Moses Lake splashes into districts
Pam Robel/Columbia Basin Herald<br>Moses Lake High School girls swim team district qualifiers take time out of practice to pose for a team photo.
Lady Chiefs swim team heads to Ellensburg
MOSES LAKE — At 7 a.m. this morning the Lady Chiefs swim team piled onto a bus bound for Central Washington University and the Columbia Basin League districts swim meet.
Today is the preliminary swim beginning at 10 a.m. and will determine qualifying times for the finals Saturday.
Moses Lake head coach Tony St. Onge was confident the team would place well and said the real districts team battle would be for second, third and fourth places since the Wenatchee team was well ahead of the curve and expected to take home the team title.
"This is the hardest this team of girls has worked," said St. Onge. "We have emphasized every aspect of the sport from relaxation and visualization to nutrition to stroke technique to hard and fast training."
The Lady Chiefs are taking a team of swimmers and expecting state qualifying times from all the competitors, four individuals and two relays stand out in the crowd.
Catherine Polito has acheived three state qualifying times already and is expected to do well in the 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke. She is currently ranked third in both events. Other Moses Lake swimmers with top three times going into the meet are Ashley McKean in the 50-yard freestyle, Hannah Grigg in the 500-yard freestyle and Stephanie McFarland in the 200-yard individual medley. The 200-yard medley and 200-yard freestyle relay teams are also expected to place well.
Other swimmers headed to Ellensburg are Marielle McKean, Reilly Hourigan, Cari Cortez, Annalee Bassett, Mary Reed, Nanako Era, Kaelin Jones, Caroline Sharp, Jessica Massart, Karley Backman, Heather Devine, Amanda Hochstatter, Deryk Gaddis, Jessica Goldsmith, Kimberly Kardong and Chantal Past.