Eagles swimmers bring home postseason honors

Following a successful swim season, six Eagle boys swimmers and one girls swimmer represented Boulder City High School on the All-Southern Nevada team.

Helping the boys claim their fourth consecutive 3A state championship, Tate Orton was named to the 12-swimmer first team, one of two 3A swimmers represented.

“I’m very excited to be recognized as a part of the first team and be recognized with some of the best swimmers in the state,” Orton said. “It was great getting to end my high school swimming career with this. Winning state four times in a row is one of my biggest accomplishments in high school. It has been a very fun season with the team this year and I’m so grateful to have such hardworking teammates and coaches on both my club and high school teams. They pushed me to be the best I could be and to now be considered as one of the top athletes in the state.”

Instrumental in the Eagles’ championship run, Orton placed first in the the 100-yard backstroke (51.97), while finishing second in the 100-yard butterfly (52.19).

Orton also helped the Eagles win the 200-yard medley relay (1:42.00) and 400-yard freestyle relay (3:26.52).

“This was a great way for Tate to finish his high school career,” head coach Sara Carroll said. “Sometimes he gets a bit eclipsed by Duncan (McClaren), but he’s had super legit times in his backstroke and butterfly this year and was deserving of this honor.”

Making the 12-swimmer second team was Duncan McClaren, along with Canyon Lenon and Ayden Villa.

McClaren won the 3A state title in the 200-yard freestyle (1:46.56), while finishing second in the 500-yard freestyle (4:50.99). In the relay events, McClaren helped the Eagles win the 200-yard medley (1:42.00) and 400-yard freestyle (3:26.52).

Lenon won the state title in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.16), while finishing third in the 200-yard IM (2:03.46). In the relay events at state, Lenon helped the Eagles win the 200-yard medley (1:42.00) and 200-yard freestyle (1:37.40).

Villa, a versatile swimmer, helped the Eagles win the 200-yard medley (1:42.00) and 400-yard freestyle (3:26.52) relays at state, while finishing third in both the 100-yard freestyle (51.33) and 50-yard freestyle (24.00).

“We had a lot of depth with those four seniors and they will surely be missed.” Carroll said. “They really bought into the process and the team and it showed.”

Making the 22-swimmer honorable mention team was Cruz Stevens and Cameron Riley.

Stevens was on the Eagles’ state championship winning 200-yard medley team and 200-yard freestyle team, while finishing third individually in the 200-yard freestyle.

Cameron was on the Eagles’ 200-yard freestyle team.

On the girls side, Zoey McClaren joined Virgin Valley’s Kyra Jensen on the 12-swimmer second team.

No 3A girls swimmers made the first team, while three 3A swimmers were named honorable mention selections.

At state, McClaren won the 3A state title in the 200-yard (1:58.76) and 500-yard (5:13.47) freestyles, while helping the Eagles finish second in the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.22) and third in the 400-yard freestyle (4:14.03) relays.

“Zoey was the only club swimmer girl and we relied on her a lot, especially for the relays,” Carroll said. “I’m very glad to have her next year.”