I-A SWIMMING: Boulder City boys, girls earn titles

There was plenty of action but little suspense Saturday at UNLV’s Buchanan Natatorium as Boulder City’s boys and girls teams swept the Division I-A state swim meet.

The boys made it somewhat interesting by scoring 110 points to defeat second-place Sierra Vista by 25 points. But the girls dominated throughout, scoring 156 points to easily get past second-place Truckee, which finished with 111 points.

It was the sixth consecutive championship for the Eagles’ boys and the fourth straight for the girls.

“It never gets old,” said 23rd-year Boulder City coach Sara Carroll. “This is just such a great group of kids and parents. There is a real sense of family and community.”

The Boulder City boys’ performance was balanced, as the Eagles won just three individual titles. Paco Cuevas won the 200-yard individual medley in 2 minutes, 2.02 seconds. Teammate Nick Lara claimed the 100 butterfly title with a time of 51.99, and A.J. Pouch earned the 100 breaststroke title, finishing in 58.51 seconds.

But the Eagles won two of the three relays (200 medley and 200 free) to secure the victory.

“We have a lot a freshmen,” Carroll said. “We just had some kids really rise to the occasion.”

But it wasn’t all about victories as Carroll pointed to Braden Klouse’s second-place finish in the 100 freestyle as an example of her team’s overall performance.

“He’s not even a club swimmer, but he did an amazing job for us,” the coach said.

Other individual winners were Sage Ridge’s Chris Miller (200 free, 500 free), Truckee’s DeRyk Cooper (50 free, 100 free), and Clark’s Andrew Wang (100 backstroke).

Sage Ridge scored 62 points to place third, Faith Lutheran finished fourth with 53 points, and Truckee rounded out the top five with 46 points.

Boulder City’s girls won six individual events and all three relays.

Rose Pouch paced the Eagles with wins in the 200 freestyle (1:53.75) and 100 freestyle (53.39). Teammate Montana Lloyd earned victories in the 200 individual medley (2:05.30) and 100 backstroke (56.31).

Other Boulder City individual champions were Abby Sauerbrei in the 100 butterfly (59.50) and Mandy Gebhart in the 500 freestyle (5:01.62).

Though the championship looked easy, Carroll said there were challenges.

“Truckee is always really good,” she said, noting that her swimmers had little time to rest. “We didn’t have a whole lot of (personal) best times today because we had to work so hard to qualify kids at regionals. Truckee didn’t have as much competition, so they were tough.”

Other individual winners in the girls meet included Incline’s Kate Rye (50 free) and Truckee’s Brittney Straw (100 breast).

Clark finished third with 46 points, Spring Valley was fourth with 45 points, and Sierra Vista took fifth with 41 points.