Moses Lake swimmers keep on flying, beat Walla Walla

Chiefs 110, Blue Devils 72

MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake Chiefs girls swimming team improved its Columbia Basin League record to 2-0 Tuesday afternoon with a 110-72 victory over the visiting Walla Walla Blue Devils.

Catherine Polito had another outstanding outing to lead the Chiefs, setting a state-qualifying mark of 54.37 seconds to win the 100-yard freestyle event. Polito was also victorious in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:03.78.

Chiefs head coach Tony St. Onge said his girls have put in a lot of hours in the pool during September.

"Train hard, swim fast is the key concept for the month," St. Onge said. "We have been doing exactly that and it has been paying off."

In the 200-yard medley relay, Moses Lake's 'A' team of Megan Schuh, Cari Cortez, Stephanie McFarland and Polito edged Walla Walla by 65 one-hundredths of a second, earning eight team points with a time of 1:58.85.

The Chiefs' top 400-yard freestyle foursome of Schuh, Hannah Grigg, McFarland and Polito blew away the Blue Devils' top team, winning in 3:53.35 - nearly a 34-second margin of victory.

Other winners for the Chiefs included McFarland in the 50-yard freestyle (26.94) and Heather Devine in the 1-meter diving contest (151.35 points).

Key second-place efforts came from Reilly Hourigan in the 50-yard freestyle (27.48) and 100-yard freestyle (1:01.20), Teal Delys in the 1-meter dive (134.45), Grigg in the 100-yard butterfly (1:03.73) and 500-yard freestyle (5:42.67), and Schuh in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:15.26).

Along with Polito's state-qualifying time, the Chiefs recorded 26 times worthy of automatic inclusion into the district meet.

Moses Lake gets nine days of rest before swimming again next Thursday against the Southridge Suns. The meet begins at the Moses Lake High School pool at 4 p.m.