STATE: Gorman girls, Boulder City boys breeze to titles

CARSON CITY – Having already qualified for the 2012 U.S. Olympic trials, Bishop Gorman sophomore Olivia Barker is used to experiencing individual success in the pool.

She said sharing it with a team was even better.

Barker won two individual events and also keyed two winning relay teams to lead the Gaels to their second consecutive state title Saturday at the Carson City Aquatic Facility.

The Gaels finished with 89 points, easily outdistancing second-place Boulder City (62) and third-place Coronado (61).

After winning the state meet by two points last year, Barker said the Gaels were confident in their chances to repeat with an even stronger team this year. Although she swims nearly year-round with a club team, Barker said winning a team title at the state meet is special.

“It just makes it more exciting,” she said. “Now I want to win it all four years of high school.”

The Gaels led almost the entire meet after winning two of the first three events, including winning the 200-yard medley relay by almost three seconds, and Barker’s first win, the 200-yard individual medley (2:05.20).

Barker followed that up by breaking her own state meet record in the 100 butterfly (55.09).

She said the team wasn’t keeping track of points as the meet went along.

“We weren’t worrying about it, we were just having fun,” Barker said.

Gorman freshman Amy Lubawy added to the fun by winning the 50 and 100 freestyle races.

Barker and Lubawy each swam a leg of the Gaels’ winning 400 freestyle relay and Barker also hand a hand in the Gaels win in the 200 medley relay.

“I was happy to win, but I was more happy the team did good,” Lubawy said. “I can’t stop smiling.”

The Gaels were disqualified in the girls 200 freestyle relay because of an early takeoff, and Gorman coach Ron Aitken said after winning such a close meet last year, he was glad losing those points didn’t cost his team.

“We had a good enough meet to score enough points to overcome that,” Aitken said.

In the boys meet, Boulder City had already secured the team title before taking the pool for the last event, the 400 freestyle relay. The Eagles trailed by 3.2 seconds when senior Drew Peterson dove in for the anchor leg. Even with the title in hand, Peterson wasn’t satisfied.

His split of 45.1 rallied the Eagles to the win and provided a capper on a day Peterson has dreamed of since his freshman season.

“I’ve been wanting to do this since I got here, and we finally got here my last year,” Peterson said. “We’re a 3A school, and to win a 4A state championship makes it even better.”

Boulder City scored 106 points, while Spring Valley was second with 74 and Coronado came in third with 69½.

“That just shows the pride and determination our team has,” Boulder City coach Sara Carroll said. “Our big motivation was just for this to happen for Drew’s senior year.”

Peterson won both of his individual events, winning the 100 freestyle in 46.33 and narrowly edging Spring Valley’s Dylan Wolf in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:52.30.

“He was ahead the first two legs but I caught him in the breaststroke, and then I was just swimming to win in the freestyle,” Peterson said.

With a hand in two winning relays, Peterson claimed four gold medals, while Spring Valley senior J.R. Deem capped his career with three golds.

Deem won the 50 freestyle in 21.46, the 100 breaststroke in 56.73 and also swam a leg on Spring Valley’s winning 200 medley relay.

Deem, who didn’t get to swim last season after transferring from Rancho to Spring Valley, came from behind to edge Reed’s Kyle Scalise in the 100-yard breaststroke.

“My plan was to be ahead of him the whole time, but I saw him beat me to the turn for the last 50 and I just gave it my all,” Deem said.

Green Valley’s Robert Hommel won two individual gold medals, including a state meet record of 1:36.77 in the 200 freestyle, and the 500 freestyle (4:38.01).

“I was going for that record, and this altitude adds about 1.2 seconds, so that’s about 1:36.3,” Hommel said. “I was going for the record in the 500 free, too, but as soon as I dove in, I knew that was out of reach.”