Chiefs take second at district swim meet

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — The Moses Lake Chiefs swim and dive team continued their incredible season over the weekend with a second-place finish at the Eastern Washington Swim and Dive League district meet.

Moses Lake finished the district meet tied for second place with Wenatchee. Both schools accumulated 380 meet points, finishing behind first place Richland (415 meet points).

While the Chiefs swam to a runner-up finish at the district tournament, the Moses Lake swim and dive team were rewarded for their regular season performance, Moses Lake head coach and 4A district coach of the year Tony St. Onge said.

“The team was presented (with) the league championship trophy in front of the huge crowd,” he said.

The Chiefs opened off the meet with a solid performance in the 200-yard medley relay when competitors Marshall Goodrich, Tamas Toth, Sebastian Weber and Reuben Huddleston swam the event in 1:45.

Goodrich continued to help the regular season league champion Chiefs in the second event of the meet when he swam a district winning 1:47.6 in the 200-yard freestyle. The Chiefs also had a fifth and sixth place finish in the event when Kyle Reeder placed fifth and Chandler Byington finished sixth.

The Chiefs continued to impress the crowd in the fourth event of the meet — the 50-yard freestyle. Weber dominated the event with a first-place finish in 22.8 seconds.

St. Onge said his team performed well at the district meet.

“(We) had close to 100 percent best-performances at this championship meet,” he said.

After Weber’s district winning performance in the 50-yard freestyle, the competitors took to the diving events.

Moses Lake’s Jay Bowser led the Chiefs in the diving event when he finished fourth with 311 points, qualifying for the state event in the process. Bowser will not be alone at the state meet, fellow diver Braxton Ford will be joining him. Ford finished fifth in the event with 307 points.

Following Bowser’s and Ford’s state-qualifying performances, Weber grabbed a second-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly event and Goodrich swam to a second-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle.

The Chiefs continued to stay near the head of the pack in the final event of the meet, the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Chiefs swam to a second place performance when Kyle Reeder, Huddelston, Goodrich and Weber swam the event in 3:24.1.

Although his team didn’t come away with a district championship, St. Onge said he was proud of his team.

“There were some ups and downs throughout the course of events, but those are just opportunities to learn mental toughness,” he said. “We kept our focus positive throughout and it paid off with a second-place finish.”

Moses Lake State Qualifiers

200 Freestyle

Marshall Goodrich

500 Freestyle

Marshall Goodrich

50 Freestyle

Sebastian Weber

100 Butterfly

Sebastian Weber

Diving

Jay Bowser

Braxton Ford

200 Medley Relay

Marshall Goodrich,

Tamas Toth,

Sebastian Weber,

Reuben Huddleston

400 Freestyle Relay

Sebastian Weber,

Kyle Reeder,

Reuben Huddleston, Marshall Goodrich