Less than half a second. 45/100ths of a second to be exact. That was the margin keeping the Carson High boys swim team from winning the Northern 4A title on Saturday at the Carson Aquatic Facility.
As it was, Reno just held off Carson in the 200-yard freestyle relay and in the process held off the Senators for the zone title. The Huskies finished with 415 points while the Senators were second with 410. Reno was able to sweep all three relays on the way to winning the title while Carson took second in all three relays.
But the second-place finish didn't diminish an outstanding day for the Senators, who will be well-represented at state. Along with qualifying all three relays, Carson will be represented in individual events next week by Garrett Clayton, Matt Grunert, Kevin Dyer, John Wandell and Jacob Cornwell.
Clayton won the zone title in the 100 breaststroke in 1:01.13. The top three finishers qualified for state.
Carson's girls also had an oustanding day and qualified the 200 free relay for state. The Senators were also able to beat out Spanish Springs for fourth overall.
Reno won with 386.50 points and was followed by McQueen (292), Galena (260), Carson (192) and Spanish Springs (184). At last week's Sierra League meet, Spanish Springs was fourth while Carson was fifth.
"They did great," said Carson coach Monica Weaver about the boys team. "Everybody did what they were supposed to do, improved times, moved up places. We just needed to win a relay. We needed to win the 200 free relay."
And the Senators almost did just that. Carson's Scott Wandel, Alex Updegrove, Clayton and Matt Grunert finished in 1:33.54 while Reno won in 1:33.09.
Carson actually took a 376-375 lead going into the final event after the 100 breaststroke. Along with Clayton's win, Scott Wandel was fifth and Paul Chang was seventh.
Had Carson been able to win the 200 free relay, it would have taken an insurmountable 13-point lead into the final event, the 400 free relay. So the finish in the 200 free relay was in effect a 12-point swing for the Huskies.
Reno went on to win the 400 free relay and the meet in 3:18.83. John Wandel, Cornwell, Dyer and Grunert were second in 3:25.76.
The Huskies won the 200 medley relay in a meet record 1:39.55 while Cornwell, Clayton, Dyer and John Wandel lowered their time by three seconds in finishing second in 1:43.38.
Cornwell qualified for state in the 200 free by taking third in 1:54.66. Clayton just missed qualifying in the 200 I.M. and John Wandel just missed qualifying in the 50 free as both finished fourth in those events.
Dyer took second in the 100 butterfly in 55.76 and the Carson Tigersharks' Ryan Hogan, who swims for Manogue, qualified for state in third in 56.22. Grunert was second in the 100 free in 49.89 and John Wandel was third in 50.36.
Dyer was second in the 500 free in 4:54.48 while Albert Reed was sixth. Cornwell was fifth and Grunert was sixth in the 100 backstroke.
Also scoring valuable points for the Senators were Luke Gentner, Nick Schlager and Sam Ballard. In addition, Adam Updegrove was fourth and Kurt Anderson was seventh in diving, but it just wasn't quite enough.
Tatum Boehnke, Danielle Judge, Beth Lewis and Julie Asire took third in the 200 free relay for Carson in 1:47.10. Boehnke, Barbara Perkins and Asire were among the swimmers who all had solid individual efforts for the Senators as well. In addition, Samantha Tanner took sixth in diving for Carson.
"That was really nice," said Weaver about the girls relay qualifying for state. "We got some girls to go to state. The girls swam well. Julie and Barbara swam really well. Tatum did well."
Other locals who qualified for state included Galena's 200 free and 400 free relay teams. Cady Auble, Lauren Vessie, Katie Pettibone and Kayla Mariani were second in the 200 free relay in 1:44.41. They were just edged by Reno, which finished in 1:44.29.
In the 400 free relay, Alysse Ploussard, Auble, Vessie and Mariani were third in 3:45.93. Mariani took second in the 50 free in 25.11 and Auble was third in the 100 free in 55.12. Asire was fourth in 55.68.
Hogan also helped Manogue take third in the 400 free relay in 3:31.21. For Douglas, Haley Vonschottenstien took third in the 100 fly in 1:04.22.
In diving, the Tigers' Ryan Fore took third for the boys and Galena's Brittanie McCrary was third for the girls to qualify for state.