Taking the right frame of mind

Moses Lake swim team groups up for district meet

MOSES LAKE - Moses Lake wants to get a little childish.

That's the focus the Chiefs' head coach Tony St. Onge wants his swimmers to take when they compete in the Big Nine district swim meet in Ellensburg on Saturday. Reverting back to their childhood enthusiasm for swimming is what will determine how Moses Lake comes home from the meet, St. Onge said.

"On Monday I told them to remember when they first started swimming, you just wanted to get up there and race people," St. Onge added. "You didn't worry about anything but the race."

St. Onge said Moses Lake is ready. After nine meets, finishing with a 4-4-1 record and qualifying 15 swimmers, four divers and 29 events has all been in preparation for districts.

No regrets, no what-ifs, just plain preparation for a season on the downslope. And a mix of fun to go with it, that's the secret remedy for Moses Lake's success, St. Onge said.

"We are having fun this week, we are going to have fun this week," St. Onge added. "If you are having fun, you are going to compete well."

But completing well is all relative in St. Onge's mind. The foundation for Saturday's district meet is personal best times established by the individual swimmers. There are a few strategies, like state qualifying times in the relays, but St. Onge doesn't want state to be the primary focus.

St. Onge said if swimmers hit personal bests in their events, a few swimmers will reach the state meet, but he said if the relay swimmers reach personal bests during their legs of the race, Moses Lake will send more to the state meet than just the 200-yard freestyle relay team.

"Monday I said lets get that focus off state times," St. Onge said. "Lets set goals that challenge ourselves and are really fun."

Currently, Marielle McKean is a 10th of a second off the state qualifying time in the 50-free with a district qualifying time of 25.87. The other Chief swimmer sitting on the bubble is Stephanie McFarland in the 200-free and the 100-back, needing to drop about 1 and a half seconds off both times to qualify.

Come Saturday, reverting back to those childhood days St. Onge is asking for will come in handy as the Chiefs shoot for more than just a district title, but add additional swimmers to accompany the 200-free relay team at the state tournament at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

"We are focused on doing," St. Onge said. "We are going to go out and have the best races of our life and let the cards fall where they may."

Moses Lake will send Jamie Almos (200-free, 100-back), Annalee Bassett (200-I.M., 100 fly), Reilly Hourigan (100-free, 100-breast), Corissa Howard (100-breast), McFarland (200-free, 100-back), Ashley McKean (50-free, 100-fly), McKenzie McKean (50-free, 100-fly), Marielle McKean (50-free, 100-free), Angela Noteboom (200-free, 100-free), Jamie Reeder (200-I.M., 100 back), Kelly Sandberg (50-free, 100-breast), Kylie Secrist (100-back), Santana Stockman (200-free, 500-free), Laura Vandermeer (500-free) and Ande Payne (100-breast).