Swim & Dive finishes fourth, Ford on to state
Courtesy photo<br> Braxton Ford (right) of the Moses Lake High School's Diving team was named the Big 9 Diver of the Year and also qualified for this year's state tournament. He is joined by Chiefs' diving coach Kris Hendrickson.
ELLENSBURG — Moses Lake High School’s boys swim and dive team finished fourth at the district championships this weekend at Central Washington University.
Richland took the title with 471 points, Eastmont finished second with 398 points, and Wenatchee ended third at 359 points.
The Chiefs’ Braxton Ford was named the Big 9 Diver of the Year.
Ford’s accomplishments included the highest in-season 11-dive score of 374 points and a third place finish at the Kentridge Invitational.
Both Ford and Daniel Camacho have qualified for the state meet, Feb. 19-20.
Ford finished third in this weekend’s diving competition.
“We had a few swimmers get close to state qualifying standards but they will have to wait until Monday, Feb. 15th to find out if they will get wild-carded into the state meet,” Moses Lake coach Tony St. Onge said. “We had every athlete achieve a season best performance and that is about all a coach can ask for.”
The top two swimmers in each event are granted automatic qualification to the state championships.
Top finishes by Moses Lake swimmers includes:
•Reuben Huddleston, fourth in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke.
•200-yard freestyle relay team of Evan McFarland, Dominic Cachiotti, Kyle Reeder, and Huddleston, finished fourth.
•McFarland finished fifth in the 100-yard backstroke.
•Sixth place finishes by McFarland in the 100-yard butterfly, Reeder in the 500-yard freestyle, and the 200-medley relay team of Thomas O’Neil, McFarland, Huddleston, and Reeder.
“There were a grand total of 10 swimmers in all of our district that will move on,” St. Onge said. “All of those ten athletes participate on their USA swimming programs in each of their cities. Our swimmers will have to take up that challenge if they want to have any hope of moving on to state in the future.”