WINCHESTER — For Paul Warnagiris, making “slow” fast has worked out pretty spectacularly.
As evidenced by his area-best 200 individual medley time, the James Wood junior shines in all the strokes.
But as his mother Kelly Warnagiris points out, the fastest IMers are standout breaststrokers. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound Warnagiris’ longtime appreciation of the breaststroke is one of the main reasons why he stood head and shoulders above the area swimming crowd this season.
“When I first started swimming, it always fascinated me that [the breaststroke] was the slowest stroke, and that [the results] had the slowest times,” said Warnagiris, who first began swimming when he was 7. “If you can become fastest at the slowest stroke, it’s something really valuable to a relay or a team in general.”
The Winchester Star Boys’ Swimmer of the Year, Warnagiris was plenty valuable to the Colonels this year.
Warnagiris was the only local boy to earn All-State honors in two individual events this year, placing seventh in both the 100-yard breaststroke (he recorded a school-record and personal-best time of 1 minute, 0.57 seconds) and 200 IM. Warnagiris also swam the breast on the 200 medley relay team that placed 10th and participated on the 400 free relay that took 11th as James Wood placed 13th as a team, the best among local schools.
Warnargiris was one of only two boys to win two individual events at the Region 4C meet (the 100 breast and the 200 IM in a season- and area-best 1:56.69) and helped James Wood win both the 200 medley (1:40.55) and 400 free relay (3:22.38) in school-record times. Warnagiris led James Wood to second place as a team, the best regional finish in school history.
Warnagiris also recorded victories in the 100 breast, 200 IM and 200 medley relay and took second in the 400 free relay at the Class 4 Northwestern District meet as James Wood took second to Kettle Run, which also won the Region 4C meet.
Basically, the 2021-22 high school season continued a pattern of high-level success that Warnagiris has achieved throughout his career. Warnagiris has been competing in high-level meets along the East Coast for years, including national competitions in Florida, and was named Virginia Swimming’s 12-year-old boy Swimmer of the Year in 2018.
Warnagiris is the younger brother of Winchester Star two-time Girls’ Swimmer of the Year Kimberly Warnagiris (a 2021 James Wood graduate) and older brother of James Wood freshman Joe, the only other local boy to earn Class 4 All-State honors this year.
Paul said being the middle child has been a pretty good spot for him. Kimberly set the tone for excellence, and Joe’s success also encourages him.
“My family in general really motivates me to swim fast,” Paul said. “Every meet, every race, they’re never demotivating me. They’re always pushing me to do better.”
Though Warnagiris had pretty much experienced it all in swimming by the time he hit seventh grade, watching Kimberly swim for James Wood exposed him to a new element of the sport that he couldn’t wait to be a part of.
“When I was a freshman, I was so excited to just be a part of the team and just be able to swim on a team where everybody hypes each other up, everyone is so involved, and love doing what they’re doing,” Warnagiris said.
Warnagiris led the Colonels to second in the district as a freshman and took 13th in the 200 IM (2:01.34) and 14th in the 100 breast (1:02.41) at the state meet.
About a month after the state meet, COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, a situation that would shut down the Winchester Swim Team for three months and eventually result in Frederick County not competing in the 2020-21 Virginia High School League season.
But whether he was working out in his basement or swimming in teammate Andrew Thompson’s outdoor pool at the start of the pandemic, or traveling to various meets after swimming venues starting opening up again for competition, Warnagiris has been constantly working to improve since 2020. His work showed up with the Colonels this year.
James Wood coach Jessica Barr, who also coaches with Winchester Swim Team, said Warnagiris’ breaststroke is certainly enjoyable to watch. Warnagiris said his endurance is a big part of his success. For WST, he’s actually better at the longer 200 breaststroke and the 400 IM, which are events not offered by the VHSL.
“In my coaching experience, I’ve learned that breaststroke is really all about timing,” Barr said. “I think he’s nailed the timing down so perfectly. If you actually watch him compared to other swimmers, he takes a lot less strokes than other swimmers, because he’s getting so much distance and so much pull in each one of his breaststroke pulls.
“He’s also I think worked a lot on his turns this year, really getting on the wall and off the wall as soon as possible, which can he kind of tricky since it’s not an actual flip turn.”
The breaststroke might be a grueling and slower event, but doing it doesn’t prevent Warnagiris from swimming the quickest stroke at a tremendous pace. Ten minutes after swimming the breaststroke at the Region 4C meet, James Wood was 2.55 seconds behind Loudoun County when Warnagiris jumped in the pool as the anchor leg for the 400 free relay. The area’s fastest swimmer in the 100 free (55.56 in meters) sped through with a 48.75-second 100-yard split to give James Wood a 0.75-second win and cap a school-record performance.
The Colonels were disappointed to take second to Kettle Run at the district meet, but a runner-up finish to the Cougars at the region meet was a different story. The Colonels topped all the schools from traditionally strong Loudoun County to earn their highest-ever finish and improve on taking sixth in Region 4C in 2020.
“All the boys were so hyped we got second,” Warnagiris said. “The whole team came together and just worked their butt off every single day this year.”
Warnagiris was also pleased to earn All-State honors in both the breast and the IM at the Feb. 18 Class 4 meet at SwimRVA in Richmond. As his mother pointed out, swimmers like Warnagiris compete at states while they’re tired as opposed to tapered, because club teams are preparing their swimmers to peak in March.
Warnagiris’ personal-best 100 breast time was short-lived, as he recorded a 58.73 at the state short course championships on March 3 and a 1:54.81 at the National Club Swimming Association Spring Championships in Orlando on March 15. (Warnagiris also set PRs of 2:07.16 in the 200 breast in NCSA and 4:05.79 in the 400 IM in Richmond this month.)
All signs are pointing to an even better senior year for Warnagiris, and for the Colonels. James Wood will have eight seniors on next year’s team and loses only one.
“It’s going to be the last hurrah,” Warnagiris said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
