Tigersharks open short course season at 'Freeze'

John Wandel, Kevin Dyer and Matt Grunert combined to win six races for the Carson Tigersharks during the Autumn Freeze Invitational age group swim meet which concluded Sunday in Minden.

Dyer was a triple winner in the 13-14 boys age group 500-yard freestyle, 100 freestyle and 200 backstroke, Wandel won the 15-18 boys 100 and 500 freestyle and Grunert won the 13-14 boys 100 breaststroke during the three-day meet hosted by the Douglas Dolfins at the Carson Valley Swim Center. Sarah Metcalf swam to first-place in the 15-18 girls 400 individual medley, Hilary Schlager won the 15-18 girls 500 freestyle and Abby Niehoff won the 13-14 girls 500 freestyle in the team's fall short-course season opener.

Dyer logged a strong 5:09.81 clocking in the 500 freestyle Friday afternoon - a race he finished together with Wandel - and also had times of 55.48 in the 100 freestyle and 2:17.2 in the 200 backstroke. Wandel had a 5:09.81 clocking in the 500 freestyle and 53.08 in the 100. Grunert won the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.14 to go with a second-place effort of 2:22.3 in the 200 backstroke.

On the girls side, Metcalf logged a winning time of 5:03.82 in her 400 IM; Schlager clocked a 5:27.9 to lead a 1-2-3 sweep of the 15-18 girls 500 freestyle in which Lauren Metcalf was second (5:31.16) and Rebekah Niehoff was third (5:31.58).

Abby Niehoff was clocked at 5:19.59 in winning her 500 freestyle, to go with second-place times of 27.55 in the 50 freestyle, 58.45 in the 100 freestyle and 2:30.31 in the 200 IM.

Tigersharks head coach Jim Puleo described the season-opening meet as a success.

"The kids were swimming tired because we've been working them really hard," Puleo said. "This is a new experience for a lot of these kids, but this being the first meet of the season, it's a good time for them to get used to racing when they're tired.

"Overall, I thought the younger kids did a great job of getting up in the blocks and racing. They all competed very well."

Tim Grunert was third in the 9-10 boys 200 IM (3:28.75), Sam Ballard fourth in the 13-14 200 backstroke (2:28.88), Grunert fifth in the 100 freestyle (58.38), while Quino Chavez placed fourth in the 50 backstroke and fifth in the 25 freestyle.

Tatum Boehnke placed third in the 13-14 girls 500 freestyle (5:43.19), fourth in the 200 IM (2:37.4) and fourth in the 100 freestyle (1:03.85). Caroline Suh placed fourth in the 13-14 girls 200 freestyle (2:18.15), fifth in the 500 freestyle (6:16.81), fifth in the 50 freestyle (29.20) and fifth in the 200 IM (2:39.1). Jill Stroup turned a time of 8:07.92 in the 11-12 girls 500 freestyle and 9-year-old Michaela Gillenwater 3:07.60 in the 200 IM.