Moses Lake solid on first day of district meet
Swimmers dive off the blocks during Day 1 of the district meet at Moses Lake High School.
MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake head coach Tony St. Onge said his No. 1 goal of the district meet was to try and advance some of his young swimmers to the state meet.
So far, so good after the first day of the district meet.
Despite the addition of strong Mid Columbia Conference teams Richland and Walla Walla, Moses Lake swimmers were able to make championship finals in eight events.
“We had pretty much 90 percent best times,” St. Onge said.
Freshman Noah Heaps highlighted the Chiefs’ day with top six finishes in two events: the 200 individual medley and the 500 freestyle. Heaps finished fourth in the 200 IM, clocking in at 2 minutes, 13.42 seconds. More, Heaps finished sixth in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5 minutes, 10.69 seconds.
Ander Molitor stumbled in the 50 freestyle when he dove too deep at the start, which added over one second to his time. In the short sprint Molitor was unable to make up the lost time and was edged by teammate Kyle Jorgensen for the last championship final berth.
Jorgensen finished eighth in 24.19 seconds and Molitor ninth in 24.21 seconds.
It was a disappointing race for Molitor, but St. Onge commended the way his sophomore bounced back to finish third in the 100 freestyle and swim strong in 400 and 200 freestyle relays.
“It’s one of those things as an athlete you make a mistake,” St. Onge said. “He did not let that completely psyche him out.”
Moses Lake’s 400 freestyle relay finished second and the 200 freestyle relay finished third. The 200 medley relay team took seventh.
Garrett Lake also advanced to a championship final, finishing eighth in the 200 freestyle.
The goal for the Chiefs is the same entering competition Friday and Saturday.
“We have a young team,” St. Onge said. “Our focus is to try to get our athletes into state.