Sizzlin' Summer meet a success for MRA

MOSES LAKE — The Manta Ray Aquatics swim team hosted its signature, annual swim meet the Sizzlin’ Summer Open, recently at the Surf ‘n Slide Water Park in Moses Lake.

38 Manta Ray swimmers represented their team and town joined by 18 visiting swim teams that traveled to Moses Lake from all over Washington State, Idaho and Canada. This is a favorite, annual, summer event for the Canadian teams as they have very few outdoor competition pools. The competition and camaraderie amongst the different teams and their members was awesome, and with the beautiful weather all three days, it made for a very successful event.

On the men’s side of the team, 15-year-old Alex McLain had a breakout meet and dropped a significant amount of time in all seven of his events. Cody Tate (11) also had a great meet, achieving best times in eight of his 10 events, dropping over 24 seconds in his 100-meter butterfly. 13-year-old Zachary Washburn brought home three first places for his age group in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, and 200 backstroke. He was joined in the 200 backstroke by Noah Heaps (16), who also claimed first place in the event for the 15 and over age group.

In the 13-14 division, Cole Lindberg added to the fold with his own first place finish in the 100 butterfly. His time of 1:05.26 creeps ever closer to a prestigious Western Zones qualification cut.

On the women’s side of the team, Jessica Williams (14) broke the Manta Ray Aquatics team record in the 50-meter breaststroke in a time of 40.27. Her teammate, Anna Fair (17), was one of the highest individual point scorers for her team, bringing in a solid 35 points from her nine individual events.

Azzy Alvarez dropped over half a minute in her 100-meter backstroke, while her teammates Reagan Ewing and Laurel Knox dropped close to that in their 400 freestyle and 200 butterfly respectively. Annika Burke, Kathryn Duvall and Makhaela Parrish had over 15-second drops in at least one of their individual events. Julia Heaps also achieved best times in all of her individual events, dropping an amazing 37 seconds off of her 200 freestyle seed time, finishing third overall.

MRA was a highly dominant force in the relay portion of the competition. On Saturday, the team of Noah Heaps (backstroke), Jessica Williams (breaststroke), Anna Fair (butterfly) and Zachary Washburn (Freestyle) swam to a first place finish in the 13 and Over 400 Medley Relay in a time of 4:45.91. In the 10 and Over 200 Medley Relay, the team of Julia Heaps (Backstroke), Dylan Moore (breaststroke), Anthony Alvarez (butterfly) and Aline Davis (freestyle) together claimed a second-place finish for the Manta Rays in a time of 3:32.99.

On Sunday, the team of Dylan Moore, Aline Davis, Kathryn Duvall and Anthony Alvarez again swam for a second place in the 10 and under 200 freestyle relay with a time of 2:58.90.

They were later joined by the team of Cole Lindberg, Megan Washburn, Jessica Williams and Zachary Washburn, who earned second place in the 13 and over 400 freestyle relay with a time of 4:41.28.

For 12 Manta Rays, this was their first long course swim meet of their career. MRA proudly welcomes Bryson Aronsohn (10), Tessa Bowen (13), Jayson Byers (12), Michael Byers (16), Ava McEachran (12), Damien Paluch (10), Issabelle Parish (10), Alexis Preston (9), Kora Preston (10), Britni Reed (11), Lizzy Severin (12) and Kyla Tate (9) into long course competition.

The Manta Rays would like to say a special thank you to Genie Industries, Lowe’s, Sears Hometown Store, Michael’s On the Lake, Shari’s Restaurant, and Lakeside Disposal for their sponsorship and contributions to this swim meet. Their continued, annual support of the swim team is vital to ensuring the team can host a successful event.

Manta Ray Aquatics would also like to thank and recognize the City of Moses Lake’s Parks & Recreation Department, as well as the staff of the Surf ‘n Slide Water Park for all their support and help in planning, setting up, and staffing this event.