By GANNON HANEVOLD
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley High School Swim team took on both Boulder City and Desert Pines in an outdoor meet held on Tuesday, March 13. While the Pirate teams fell to one of the league’s best in the Eagles, they came out with significant victories against Desert Pines. The boys would win by a 109-43 score and the girls would leave with a 96-54 win of their own.
Despite struggling in the scoring column against the Eagles, the Pirates had a few standout performances individually.
For the boys, Sam Jolley took first in the 100m back stroke. In addition, Moapa Valley’s 200m medley relay team took second against the Eagles.
“Relays will definitely be a strength,” MVHS head coach Erinn Thompson said. “We were a few seconds off of Boulder City’s time but that’s something that can be improved with more time in the pool. Come time for regionals it should be quite the matchup.”
On the girls side, the 400m relay team also took second to lead the way.
“I wasn’t expecting to win against Boulder City because they’re a huge team and have a lot of year round swimmers,” Thompson said. “But it’s always good to go against someone who will give you a run for your money. It makes them work harder.”
Against Desert Pines, Moapa Valley dominated in many events. One that excited Coach Thompson was Dillon Jones’ narrow second place finish in the 50m freestyle.
The Pirates claimed many first place finishes as well. They would finish at the top of the event in all three relays. Individually, Chase LaCroix took first in the 100m breaststroke, as did Sam Jolley in the 100m backstroke, and Braden Estes in the 100m freestyle.
The girls cleaned house with victories as well. First places for Moapa Valley came from Emma Walker in the 200m freestyle, Hailee Heiselbetz in the 100m freestyle, Camille Hardy in the 100m breaststroke. Both the 400m and 200m relays finished on top too. In the 100m breaststroke, just behind Hardy was her teammates Hanna Schulthies and Marina Mortensen.
Thompson noted this performance as one of the stand out finishes of the day. She pointed out that the biggest difference between the first meet and this one was simply that it wasn’t the first one.
“I felt like all the athletes became more comfortable with how the meet works,” Thompson said. “The familiarity sort of eased some of the pressure.”
The Pirates will take some rest out of the pool over their spring break with no meets scheduled. Then, the team will be right back at it with a meet against Rancho on Saturday, April 7.
