Clayton and Asire place fourth for Tigersharks

Garrett Clayton and Julie Asire each had fourth place finishes to lead another solid effort for the Carson Tigersharks on Sunday in the Nevada State Short Course Swimming Championships at the Carson Aquatic Facility.

Clayton took fourth in the 15-18 boys 200-yard breaststroke, dropping two seconds off of his time, finishing in two minutes, 14.84 seconds.

Asire took fourth in the 15-18 girls 100 freestyle in 54.28. Samantha Ashmore and Beth Lewis also dropped time in the event as Ashmore finished in 56.35 and Lewis finished in 58.80.

For the second straight night, Carson concluded the day on a high note as the 15-18 boys 400 free relay took fifth. Ryan Hogan, Garrett Clayton, Paul Chang and Matt Grunert took fifth in 3:25.27.

Virtually all of Carson's swimmers lowered their times on Sunday. Virtually all of the Tigershark swimmers who advanced to the finals also swam faster in the finals than they did in Sunday's preliminaries.

Also for Carson, the girls 15-18 400 free relay of Samantha Ashmore, Beth Lewis, Jamie Showalter and Asire took sixth in 3:49.88. Ashmore has had a strong meet so far.

"Samantha has had a great meet," Tigershark coach Gaby Phalan said. "She's really dropped times this week."

Ashmore lowered her time four seconds in the 200 individual medley, finishing in 2:22.83. Grunert also had a strong time of 49.37 in the 100 free while Hogan lowered his time from 53.37 to 50.83 in the event. Kevin Dyer also had a strong effort in the 1,000 free, finishing in 10:38.14.

Carson's younger swimmers also had a strong day on Sunday. The 13-14 boys 400 free relay of Jacob Branco, Arnold Flores, Nathanael Williams and Tim Grunert finished sixth in 4:09.29.

The girls 11-12 relay of Michaela Gillenwater, Elizabeth Everest, Vanessa Rauch and Abby Pittman took sixth in 2:04.81.

Tim Grunert and Branco also had strong efforts in the 100 free. After swimming a 58.8 leg of the 15-18 boys 400 medley relay in the consolation finals on Saturday, Grunert finished the 100 free in 58.2 on Sunday while Branco finished in 58.8.

In 8 and under girls, Kelsey Bradley had an outstanding day, finishing third in the 25 backstroke in 19.44, fifth in the 25 butterfly in 18.8 and sixth in the 50 free in 36.05.

In 8 and under boys, Spencer Lang, Nathanial Iannacchione, River Flatley and Nick Fischer took fourth while the 8 and under girls of Mikel Flatley, Kaly Branco, Katie Fischer and Bradley took sixth in 1:17.86.

In 9-10 girls, Charlee Bradley was seventh in the 50 back in 37.7. Other strong efforts came from Abby Pittman in the 100 breaststroke (1:22.90), Tim Grunert in the 200 breaststroke in 2:45.3, Lang in the 25 back (22.18) and Mikel Flatley in the 50 breaststroke (59.24).

In the combined team standings, Carson stayed in eighth with 416.50 points. Boulder City-Henderson continued to pull away in first with 4,969.50 points while the Clark County Sandpipers were in second (2,963) and Reno Aquatics was in third (2,463).

In the individual standings, Jordyn Green led 15-18 girls with 100 points while Lakeridge's Michael Weiss moved into the lead in 15-18 boys with 100 points.