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Dan Albano. Sports HS Reporter.

// MORE INFORMATION: Staff Mug Shot taken August 26, 2010 : by KATE LUCAS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER.

MISSION VIEJO Like a youth eager to impress and full of vigor, Nitro Swimming attacked the first part of the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle Thursday.

The up-and-coming club from Austin, Texas, had two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old holding down the top three spots early in the longest race on the opening night of the TYR Fran Crippen Memorial Swim Meet of Champions.

But it was another rising out-of-state youth who showed that the finish was more important than the start.

Logan Houck of Nevada’s Sandpipers rallied to beat Nitro’s Sean Grieshop by about half-a-second to capture the race in a lifetime-best 15 minutes, 21.42 seconds at the Marguerite Recreation Center.

Houck took his first lead, by 15 one-hundredths of a second, as he turned in near-unison with Grieshop, 16, with two laps remaining. The Harvard-bound senior from Las Vegas’ Palo Verde High out-touched Grieshop – his friend from the U.S. junior national team — to clock the fastest time in the nation this year by an 18-year-old.

“I had a lot of energy coming home and chasing down that kid,” Houck said. “I knew that I had a lot left in the tank that last 400 (meters). I’ve been training really well so I kind of put my head down, closed my eyes and just (winged) it.”

Cal-bound Nick Norman of the host Mission Viejo Nadadores touched third in 15:32.70.

Houck found energy afterward to cheer Sandpipers teammate Erica Sullivan, a 14-year-old who earned her 2016 Olympic Trials cut with an 8:44.63.

“I feel as happy as she is right now,” Houck said.

Sullivan’s time from the second heat placed her second overall to teammate Erin Emery, 17, who stopped the clock in 8:42.96 in the first heat. The Nadadores’ Samantha Shelton, a sophomore-to-be at Santa Margarita High known for sprinting, placed fourth in a lifetime-best 8:56.22.

Nitro faded a bit at the end, but the nine-year-old club could be a force as the meet continues through Sunday. The team’s lineup boasts about 30 high school-age swimmers.

“I compare this to like coming to Wrigley Field or Fenway Park,” Nitro coach Tim O’Brien said of the Crippen meet. “We want them (our swimmers) to know the history of the sport, come to a legendary venue. It’s a fast meet.”

Nitro trains in two 50-meter pools, produced NCAA champion Will Licon (Texas) and has a waiting list of about 150 swimmers.

“Austin is very similar to SoCal,” O’Brien said. “It’s kind of a swimming mecca.”

Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com