Tigersharks strong in swim meet

Abby Niehoff has been among the leaders for the Carson Tigersharks swim club, which is having a dominant performance at the Valentine's Invitational at the Carson Valley Swim Center in Minden.

Other swimmers who have had strong meets for the Tigersharks through the first two days include Rebekah Niehoff, Barbara Perkins, Lauren Costella, Tara Theilemann, Nick Schlager, Andrew Willett, Garrett Clayton and Justin Barber. The Tigersharks have had several Far Western qualifying times during the meet.

Abby Niehoff and Theilemann each won four events on Saturday. Niehoff has won five events in all.

On Friday, Niehoff won the 11-12 girls1,000-yard freestyle with a 20-second time drop, finishing in 11 minutes, 24.70 seconds. Her time met the Pacific region standard and missed cracking the top 16 in the nation for her age group by three seconds.

Also on Friday, in the 10 and under boys 200 individual medley in 2:46.14, which was a Far Western qualifying time. Perkins placed second in the 400 I.M. for 13-14 girls.

In 15 and over girls, Costella won the 400 I.M. and Lauren Metcalf took third. In 13-14 boys, John Wandel won the 400 I.M. while Sean McKenna took second. In 15 and over boys, Barber was first and Kyle Costella took third.

Samantha Ashmore placed third in the 11-12 girls 1,000 free. In the 13-14 girls 1,000 free, Rebekah Niehoff won and Perkins took second. In the 15 and over girls 1,000 free, Costella won, Theilemann was second and Metcalf took third.

In the 11-12 boys 1,000 free, Garrett Clayton won, Kevin Dyer took second and Scott Wandel placed third. In the 13-14 boys 1,000 free, Andrew Willett won. In the 15 and over boys 1,000 free, Barber won, Costella took second, Jeff Stroup placed third and Todd Stroup took fourth.

After Friday, Carson led with 137 points while Reno was in second with 42.

"We had a really great night," Tigershark coach Jackie Boudreau said. "We really started the meet right and that carried over."

While team scores weren't available on Saturday, the Tigersharks continued their strong showing. Abby Niehoff won the 200 I.M., 100 butterfly, 100 free, finishing with Far Western qualifying times in all three events. She also won the 500 free. Theilemann won the 100 fly, 100 backstroke, 100 free and 500 free.

Lauren Costella won the 200 breaststroke and placed fourth in the 500 free, swimming it as an I.M. Metcalf took second in the 500 free.

In 6 and under boys, Ryan Steele won the 25 breasstroke and took third in the 50 free. Tim Grunert won the 8 and under boys 25 breaststroke while Jeroen Bottenberg took fourth.

Schlager won the 100 I.M., 200 free, finishing with a Far Western qualifying time in that event, and the 100 breaststroke. He also placed second in the 50 back.

Clayton placed second in the 200 I.M., 200 breaststroke and 50 breaststroke and won the 100 back in a Far Western qualifying time. He also placed third in the 100 free.

Dyer placed second in the 100 back, also in a Far Western qualifying time. Dyer also took second in the 100 free. Scott Wandel placed third in the 50 breaststroke and Sam Ballard placed third in the 11-12 boys 100 fly.

Willett won the 200 I.M., 100 fly and 100 back and placed third in the 100 free. John Wandel placed second in the 200 I.M. and 100 fly and won the 100 free.

McKenna placed third in the 100 back. Barber won the 100 fly and placed third in the 500 free, swimmming it as a butterfly.

Kyle Costella won the 500 free.

In 8 and under girls, Jessica Fahrenbruch placed fourth in the 50 free, eighth in the 50 back and eighth in the 25 fly. Brittany Donner took ninth in the 25 fly.

In 9-10 girls, Alexandra Schlager placed seventh in the 200 free and Elizabeth Bennett took eight. In the 100 breaststroke, Erin Chang took ninth and Elizabeth Bennett took 10th. In the 50 back, Krista Baumgardner took ninth.