Five of Chiefs' swimmers off to State

ELLENSBURG — Led by individual champion Marshall Goodrich and the first-place 400-yard freestyle relay team of Federico Bettini, Goodrich, Eric Butterfield and Jeremy Grant, Moses Lake finished second at the Columbia Basin League District Meet on Saturday.

The Chiefs, with 427 points, finished second behind Wenatchee's total of 488. Richland was a distant third with 325 points.

Goodrich, who won the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:09.25, will be joined at state in the event by Brad Reeder, who put up a time of 2:11.62 to also make the state meet.

Additionally, Reeder qualified for state in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:05.19. Grant was the Chiefs' final individual state qualifier, swimming the 50 freestyle in 23.18 to move on to the season-ending meet in Federal Way in two weeks.

Not only did the 400 freestyle relay team qualify for state with their district winning time of 3:23.78, the same four swimmers also earned a trip to state in the 200 freestyle relay.

In that event, Moses Lake posted a time of 1:34.14.

The 4A state swim meet takes place on Feb. 16 and Feb. 17 at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

— Staff report

Lady Chiefs back to winning

By Tony Vehrs

Herald staff writer

MOSES LAKE — After suffering their first loss of the year to Pasco, the Lady Chiefs bounced back by beating Wenatchee 62-53 Friday night.

The win maintains their half-game lead over Pasco in the Columbia Basin League standings at 10-1 in league play and 18-1 overall. Their next game is in Walla Walla on Tuesday.

While Moses Lake led by as many as 15 in the fourth quarter and controlled the Lady Panthers in the second half, Wenatchee out-hustled the Lady Chiefs in the first 16 minutes of play and were tied with Moses Lake 30-30 at halftime.

"We lacked a little bit of defensive intensity," said Moses Lake coach Matt Strophy of his team's first-half troubles. "We were reacting to what they did instead of beating them to the spot."

Moses Lake held Wenatchee to just 9 points in the third quarter by moving better on the defensive end and putting pressure on Wenatchee passers and ball-handlers.

"We cleaned up our rotations on defense," noted Strophy. "In the second half, we took control."

"That will be a key factor going into the playoffs," added Strophy.

The Moses Lake coach said his team's ability to get into opponents' passing lanes and disrupt their offensive flow is a key to winning.

Offensively, Moses Lake had little trouble scoring on Wenatchee, with Carly Noyes leading the Lady Chiefs with 22 points on the night. Kelly Sutherland had 9 points for Moses Lake on 3-for-3 shooting from beyond the arc.