Carson hosts Sextathlon

Those competing this weekend are having a chance to show who the best all-around swimmer is in a unique meet being held at the Carson Aquatic Center.

The Carson Tigersharks are hosting their second Sextathlon meet designed to show who the best all-around swimmer is. Based on their results on Saturday, it looks like Jamie Engan and Abby Niehoff are well on their way to winning best all-around swimmer honors in the meet. Kevin Dyer and Matt Grunert also appear to be in a battle for all-around swimmer honors in the 13-14 boys division.

On Saturday, swimmers competed in a mid-length freestyle, a breaststroke and a sprint freestyle. The meet concludes today with swimmers competing in a backstroke, breaststroke and individual medley.

Tigershark coach Jim Puleo came up with the idea for the meet after being sent to a coaches clinic in 1982 in Turkey by FINA, the world governing body for swimming. The meet is a patterned after the decathlon.

In the decathlon, scoring is determined by how close the competitors come to the world record in each event.

In the this weekend's event, the scores are based on American records set in 25-yard pools for older swimmers and on Pacific Region reportable times for younger swimmers. Chan Suh, one of the parents for the Tigersharks, has helped develop the scoring system.

Last year, 100 swimmers competed in the meet. This year, the meet has already grown to 360 swimmers, with two large teams from the Bay Area - the Marin Pirates and DeAnza Cupertino Aquatics competing. Top results for the Tigersharks from Saturday include:

13-14 girls 500 free: Niehoff, first, 5:12.92; Tatum Boehnke, third, 5:33.57; Samantha Ashmore, sixth, 5:55.23; Caroline Suh, 13th, 6:03.39. 15-18 girls 500 free: Engan, first, 5:02.72; Barbara Perkins, third, 5:26.77; Hilary Schlager, fifth, 5:26.94; Lauren Metcalf, eighth, 5:30.79; Rebekah Niehoff, ninth, 5:32.94.

11-12 boys 500 free: Nick Schlager, second, 6:27.94; Cody Gillenwater, third, 6:37.89. 13-14 boys 5500 free: Dyer, first, 5:03.36; Matt Grunert, second, 5:16.32; Jake Priest, eighth, 5:45.60; Sam Ballard, 11th, 5:54.90. 15-18 boys 500 free: Ian Murdock, 10th, 5:35.63.

9-10 girls 200 free: Jessica Fahrenbruch, fourth, 2:33.89; Michaela Gillenwater, sixth, 2:44.57; Alexandra Schlager, eighth, 2:48.72. 9-10 boys 200 free: Jacob Branco, ninth, 2:48.14.

8 and under girls 50 free: Rebecka Breuer, ninth, 41.90. Vanessa Rauch, 11th, 45.25. 8 and under boys 50 free: Joaquin Chavez, eighth, 44.05; Kainnan Hamilton, ninth, 46.53.

13-14 girls 100 breaststroke: Abby Niehoff, 10th, 1:18.34. 15-18 girls 100 breaststroke: Engan, fourth, 1:13.94; Hilary Schlager, 12th, 1:16.73. 11-12 boys 100 breaststroke: Nick Schlager, fourth, 1:26.20; Gillenwater, seventh, 1:35.28; 13-14 boys 100 breaststroke: Grunert, second, 1:09.17; Priest, sixth, 1:15.28.

9-10 girls 50 breaststroke: Erin Chang, sixth, 44.44; Michaela Gillenwater, ninth, 45.75; Fahrenbruch, 11th, 46.45. 9-10 boys 50 breaststroke: Tim Grunert, fourth, 45.21; Branco, 10th, 50.28. Girls 8 and under 25 breaststroke: Breuer, 10th, 27.21; Rauch, 12th, 28.36.

Girls 13-14 50 free: Ashmore, 11th, 28.34. Girls 15-18 50 free: Engan, fourth, 25.72. Boys 13-14 550 free: Dyer, sixth, 25.45; Matt Grunert, seventh, 25.61; Priest, eighth, 25.76. Girls 9-10 50 free: Fahrenbruch, 10th, 33.98. Boys 8 and under 25 free: Chavez, eighth, 18.36; Hamilton, ninth, 22.04.