The Tooele boys swimming team suffered its second loss of the season Thursday at Mountain View dropping the meet 94-76. But the girls were on the winning side with a 98-71 victory over the Bruins.

The boys won only three of the individual events and one relay while the depth of the girls team proved valuable winning six of 11 events and scoring points with top finishes in all categories.

In boys competition, races were tight with 10 races decided by less than a second, and Tooele finished second on all 10.

“We have our work cut out for us as coaches to improve the mental toughness of the swimmers. We have the talent to be a very good team, but we need to develop the ‘hate to lose’ attitude,” said coach Mel Roberts.

Cody Dalton had a great meet and is making a strong pitch to be the top sprinter on the team, according to the coach. Trevor Shields and Stewart Ekins all had at least one swim that helped them move closer to qualifying for the state meet. Ekins sliced 7 seconds off his lifetime best in the 500 free and Dalton recorded lifetime bests in the 50 free and 100 free.

Erika Andrews, Kylie Riding, Chelsea Smaellie and Merideth Bridges continue to turn in strong performances. Riding placed first in the 200 medley relay, 200 individual medley, 200 free relay and 100 breaststroke. Crystal Pedro swam a lifetime best in the 500 freestyle.

Tooele hosts its annual invitational on Friday and Saturday with 10 teams traveling to Tooele for the event. Lehi and Sky View look to be the favorites on paper along with the Buffaloes.

Friday’s events start at 3 p.m. and include the 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle medley, 100 individual medley and 100 fly. Saturday’s events start at 9 a.m. and include the 100 free, 500 free, 200 free relay, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 400 freestyle relay.

Mark Watson: mwatson@tooeletranscript.com