Justin Barber, Lauren Costella and Tara Theilemann all had outstanding efforts on Saturday for the Carson Tigersharks at the Long Island Open swim meet in New York.
Barber nearly qualified for the U.S. National Championships in the 400-meter individual medley. Barber qualified for the finals in a personal best four minutes, 33.94 seconds. In the finals, Barber placed fifth in 4:33.78, just missing the national qualifying time of 4:32.69. "What a great effort on his part," Tigershark coach Jim Puleo said.
Costella used the 200 free as a warm-up for her 400 I.M. and placed 22nd in 2:10.97. In the 400 I.M., she qualified first for the finals in 5:04.65. In the finals, she placed third in 4:59.19, a faster time than she had recently at the Santa Clara Invitational.
"That was probably Lauren's best swim of the meet so far," Puleo said.
In the 200 free, Theilemann qualified 18th for the finals in a personal best 2:10.13. She went on to shatter her personal best in winning the consolation final and placing 11th overall in 2:07.99. "I was really pleased with the kids that finaled," Puleo said.
Also for the Tigersharks, Ryan Costella, who will be a junior at Villanova, finished in 2:05.79 in the 200 free.
The meet concludes today with Theilemann going in the 100 backstroke, Barber swimming in the 200 I.M. and the Costellas and Barber competing in the 1,500 free.
In addition, Carson High graduate Kate Hardt, who will be a freshman at Minnesota, is competing in the Janet Evans Invitational in Los Angeles.
Hardt placed 25th in the 800 free (9:12.57), 30th in the 100 free (59.60), 31st in the 400 free (4:28.22) and 27th in the 200 free (2:07.37).
