Carson, Galena swimmers split in dual

Revenge is a good way to motivate any team at any time and in any sport.

After waiting 12 months, the Galena High boys swimming and diving team got its payback by defeating Carson 149-133 during a Northern 4A dual meet on Thursday. Meanwhile, Carson's girls got a measure of revenge in the 200-yard freestyle relay and kept their perfect team record intact as they outdistanced Galena 176-136 at the Carson Aquatic Facility.

"It was a pretty good day. It would have been a better day if the boys had won, but overall, we had a lot of good swims," Carson coach Monica Weaver said.

Jamie Engan and Hilary Schlager were double winners in their individual races and strong overall depth paid big dividends as the Senators improved their season record to 3-0.

Engan and Schlager also combined with Rebekah Niehoff and Katie Wandel to win the 200-yard freestyle relay in a time of 1 minute, 43.98 seconds - a significant performance for the Carson quartet. For one, the same team was only .85 slower than its second-place performance at last year's NIAA State Championships in Las Vegas. For another, the team that beat them at state last year was Galena.

Engan and Wandel clocked respective splits of 25.4 and 25.7 to lead the Senators. Engan also anchored Carson's first-place 400 freestyle relay team with a 53.7 effort, plus she won the 200 individual medley (2:17.60) and 100 butterfly (59.62).

Schlager won close races in both the 200 freestyle (2:02.99) and 100 breaststroke (1:13.71). She edged Niehoff (2:03.56) in the 200 free and Galena's Janelle Lasko (1:13.82) in the 100 breaststroke.

Sandwiched between the 200 freestyle relay victory, Lauren Metcalf and Barbara Perkins logged 1-2 finishes for Carson in the 500 freestyle and 100 backstroke. Metcalf won the 500 with a 5:18.61 effort, while Perkins held off Galena's Gillian Auble to take second in 5:25.69. Then, after Carson won the relay, Perkins edged Metcalf in the backstroke with respective times of 1:09.71 and 1:09.83.

Wandel and Metcalf also gave Carson a 1-2 sweep in the 100 freestyle. Jessica Goddard, Niehoff, Metcalf and Engan won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:49.42.

Rachel Neitzke, Milan DelVecchio, BreAnna Bernhard and Lexy Eich scored points for Carson with their 2-3-4-5 finishes in the diving.

In the boys competition, Keegan Ferrari and Adam Van Antwerp were double winners individually, plus they swam for first-place teams in the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays to lead Galena.

Galena's boys were a perfect 7-0 in dual meets during the 2003 season, but the Grizzlies lost to Carson 144-136 in a dual last April 30.

"Carson kind of surprised us last year, so the guys have been kind of gearing up for this one for a long time," Galena coach Eric Olson said. "They're pretty jazzed about this. The kids had a good day overall ... there were a lot of p.r.'s."

Ferrari led Galena's 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 butterfly with his 57.24 effort, while Nick Damonte (1:01.35) and Andrew Musselman (1:05.91) took second and third. "Andrew has improved by nine seconds since last year," Olson said of Musselman. "He went 1:05 today, which was huge for him."

Ferrari also won 100 breaststroke (1:04.06), while Van Antwerp won the 100 free (53.58) and 200 free (1:56.71). Van Antwerp (52.6), Ferrari (52.3), Ryan Owens (53.0) and Ian Lentz (55.0) combined to win the 400 freestyle relay (3:33.27) to finish the meet.

There were numerous highlights for Carson, too.

Among those, Wandel was a double winner in the 50 freestyle (23.74) and 100 backstroke (1:00.39). Wandel also swam a 23.3-second leg to help Carson win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:39.33, along with Andrew Cardinal (24.1), Kellen Dale (25.6), and Matt Grunert (25.9).

Grunert won the 200 I.M. (2:12.66), while Ian Murdock and Andrew Cardinal led Carson's 1-2-3 sweep of the 500 freestyle with respective times of 5:23.14 and 5:36.62. Aaron Murakami (6:24.82) placed third for the Senators.

Carson competes again on April 9 against Bishop Manogue in Reno. The Northern 4A Regional Championships will be held May 12-14 in Carson City.

n Contact Dave Price at dprice@nevadaappeal.com or call 881-1220.