Michael Brinegar finished third by the slimmest of margins in Friday’s USA Swimming Open Water National Championships 10K.
Brinegar, a former Columbus resident who trains with the Mission Viejo (California) Nadadores, swam the 6.2 miles on Tempe Town Lake in Tempe, Arizona, in 1 hour, 47 minutes, 27.779 seconds. That was just 66-thousandths of a second behind second-place David Heron, who is a Nadadores alum.
The top two finishers automatically qualified for the Pan Pacific Championships Aug. 14 in Tokyo. Brinegar still can qualify through the French Open Water Championships May 31 in Gravelines, France. His performance did make him the 18-and-under national champion, which qualifies him for the FINA Junior World Open Water Championships Sept. 6 to 8 in Eilat, Israel.
Brinegar, who will compete for Indiana University beginning this winter, came back on Sunday to finish fourth in the 5K in 54:40.20.
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Meanwhile, two swim club members from Columbus competed in the 15-17-year-old 7.5K championships. Trinity Lutheran sophomore Rachel Sabotin of Club Olympia finished 13th in 1:42:23.31, and Columbus North sophomore Olivia Morlok of Donner Swim Club was 30th in 1:50:54.58.
