Moses Lake qualifies two individuals, relay for 4A state swim meet

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake 200-yard freestyle team secured its spot at the Washington Class 4A state swim meet with a superb swim on Saturday at the District 6 swimming and diving championships at the Moses Lake pool.

Cora Dana, Anna Fair, Ashley Madrishin and ShyAnne Speed came in two seconds faster than their preliminary time to finish to finish second in 1 minute, 45.88 seconds. In all, the Chiefs qualified two individuals and a relay for the WIAA state championships on Nov. 11-12 at the King County Aquatic Center. They are still waiting to here if their 200-yard medley relay or if Fair (1:02.00) or Dana (56.09) earned wild card berths in the 100 backstroke and 50 freestyle respectively. Both finished third in their events.

As they have all season, the Chiefs proved to be the best of the rest in District 6. Wenatchee qualified 17 individuals (many swimming two events) and all three relays for the state championships. The Panthers swam like it on Saturday, winning the team title with 660 points. Moses Lake was second with 287.50 and Eastmont was third with 263.50.

“Wenatchee is the top team in the state and they had several state leaders in this meet,” Moses Lake coach Tony St. Onge said. “The times they had today could easily be state championships in two weeks. But we went out and we competed hard with some of the best in the state. Without Wenatchee, we won District 6, so we're the best of the rest.”

The Chiefs 200 freestyle relay knew going in they were racing the fastest team in the state. Wenatchee knocked off two seconds of its previous best time, winning in 1:39.63. But Dana, Fair, Madrishin and Speed came up large with the stakes high.

Wenatchee's Isabelle Dressel set a blistering first-leg pace (24.17), but Dana held her ground because that wasn't the team they needed to beat. Fair (26.62) was a wee bit slower than Eastmont second leg Kinley Wurl (26.39), but Madrishin (26.44) made up the difference, out-gunning Eastmont's third leg Alaina Jessup (29.85) and Speed brought it home to clinch a berth in the state race in two weeks.

“We expected to make it to state going into preliminaries,” Dana said. “We're happy to be going as a team. We have alternates going with us. Swimming is so much individual efforts, that it's nice to share that experience with your teammates.”

Said Speed, “We'd like to beat Wenatchee, but we really went for it today,” she said. “Racing Wenatchee makes all of us swim harder and want it more. I think swimming against them makes us more prepared for swimming at state.”

Where Fair had met the state qualifying standard in the 100 butterfly earlier in the season, the remainder of the Chiefs faced a finish-second-or-stay-home scenario. Dana chased Wenatchee's Rae Anne Dressel hard, finishing second on the 100 freestyle to qualify. Dana (26.60) actually held the early edge through the first 50 yards with Dressel (26.62), but the Wenatchee freshman turned 28.71 to pull away for the district championship. Dana broke up the Panthers sweep, finishing two seconds faster than Abigail Wilt. The Chiefs sent three to the podium in the 100 freestyle. Dana was second (56.09), Madrishin (59.73) finished fourth, and Lacy Johnson placed (1:00.79) sixth.

Team scores: 1. Wenatchee, 660; 2. Moses Lake, 287.5; 3. Eastmont 263.5; 4, Eisenhower, 243; 5. West Valley, 241; 6. Davis 197; 7. Southridge, 120.