Swimmers take positives from loss

MOSES LAKE - Don't tell Moses Lake High School swimming coach Tony St. Onge that there's no such thing as a moral victory.

OK, that's not exactly how St. Onge put it after his Chiefs came up short of earning a three-way tie for the Columbia Basin League title on Thursday, losing 107-76 to the Richland Bombers. But there was still a smile on his face, because he knew how well his team performed.

"Sometimes there is satisfaction in losing," St. Onge said. "Even tough we lost the outcome of the score, we improved our times.

"The key is we swam great against great competition," he added. "You want to see people bring out the best in themselves when they're up against the best. It's a character thing."

Needing a win to tie Richland and Wenatchee atop the league standings, the Chiefs got some great individual performances but were simply no match for Richland's depth in many races.

"We knew we were swimming against one of the top teams in the state," St. Onge said. "They're probably going to go top four at state this year."

Moses Lake knew the odds were long for an upset of the Bombers, because previous results showed Richland about 50 points better in dual meet comparisons. but swimming their best, the Chiefs cut that number down to 31. More improvements at districts and state, and who knows how far they might go.

Perhaps the most exciting race of the day was the marathon-like 500-yard freestyle, where Moses Lake's Marshall Goodrich and Richland's Nathaniel Weinman were pitted head to head. Weinman led for the majority of the race, but Goodrich caught him in the final 100 yards and won by a hand's length - 4 minutes, 57.50 seconds to Weinman's 4:57.65.

"He dropped his time by 4 seconds - that's another personal record," St. Onge said of Goodrich. "Give him credit - he paced it right and he had guts at the end."

Goodrich also swam to victory in the 200-yard individual medley, outpacing Richland's Tyler Pickett by just over 2 seconds. Goodrich's winning time was 2:06.47.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Eric Butterfield held off the Bombers' Ike Sturges, winning in 51.19 seconds. The 100 free is one of two events - along with the 200 free - in which Butterfield is just short of an automatic state qualifying time. He's looking to get there at districts.

Jeremy Grant picked up the Chiefs' other individual victory, taking the 100-yard backstroke in 58.57 seconds. Grant is barely out of the running for state in that event and the 50-yard freestyle.

"We're right on the bubble for state times in several events," St. Onge noted. "It kind of gives you a launching pad into districts."

The Chiefs' diving trio of Chad Borg, Jay Bowser and Carl Borg swept their event, providing 13 team points. Chad Borg was the winner with 194.75 points.

Moses Lake's 400-yard and 200-yard freestyle relay teams provided the other big highlights of the afternoon. Both teams earned automatic state berths, with the 200-yard team of Butterfield, Nick Kardong, Goodrich and Grant winning in 1:32.96. The same foursome wound up second in the 400-yard event, but still had a good enough time.

The team begins district competition next Friday, Feb. 1, at the Central Washington University pool in Ellensburg. The Chiefs have qualified at least 25 kids, and St. Onge said they'll only take about 18 to the next stage.

St. Onge is preparing his squad with the same visualization techniques that worked wonders with last fall's girls team.

"We'll work hard for a couple days and taper," he said. "We start visualizations (today)."