Young Tigersharks shine in Berryessa

Some of the young guns of the Carson Tigersharks had their moment in the sun during the 22nd annual Lake Berryessa Open Water Swims on Saturday.

Abby Niehoff finished ninth in the women's race and Adrian Zeh 15th among the men to provide highlights for the Tigersharks. Niehoff and Kevin Dyer were also first-place finishers in their respective girls and boys 11-12 age group divisions in an event hosted by Davis Aquatic Masters.

Niehoff, 12, covered the one-mile distance in a time of 21 minutes, 55 seconds to crack the top 10 in a field of 64 women. Zeh, 16, finished in 21:08 to finish among the leaders in a field of 55 men. Dyer, 12, logged a time of 22:30 that was good for 22nd overall in the men's race.

For the young Tigersharks, it was definitely a change of pace from their regular routine of training and racing in a pool.

"Those times were all pretty good because they hit some pretty choppy water on the backside of the island," Tigersharks coach Jim Puleo said. "It was a great change of pace from swimming in a pool. It gives these kids an opportunity to do something different and I thought they did a great job of stepping up to the plate. Our age group coach, Jackie Boudreau, did a great job of preparing the kids for this."

Also for the Tigersharks, Lauren Metcalf finished 11th among the women in a time of 22:07, Barbara Perkins was 12th in 22:17 and Rebecca Niehoff 14th in 22:18.

"It was a great experience for these kids. They were housed by the Napa Valley Swim Team and they had a chance to go see the street festival down there, so it was a lot of fun overall."