| Sports - Wednesday, July 30, 2008
SHP swimmer sets a record
for 12.2-mile channel crossing
by Keith Peters
Nick Caine went out for a swim last Saturday. Five hours, three minutes and 53 seconds later he finally came out of the water — as a recordholder.
Caine, 15, swam 12.2 miles from Anacapa Island to Oxnard and broke the existing record for the solo swim in the Santa Barbara Channel that had stood for seven years.
A sophomore at Sacred Heart Prep and a resident of Atherton, Caine is hoping to swim the English Channel next year when he turns 16.
"I started open water and distance swimming when I was 13 years old," Caine said Monday. "I wanted to do my first Alcatraz crossing because I thought it would be a good challenge for myself. I fell in love with swimming in the San Francisco Bay and open water swimming in general, so I have stuck with it. It's something most people don't consider doing as a fulltime sport."
During the high school swim season, Caine swims the 500-yard free most every meet in addition to a few other races. He started preparing for the Santa Barbara Channel crossing last December.
"Once school ended, I started doing a lot more yardage and endurance training for the swim," he explained. "All the time I have been in the Bay since I started has helped build up my tolerance for colder water, and that is why I did not have trouble with the temperature in Santa Barbara.
"I wanted to do this swim in preparation for the English Channel. I knew if I did well on the swim it would make the English Channel easier. I also thought it would be a good mental boost for all my hard work and training for the English Channel."
Track and field
Palo Alto's Julia Maggioncalda finished fourth overall in the Youth Girls' high jump at the National Junior Olympics last week in Omaha, Neb.
Maggioncalda, who'll be a freshman at Gunn High this fall, cleared 5-4. That was the same height as the winner, but Maggioncalda had more misses during the competition. It was her best mark of the season after clearing 5-3 3/4 at the Region 14 qualifying meet in Livermore.
Two members of the Palo Alto Lightning Track and Field Club, Dariya Smith and Julia Bounds, also placed at the National Junior Olympics. Smith ran 2:37.00 for 19th (our of 34 runners) in the Midget Girls' 800 meters while Bounds was 10th (out of 28 runners) in the Bantam Girls' 1,500 in 5:34.83.
Athletes finishing among the top eight earned All-American honors.
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