.26
- Becky Glusac ?25.39
- Phil Sidenberg ?26.02
- Sarah Murray ?26.03
- NA 26.08
- Kirsten Justice ?26.14
- Maureen MacDonald ?26.15
- Dan O?Meara 26.23
- Ryan Wenger ?26.28
- Jerry Shandrew ?26.37
- Megan Nesland ?26.40
- Alethea Butler-Nalin ?26.43
- Carl Parker ?27.13
- Dan Frost ?27.17
- Danielle Lipski ?27.46
- Andria Martinez-Cohen 27.47
- Kelly Kosmo ?27.57
- Jim Isaac 28.11
- John McFaddden 28.20
- Larry Raffaelli ?28.51
- Mike Cage ?28.53
- Ronald Ratcliffe 28.54
- Brian King 28.54
- Hilary McAvoy ?28.57
- Erik Sterne ?28.58
- Brian Chase ?29.27
- Sheryl King 29.35
- Mike Anderson ?29.55
- Phil Morreale ?30.01
- Sabrina Perry ?30.04
- Steve Kulchin ?30.24
- NA 30.27
- Chris Roderick ?30.58
- Brian Smallwood ?31.07
- Robert Perry 66 32.06
- Jerrett McFarland ?32.39
- Alicia Bartley ?33.02
- NA 33.05
- NA 33.36
- Bob Kitson ?33.57
- Marisa Weaver 34.15
- David Paras ?35.16
- Colin Murray ?35.28
- Lisa Foote ?35.38
- Susanna Binelli ?35.40
- Dave Morse ?35.45
- Will Farr ?36.23
- Jackie Murray ?36.30
- Dave Coburn ?36.45
- Roland Takayama ?37.12
- James Donelan ?37.14
- Daniel Ramirez 83 37.46
- Lee Wilkesson ?38.44
- Marion Cimbala ?39.22
- Bill Cooke 43.04
- Michael Riley ?43.42
- Silvia Glenn ?44.29
- James Donelan ?48.36
- Alberto Vecchio ?49.03
- Monica Jones ?55.09
Photo Gallery: Santa Barbara Sports Weekend: PHOTO GALLERY INTRO: It was a busy, busy 4th of? http://t.co/ebC8mdPke2
— Presidio Sports (@PresidioSports) July 9, 2013
