Engan, Niehoff, Grunert shine at Carson swim meet

Jamie Engan logged the second-best score in the girls 15-18 age group at the second annual Carson Tigersharks Sextathlon Invitational, which ended Sunday afternoon at the Carson Aquatic Facility.

Engan, 16, compiled a 4,484-point total to finish behind only Margaret Doolittle of Spare Time Aquatics during a two-day competition that tested individual swimmers in their skills at six different events. The senior age group girls swam the 500-yard freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 50 freestyle, 100 butterfly, 100 backstroke and 200 individual medley.

Engan was solid in each of her three swims on Sunday, highlighted by a first-place performance of 1 minute, 1.33 seconds in the 100 backstroke. She placed second in the 100 butterfly (1:00.00) and the 100 I.M. (2:12.63).

Doolittle, 16, won both the butterfly (59.62) and I.M. (2:08.85) to win the combined title with 4,614 points. Doolittle was the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section 50 freestyle champion for McClatchy High School in Sacramento during the spring, and over the summer, set Sierra Nevada records in the 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke at the California-Nevada Sectional Championships in Clovis, Calif.

Abby Niehoff and Matt Grunert were also second-place finishers in their 13-14 age group standings.

Grunert and Kevin Dyer, both 14, finished second and fourth in their division with 3,245 3,160 points respectively. Dyer logged the second fastest time in the 100 backstroke (1:03.34) and Grunert took third (1:04.79). Grunert placed second in the 200 I.M. (2:15.96) and Dyer fifth (2:20.70). Keegan Ferrari of Lakeridge finished first in the overall boys 13-14 standings with 3,456 points.

Niehoff, 13, was second in the 13-14 girls division with 3,918 points, 112 points behind Katrina Winsor of Spare Time (4,030). Niehoff took first-place in the 100 butterfly (1:03.25), second in the 200 I.M. (2:20.68) and third in the 100 backstroke (1:05.40).

Nick Schlager placed third in the 11-12 boys age group with 1,718 points, highlighted by his 200 I.M. time of 2:46.35 that was third fastest. Cody Gillenwater was also fifth in the division with 1,413 points.

Also for the Tigersharks, Jake Priest finished seventh in the 13-14 boys age group with 2,915 points. His best showing was a 2:24.28 in the 200 I.M., worth 509 points. Sam Ballard was also 15th in the division with 2,456 points, highlighted by his 2:30.86 in the 200 I.M., and Paul Chang was 26th with 1,708.

In the 15-18 girls age group, Rebekah Niehoff was 14th with 3,480 points, Hilary Schlager 15th with 3,472, Lauren Metcalf 18th with 3,352, Barbara Perkins 23rd with 3,168 and Danielle Judge 25th with 3,085. Schlager turned a time of 2:26.42 and Niehoff 2:29.26 in the 200 I.M.

Caroline Suh was 11th in the 13-14 girls division with 3,203 points, highlighted by her 2:36.53 in the 200 I.M. and 1:09.02 in the 100 butterfly. Tatum Boehnke was 13th with 3,154 points, highlighted by her 2:35.18 in the 200 I.M. Samantha Ashmore was 26th with 2,758 points and had a 2:35.35 clocking in the 200 I.M. Beth Lewis was also 32nd, Julie Ashire 35th and Alyson Redmond 48th.

In the 11-12 girls division, Rachel Clark was 21st for the Tigersharks with 1,878 points, Lisa Yamamoto 24th, Alicia Boardman 36th, Jill Stroup 39th, Samantha MacCarty 40th, Elizabeth Bennett 41st, Haley Stokes 43rd and Julianne Perkins 47th.

In the 9-10 girls division, Jessica Fahrenbruch and Michaela Gillenwater placed sixth and seventh with 1,777 and 1,657 points respectively. Erin Chang finished 13th, Alexandra Schlager 15th, Chloe Hearn 22nd, Brittany Donner 31st, Shelby Noyer 41st, Abigail Pittman 45th and Kelsey Hamilton 49th.

Tim Grunert finished 11th, Jacob Branco 12th and Jared Link 23rd in the 9-10 boys division. Rebecka Breuer placed eighth and Vanessa Rauch 14th in the 8-and-under girls division. Joaquin Chavez finished eighth and Kainnan Hamilton 10th in the 8-and-under boys division.

Overall, Tigersharks coach Jim Puleo described the meet as a success.

"We had great support from our team parents, which made everything possible," Puleo said. "We started this last year and had about 100 swimmers show up. We had more than 300 this weekend, so our numbers were up," Puleo said. "Most of the kids were from Sacramento and the Bay Area, and for the most part, they seemed to be happy with the meet and indicated they want to come back."

Next up on the team's schedule, Matt Grunert, Kevin Dyer, Abby Niehoff and Tatum Boehnke will compete at the University of Washington's 56th annual Husky Invitational on Dec. 2-5 in Federal Way.