Barnes, McCarthy rake in coaching awards

The school year is six months old, and Carson High coaches have picked up some pretty impressive hardware.

Blair Roman (football) and Pete Sinnott (cross-country) were honored this past fall for leading their teams to league titles. Sinnott also coached the Carson boys and girls to state titles.

The duo have been joined by boys basketball coach Bruce Barnes and wrestling coach Tim McCarthy.

Barnes was named the Sierra League Coach of the Year after leading the Senators to a second-place finish and 19 wins this season. McCarthy was named the top coach in the region after leading the Senators to the Sierra League championship and a 19-2 overall dual-meet record.

It is the fourth time that Barnes has been honored by his peers, and he was quick to credit assistant coach Carlos Mendeguia and the players for the honor.

"It's a good honor," said Barnes. "I look at this as a staff award. Carlos does such a great job. He works every bit as much as I do. I tell the kids that we have two head coaches.

"Our players deserve a lot of credit. They worked very hard. You have to have players that buy in and do whet you need them to do. We had a good season."

It was the second coaching award for McCarthy, who won the award back in 1992 when he was at Reno High School. McCarthy sent seven wrestlers to this year's 4A state tournament in Las Vegas, which was the highest of any 4A school this year.

Carson High had four players represented on the boys all-league squad. Junior Brian Barnes, who averaged 10 points a game, and speedy sophomore point guard Andrew Johnson, who averaged 12 points a game, were named to the first team. Senior point guard Brennan Shaffer and senior center Patrick Smith both made the second team.

"They (other teams) knew about Brian coming into the year," coach Barnes said. "I think Andrew snuck up on everybody. he won't be able to do that next year. He was very deserving of the honor."

Carson High's girls team, which chalked up 17 wins, placed three players on the all-Sierra squad.

Senior Gina Bianchi, who averaged 12 points a game, was named to the first team. Junior Whitney Nash, who averaged 11 points a game, made the second team. Point guard Elayna Shine, who averaged six points a game, received honorable mention.

Nick Schlager, the region and state winner at 135 pounds, was named the top wrestler for the middleweights. Schlager lost just three matches the entire season and was undefeated in the league and postseason.

Patrick Craugh (103), Nicco Garcia (145), Junior Valladares (171) and Luke Carter all made first-team region based on their finish at the zone tournament. Ricky Ugarte (119), Ryan Hoskins (215) and heavyweight Justin Barlow were named to the second team.

Neither Schlager or Valladares have decided on their future plans yet. McCarthy said that he was approached by Utah Valley University regarding Valladares.