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It has been a given that at some point 16-year-old Foothill High junior Luka Mijatovic would become the face of distance swimming in the United States.
That day may be now.
Saturday night in the 800-meter finals on the last day of the Toyota United States Open Swimming Championships in Austin, Texas, Mijatovic – swimming for the Pleasanton Seahawks – fired off the blocks and never looked back, winning the race by over three seconds.
His time of 7:48.28 was the 12th fastest all-time by any American and crushed the 15-16 national age group record.
“During warmups, I felt pretty good so I wanted to take it out pretty quick on my race and try to hold on the best I can,” Mijatovic said to USA Swimming. “I knew the field was going to be pretty stacked with Bobby (Finke) and Carson (Foster) in there. I wanted to start pretty strong and continue on and build on that throughout the race.”
As the race went on, he did just that, building on the lead and never giving the rest of the field a chance.
“I tried to look around to see where I was. I saw Carson a little bit in the first 300-400; he was holding pretty good. And Ilia (Sibirtsev) next to me of course. But other than that, I was trying to focus on my own race,” Mijatovic said.
The national age group record was 23 years old.
“I didn’t know it was that old, but I did have my sights on it coming into the meet,” Mijatovic said. “I’m pretty happy with the meet. I know it’s only December and I have a lot more to prove. I’m continuing building more, training and working harder so I can get progressively better as I race.”
Mijatovic, who announced recently that he will swim for national powerhouse Texas in college, was second in the 400 freestyle and the 400 individual medley. He was fourth in the “B” final in the 200 freestyle.
In the “A” final of the 400 free, Mijatovic was mid-pack until late in the race when he used his traditional closing rush to touch second with a 3:45.30. Leon Marchand, who swims for the University of Texas but is a four-time Olympic Gold medalist for France, was the winner at 3:44.70.
Marchand is also the long-course world record holder in the 200 and 400 IMs.
In the 400 IM, Mijatovic was second with a time of 4:15.91. It was a race where no one was going to beat Foster who finished with a time of 4:07.07.
In the “B” 200 free final he was fourth with a 1:48.88, well back of flight winner Shane Casas of Texas who clocked a 1:46.62.
Rylee Hutchinson, a junior at Amador Valley who also swims for the Seahawks, was sixth in the “B” final of the women’s 400 IM with a 4:55.07.
Amador boys’ basketball
The Dons played three games in the super competitive Riordan Showcase, going 1-2.
In a 71-53 win over Carlmont, Jaylen Smith got 30 points and Kade Krueger scored 15.
In the second game, Riordan pulled away late to win 59-48. Elijah Stanley got 14 points and Smith scored 13. Eli Pace had nine rebounds for the Dons.
Playing a bit shorthanded due to injuries, the Dons then fell 77-28 to St. Ignatius. Pace had eight points and Stanley scored seven points.
Amador boys’ soccer
The Dons kicked off their season with three wins and one tough loss.
The week started with a 4-2 victory over Castro Valley. Lucas Cimas scored twice, with Ethan Hernandez and Jonas Lyions scoring a goal each. Mateo Eichler had two assists, with Avi Gorrepati and Ekansh Samanta adding one each.
The next game saw the Dons fall 3-2 to Fremont, getting goals from Nader Hanna and Nicolas Baylosis.
The Dons rallied back with a 4-1 win over American – with Eichler scoring twice and Hernandez and Lyions scoring once.
Finally, the Dons ended the week with a 2-0 win over Castro Valley, thanks to goals from Cimas and Ekansh Samanta. Hernandez played well in the win.
In junior varsity action, the Dons won three games without allowing a goal.
The week started with a 4-0 win over Fremont, followed by a 6-0 win over American and a 4-0 triumph over Castro Valley. Goalies Colin Harrington and Lucas Shimy played well in three games.
Against Fremont Oliver Heid scored twice, with Kingston Smith and A’Rayyan Faris scoring one each.
Against American, Dyllan Perez Gallegos scored three and Heid, Aidan Han and Harry Brown had one apiece. Finally, against Castro Valley, Smith scored a hat trick and Sawyer Willis scored the final goal.
For the freshmen boys, Simon Hilton and Jason Pineda scored the goals, with Rishen Patel getting an assist, in a win for the Dons over Castro Valley.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email acesmag@aol.com.
