Havasu Stingrays open home meet with nine firsts

By BRANDON ELLENWOOD
Special to News-Herald
Sunday, January 31, 2010 7:07 AM MST

LAKE HAVASU CITY — The Stingrays opened Day 1 of their Winter home meet with nine of the team’s 25 swimmers taking at least one first place finish.

Taking place at the Lake Havasu City Aquatic Center, the Stingrays’ 4th annual Winter Challenge Ride the Wave Tournament features six teams competing in short course meters races.

Tatum Liska, 8, and Mickey Scharbrough, 14, both topped the team with four first place finishes, both sweeping their individual events Saturday. Liska was first in 50m Butterfly, 50m Backstroke, 50m Freestyle and 200m IM. Scharbrough finished first in 50m Butterfly, 50m Freestyle, 100m Backstroke and 200m IM.

Stingrays Courtney Barker, 15, and Caden Carver, 11, both had three first place finishes on the first day of competition. Barker finished first in 50m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly and 200m IM. Carver took first in 50m Backstroke, 200m Backstroke and 200m Freestyle.

Both Barker and Carver also finished second in their remaining events of the day.

And Alexandra Johnson, 12, Chloe Johnson, 10, Bailee Liska, 10, and McKenna Wales, 12, all finished the day with two first place finishes.

Alex Johnson finished first in 200m Backstroke and 200m Breaststroke, Chloe Johnson was first in 200m Freestyle and 50m Backstroke, Liska took first in the 50m Butterfly and 50m Freestyle, and Wales was first in the 400m and 200m Freestyle events.

"I'm happy with the swimming today," said Stingrays head coach Mike Taylor. "I'm excited with how well the kids were swimming today, especially considering next month is our championship season."