Carson High’s Cole Bennett dives into the pool to begin the 50-yard freestyle at the Class 5A North regional swim meet last weekend at the Carson Aquatic Center. Bennett qualified for state in the 50-yard freestyle, the 100-yard freestyle, the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Photo by Thomas Ranson.
A pair of senior boys on the Carson High swim and dive team made their mark on their final Class 5A North regional swim meet.
Cole Bennett and Austin Shim qualified for state in all four of their events last weekend.
For both swimmers, it’s hard work and dedication paying off.
“It feels good to come in at such a high placing,” said Bennett. “It’s still a little jarring to me that I actually dropped (time). The last time that I dropped in this event was over a year ago. Ever since then, I’ve been training every single day and I’ve kept on going slower.
“To be able to finally break that, I’m just incredibly glad that everything I did leading up to this wasn’t a waste,” Bennett said.
Bennett won the 50-yard freestyle and tied for first in the 100-yard freestyle matching Douglas’ Calvin Stevenson with a 47.12.
The two are training year-round and were both gushing with pride after ending the regional meet on a high note.
Shim was second in the 50-yard freestyle and second in the 100-yard butterfly in 52.75.
Shaving seconds off his time in the butterfly has come in bunches over the last few days.
“I wanted to fix my technique and bring it out to the race,” said Shim. “In two days, you PB (personal best) by dropping three seconds. It feels really good. I was pushed by my teammates.”
Shim and Bennett both qualified in their two relay events as well – the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Alongside the two seniors were sophomore Leif Morway and freshman David Del Fiorentino in both relays.
The squad won the 200 with a time of 1:30.07 and the 400 at 3:15.12.
Morway went on to take fourth in the 200-yard freestyle and third in the 100-yard butterfly, qualifying for state as an individual.
Carson finished fourth in the team standings.
(Carson High senior Austin Shim pops out of the water during the 50-meter butterfly at the Class 5A North regional meet last weekend. Shim took second in the event and qualified for state in all four of his events. Thomas Ranson / Nevada News Group)
Senator girls finish sixth
The Carson High girls swim team finished sixth and had a handful of state qualifiers.
Junior Alexandra Llamas-Cruz finished second in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:56.18 while freshman Larkin Russell was right on her tail, taking third in 1:57.84.
Russell went on to take fourth in the 500-yard freestyle.
Fellow junior Brynn Russell was fourth in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:16.71, securing a spot at state.
Llamas-Cruz turned around and won the regional title in the 100-yard butterfly in 56.58. Carson’s Katarina Klatt was second in 56.9.
Klatt also was second in the 100-yard freestyle (52.54), picking up another spot in the state meet.
Those four met for the 200-yard freestyle relay where they finished second in 1:41.15. They also qualified in the 400-yard freestyle relay, touching the wall in first place in 3:40.75.
The Class 5A state swim meet will be Saturday at Carson Aquatic Center.
(Carson High junior Alexandra Llamas-Cruz takes a breath during the 200-yard freestyle at the Class 5A North regional swim meet last weekend at the Carson Aquatic Center. Thomas Ranson / Nevada News Group)