Havasu’s Carver leads Stingrays to 21 medals

 SCOTTSDALE — Facing top swimmers from multiple states and even other countries, eight members of the Havasu Stingrays qualified for the finals and four came home with 21 medals from the Cactus Classic Invitational Long Course meet last weekend.

Caden Carver, 12, swam to a second place overall high point finish in the boys 11-12 year old division. He captured first place finishes in the 100-meter freestyle in a time of 1:05.36, the 200M freestyle in 2:22.50 and the 400M freestyle in 5:00.61. Carver also swam to a third place finish in the 100M backstroke, fourth place finishes in the 50M freestyle, 50M backstroke, and the 200M IM, a seventh place finish in the 50M breaststroke, and an eighth place in the 50M butterfly.

Alex Johnson, 12, swam to first place finishes in the 50M breaststroke (37.31) and 100M breaststroke (1:23.19) in the 11-12 year old girls senior division. She also captured second place in the 200M breaststroke and 50M freestyle, a fourth place in the 200M IM, and fifth in the 400M IM.

Mickey Scharbrough, 14, earning a fourth place medal in the 200M IM, fifth place medals in the 100M freestyle and 100M breaststroke, and an eighth place finish in the 50 freestyle.

Jasmine Partain, 10, swam to an eighth place finish in the 50M backstroke, and had several other top 15 finishes at the meet in the girls 10 and under division. Also competing in the division was Gracie Moroney, 9, and Tatum Liska, 8, who swam personal bests in two qualifying events.

Bailee Liska, 11, posted personal best finishes in six events in the girls 11-12 year old division.

Competing in a tough field in the women’s senior division, Courtney Barker, 15, swam in four qualifying events with a strong finish in the 50M backstroke.

"We’re moving into the long course season with some great starts", said Stingrays coach Mike Taylor, "I am happy with the quick adjustment that our swimmers are making to the course differences. Our swimmers are continuing their national rankings, which is good. We have a few more meets to get ready for Regionals and State Championships and I like the pace we are on".

Next up for the Stingrays is the annual "Swim Across the Lake," swimming Windsor Bay from Havasu Landing to Windsor Beach at Lake Havasu State Park on June 16 starting at 7:30 a.m. Then it’s on to the Sparky Invitational Swim meet at Arizona State University in Tempe, June 25-27.