Swartout Winds Up 8th in 800 Freestyle at Send-Off

The education of Ben Swartout continued Thursday when 1988 Olympian Lars Jorgensen showed Swartout how to compete in an 800-meter race in the first day of the Olympic send-off meet at the Mission Viejo International Swimming Complex.

From his bird’s-eye view two lanes over, Swartout, the Harvard-bound distance freestyler from Ventura, took copious mental notes.

After posting a time of 8 minutes 30.33 seconds, Swartout knew exactly where he erred.

“I saw Lars take off and I didn’t think I should stay up with him, but I probably should have been closer to him,” Swartout said. “My second 200 was too slow. I probably should have raced a little more. It would have been a much better race.”

Instead, Swartout, 18, of the Buenaventura Swim Team, fell too far behind and lost touch with Jorgensen, the event winner in 8:17.36, and three other members of his heat.

With three swimmers from earlier heats posting a faster time, he wound up eighth.