Thursday, April 18, 2002 | 9:15 a.m.
The cases in Boulder City High's gymnasium are filled with Class 2A and 3A championship trophies. But next month, the school will get the chance to do something quite rare -- topple the big boys.
The Eagles are favored to win the 2002 4A title in boys swimming, one of just two sports (tennis is the other) in which the school of approximately 700 students goes head-to-head with schools up to three times its size.
"I don't want to sound cocky, but our boys will probably win state," Boulder City coach Sara Carroll said. "My kids are real confident, and they're focused on state."
The Eagles won a state boys title in 1991, but have been non-factors in the sport until last year, when the program received a major shot in the arm in the form of freshmen Aaron Bleck, Dougie Broadbent, John Foster and Bret Lundgaard.
That quartet joined then-sophomore Travis Tyler, a returning state qualifier, giving Boulder City a strong core of year-round club swimmers. The Eagles went on to finish second at state behind Silverado, ahead of four-time defending champion Reno.
With many of the Skyhawks' top swimmers graduating, the young Eagles have a clear path to what could be a long title run.
"We knew going into last year that it would be tough to win, but we knew we'd have three really good chances after that," Lundgaard said.
Boulder City even managed to improve in the offseason, adding two more experienced swimmers -- sophomore Justin Armour, a baseball player last spring, and freshman J.P. Morgan, a sixth club swimmer.
Off to a 4-0 start in dual competition, the Eagles have posted the area's top times in all three relay events and have shown no signs of weakness.
"It's not inevitable, but it's looking pretty good," Tyler said. "There are some great swimmers in Las Vegas and up north, but they're all spread apart at different schools."
In contrast, the Eagles' nucleus has been together most of their lives. Youth swim teammates and schoolmates for years, they are fitting representatives of Boulder City, a one-school town where everyone seems to know one another.
"Most of these kids started here in kindergarten. They're homegrown," Carroll said. "Most of them have known each other forever and played together and been on teams together. They're all friends with each other."
If the Boulder City program sounds like one big happy family, it's probably because that's exactly what it is in many ways. Carroll is Lundgaard's mother, and previously coached daughter Kara; Tyler's sister Katie is a senior on the girls' team; and Broadbent and Bleck have sisters who swam for the Eagles.
The school's girls team is also among Southern Nevada's best, with five potential state qualifiers in Katie Tyler, senior Erin Holland, junior Bobbie Lee Reese (defending state champion in the 50 free), sophomore Celes Parks and freshman Blakeley Bunch.
Though probably not a realistic threat to snap the north's 10-year title run, the Eagle girls are also 4-0. Carroll said the Eagles' exploits have not gone unnoticed.
"Swimming doesn't get a lot of recognition, but people out here are pretty aware,"she said. "We don't have a big team, but the swimmers we have are of good quality."
And on May 17-18 at UNLV, those swimmers can earn a permanent spot in Boulder City lore by doing something no Eagles team has done before.
"We have our plaques up in our gym, and ours would be the only 4A one," Tyler said. "If we put that up there, it will stand out."02
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