Aug. 20, 2008

Former Trojan All-American Mark Warkentin finished eighth as the U.S. representative in the first-ever Olympics men's marathon 10km swim at the Shunyi Rowing-Canoeing Park in Beijing on Thursday.

Warkentin, a distance freestyle specialist as a Trojan, swam the 25-person race in 1:52.13.0, 21.4 seconds behind gold medalist Maarten van der Weijden of the Netherlands (1:51.51.6). England's David Davies was second (1:51.53.1) while Germany's Thomas Lurz was third (1:51.53.6).

Warkentin was one of a host of Trojan swimmers who competed for the United States Swimming team, joining Rebecca Soni (gold medalist in the 200m breast, silver in the 100m breast, 4x100m medley relay), Larsen Jensen (bronze medalist in the 400m free) and Klete Keller and Erik Vendt, who earned gold medals after swimming in prelims for the U.S. 4x100m medley relay, which went on to win gold in the final.

Leading USC's strong batch of international competitors was former Trojan Ous Mellouli, who won gold in the 1500m free. Other current, former and incoming USC swimmers who raced in the Olympics included senior Ankur Poseria (India), incoming freshman Katinka Hozzsu (Hungary), Rodrigo Castro (Brazil) and Tamas Kerekjarto (Hungary). Junior Zoltan Povazsay was on the Hungary team, but did not race.