Tigersharks improve at Autumn Freeze

Abby Niehoff won five of her seven events and logged improved times in four of those to provide one of many highlights for the Carson Tigersharks during the Autumn Freeze short course invitational short course meet this past weekend in Minden.

Niehoff won the 13-14 girls age group 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2 minutes, 20.0 seconds, an improvement of three seconds during competition in the three-day meet that concluded Sunday at the Carson Valley Swim Center. She also won the 400 I.M. (4:45.66), 100 backstroke (1:06.01), 1,000 freestyle (10:44.55), 200 butterfly (2:16.88) and 100 breaststroke (1:18.26).

Kevin Dyer won five of eight events in the 15-18 boys division, including the 500 freestyle (5:02.52), 200 freestyle (1:54.83), 100 backstroke (1:03.88), 1,000 freestyle (10:28.98), 200 backstroke (2:11.77). Matt Grunert was also a winner in the 200 I.M. in a personal best time (2:12.53), in addition to second-place finishes in the 500 freestyle (5:12.61) and 100 breaststroke (1:10.57).

Jamie Engan won five of seven events in the 15-18 girls age group, including the 200 freestyle (1:58.54), 1,000 freestyle (10:21.60), 200 I.M. (2:18.52), 200 backstroke (2:16.74) and 100 freestyle (56.15).

Tatum Boehnke won the 15-18 girls 500 freestyle in a personal best time of 5:25.69, to go with second-place in the 1,000 freestyle (11:19.83) and third in the 200 butterfly (2:25.11).

Sam Ballard placed second in the 15-18 boys 200 backstroke (2:23.96), third in the 100 butterfly and fifth in the 500 freestyle (5:51.32).

Holly Burton won nine of her 10 events in the 7-8 girls age group, highlighted by a four-second improvement in the 100 freestyle (1:17.74). She also won the 50 breaststroke (46.15), 50 freestyle (35.46), 25 butterfly (18.25), 25 freestyle (16.12), 50 butterfly (45.64), 25 breaststroke (22.95), 50 backstroke (45.38) and 100 I.M. (1:28.97).

And Haydn Burton won five of her seven events in the 5-and-under girls division with personal best marks in the 50 backstroke (57.89), 100 freestyle (1:50.62), 25 backstroke (27.15), 25 butterfly (26.44) and 50 freestyle (50.57).

Hannah Burton, who turned 12 today, gave herself an early birthday present as she equaled her best time of 1:13.52 to place second in the 11-12 girls 100 backstroke. She also placed third in the 50 backstroke (34.74), third in the 500 freestyle (6:10.12, a personal best by six seconds) and gave a solid performance in the 50 freestyle (31.81).

Michaela Gillenwater logged first-place finishes in the 9-10 girls 200 I.M. (2:12.53) and 100 breaststroke (1:33.02).

The Tigersharks had numerous improved marks in the younger age groups.

Eleven-year-old Jessica Fahrenbruch, 11, turned lifetime best times of 2:49.20 (nine seconds) in the 200 I.M. and 1:31.63 (six seconds) in the 100 breaststroke. Tim Grunert had an improvement of 37 seconds in the 11-12 boys 500 freestyle (6:54.69) and Chloe Hearn improved in the 11-12 girls 50 backstroke (39.57).

Tallon Rauch won five of his 7-8 boys races, including an eight-second improvement in the 100 I.M. (1:37.16) and four-second improvement in the 100 freestyle (1:23.13). He also placed fifth in the 50 breaststroke with a nine-second improvement (1:01.62).

Alexis Lequerica logged her best time in the 9-10 girls 50 freestyle (51.33). Shaylee Nystrom improved by 39 seconds in the 200 freestyle (2:52.05) and placed fourth in the 50 freestyle (34.61, another personal best). Vanessa Rauch lowered her time in the 9-10 girls 200 freestyle by 24 seconds (2:48.85) and by 12 seconds in the 100 backstroke (1:36.02). Lisa Yamamoto turned her best time in the 11-12 girls 50 butterfly (35.10).

Christopher Kitchen, who celebrated his eighth birthday on Sunday, cracked the top 10 in the 7-8 boys 50 backstroke (1:02.99).