School records fall at regional swimming

After rolling through the Zephyr League Championships last week, the Douglas High swimming and diving teams made some noise over the weekend, breaking four school records and turning in solid team finishes at the Northern 4A Regional Championships in Carson City.

The Douglas girls' team was a surprise regional runner-up behind Reno, boosted by school-record performances in the 200 medley relay, 200 free relay and 50 free (Haley Von Schottenstein). The boys' team took a solid fourth behind perennial powers

Carson, Reno and Manogue with a record-setting performance from diver Eddie Kollar.

The relay team of Von Schottenstein, Michelle Forman, Mary Smithen and Taylor Killion came up big in both the 200 medley and 200 free, winning regional championships in both events. They broke a 12-year-old record in the free relay with a time of 1:43.02 (the previous best was 1:46.26 set in 1997) and broke a nine-year-old record in the medley with a time of 1:52.23 (the previous best was 1:54.73 set in 2000).

Von Schottenstein broke Charlene Rigdon's 9-year-old record in the 50 free with a time of 24.67 (Rigdon's record was 24.94) to win the regional title. She also won a regional title in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:06.67.

Kollar won his second-consecutive regional title, breaking his own school record for championship diving points at 470.20.

Douglas also had Thomas Asher (diving), Eric Vanbeuge (100 backstroke) and the boys' 200 free relay team of Chris Bergstrum, Ryan Dykes, Colby Cain and Vanbeuge qualify for state for finishing in the top three at regionals.