Moses Lake swimmers continue their strong run
Moses Lake High School senior swimmer Brandon Emerson goes to work during the 100-yard breastroke event against Wenatchee on Thursday. Emerson finished third but the Chiefs cruised to a team dual win.
MOSES LAKE - Once again the Moses Lake High School Chiefs boys swim and dive team found the depth in their lineup to pull off a key Big 9 victory.
On Thursday, the Chiefs moved to 5-0 in league dual action and on pace to battle Richland to the end for the Big 9 title, with a resounding 114-72 win over rivals Wenatchee.
Tonight at 4 p.m. the Chiefs and Richland will meet at Moses Lake High School to determine who will reign supreme.
The highlight of the Chiefs win over Wenatchee came via the performance of diver Braxton Ford.
Ford broke the six-dive record with a score of 214.95 to easily outdistance himself from the rest of the competition.
Patryk Jaruzel (159.10) and Miles Hanson (135.65) finished second and third respectively to complete a sweep at the top for Moses Lake.
Even though Moses Lake won the dual, Wenatchee swimmers actually did quite well collecting their share of wins, taking seven of the 11 events.
However, it was the Chiefs depth past the top performers that carried they day.
There were plenty of solid wins by the Chiefs swimmers, starting with the 200-yard individual medley race which saw Kaelen Connacher claim the top spot with a time of 2:12.25.
He also grabbed the top spot in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 59.84.
Evan McFarland captured the win in 50-yard freestyle action with a time of 23.87.
The Chiefs relay teams, including the 200-yard freestyle team (Skyler Gallaway, Damian Cacchiotti, Corey Bradshaw, and McFarland) and the 400-yard freestyle team (Daniel Noteboom, Parker Merkley, Corey Bradshaw, and Connacher) captured the other event wins with times of 1:41.24 and 3:42.43 respectively.
But as noted, the Chiefs' depth came into play once the second-place medals were awarded as Moses Lake captured nine total, including eight in swimming events.
Those second place finishes include: Bradshaw (200-yard freestyle, 2:01.99 and 500-yard freestyle, 5:24.25), Merkley (100-yard butterfly, 1:05.99), Noteboom (100-yard freestyle, 56.40), McFarland (100-yard breaststroke, 1:10.74), the 200-yard medley relay team (Connacher, McFarland, Merkley, Gallaway, 1:53.68), and the 200-yard freestyle relay team (Noteboom, Jacob Price, Nick Osborne, and Reid Jackson).
The Chiefs also recorded 11 third-place finishes out of the dozen total events.
"We had numerous best performances throughout the competition," Chiefs head coach Tony St. Onge said. "Our swimmers showed determination in their effort in the pool. Everyone brought their best effort to table and brought home the win."