Barber qualifies for nationals

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Justion Barber of the Carson Tigersharks has qualified for the United States National Championships at the Janet Evans Invitational in Los Angeles.


Barber eclipsed the senior national cut twice in the 400-meter individual medley in Saturday's swim meet. Barber also tied for first in the preliminaries in four minutes, 31.98 seconds.


Barber ended up taking sixth in the finals in 4:33.28, which was also a senior national qualifying time. Tigershark coach Jim Puleo said Barber's sixth place finish was still impressive since many of the top swimmers had held back in the preliminaries.


"I'm pretty happy with the result," Puleo said. "I thought he had a pretty decent shot at it."


In the 200 freestyle for the Tigersharks, Ryan Costella swam to a personal best of 2:03.87.


Lauren Costella finished in 2:11.45. "That was a good, solid effort on her part," Puleo said. In the 400 I.M., Lauren finished in 5:06.54.


The meet concludes today with Barber swimming in the 200 I.M. and Barber and Lauren and Ryan Costella swimming in the 1,500 free.