Chiefs swimmers ready to make coach St. Onge change his tune

The Moses Lake Chiefs aren’t just content with qualifying for the Class 4A state swimming and dive championships. If coach Tony St. Onge will be singing a different tune on Friday and Saturday at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

The Chiefs qualified two relays and four individual swims and they’re going to see if they can’t take their place at the podium in the bright lights of the big meet.

“We’re qualified in six of 11 events. If I had my guitar right now I’d be singing, “I can’t get no satisfaction,” said St. Onge in reference to the Rolling Stones anthem. “We’re not just happy to get there. If they can have their fastest swims in the last race of the season. We can’t control if Wenatchee sets the state record in the 200 medley relay. But if we go in there and set a school record, we’ll be happy with that.”

They qualified the 200-yard freestyle relay with a second-place finish at the District 6 meet a couple of weeks ago. Cora Dana, Anna Fair, Ashley Madrishin and ShyAnne Speed go in with an impressive personal best time of 1 minute, 45.60 seconds to their credit. They feel they can go faster.

“It’s my job to get us off to a good start and give us the lead,” said Dana, who is swimming at the state meet for the second year. “It’s challenging, but I like it. It’s about giving my team a chance.”

Dana qualified in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle individual events. She hands off the second leg of the freestyle relay to Fair, who is also swimming in her second state competition.

“The exchange is critical. I’m kind of looking down, then do a windup to get my momentum moving forward. It’s easy to get DQ’ed, so you have to focus,” said Fair, who will swim the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke as well. “The turn is important, you just swim hard and try not to give up any ground.”

By the third leg, the nature of the race begins to take shape. It’s still a sprinter’s race, but Madrishin has a better idea of where the tea stands by the second exchange.

“Basically, it’s what Anna says in going out as fast as I can and try get in front of other people. My job is to make ShyAnne’s easier,” said Madrishin, who along with Speed, Fair and Dana, will also swim the 200 medley relay. “I jump in with an idea of where other teams are and how fast I need to go to get in front of them. My best split is 25.6, but I’m normally in the 26s. So my job is to hold position.”

Speed’s the anchor. Her name reflects what she needs to do and a lot rides on her performance. She relishes it.

“Usually, if we’re behind that makes me swim faster,” she said. “If a bunch of people are going off (the blocks) at the same time, my job is to try and make up the difference. That’s what happened at districts (against Eastmont) when we had to beat them to qualify. I like that challenge.

The Chiefs finished third in the District 6 medley relay race, but qualified for the state meet with a wild card berth. They go in with a personal best of 1:56.00. It’s good enough to get, but they will have to step it up to make the championship swim on Saturday.

Fair will swim the backstroke. Speed has the breaststroke leg. Dana will swim the butterfly and Madrishin will bring it home with the freestyle.

They’ll be the first to tell you there’s not a lot of drama on the team. They all know the pain, the training, the love of the game. Now they’ll share in the next level and the chance to show the best swimmers in the state that Moses Lake can come to play.

Hopefully, in the meantime, St. Onge will change his tune to, “Hey, hey, you, you, get off of my cloud.”