Manta Rays finish eighth at short course championships

Courtesy photo Manta Ray swimmers (back L-R) Zachary Washburn, Cole Lindberg, (front L-R) Kathryn Duvall, Aline Davis, Dylan Moore and Aidan Devine pose for a photo during the Inland Empire Swimming Short Course Championships in Moscow, Idaho.

by Submitted Manta Ray Aquatics
| March 6, 2018 12:00 AM

MOSCOW, Idaho — Manta Ray Aquatics sent six swimmers to Moscow, Idaho to compete in the Inland Empire Swimming Short Course Championship.

As the fourth-smallest team out of 16 — several teams have over 50 swimmers — the Manta Rays managed to finish eighth in team points with strong swims by all swimmers.

Every Manta Ray swimmer competed in finals and contributed to the team’s scoring.

Cole Lindberg, 14, had a breakout swim in the 200 butterfly during finals, finishing third overall after being seeded fifth in preliminaries. Lindberg had a goal in this event of qualifying for Age Group Regionals, an elite time standard meet with strict qualifying times held in Federal Way later this month, but needed to drop over three seconds to do so. Between prelims and finals, he and his coach worked on his technique which would pay off as Lindberg would not only move up two positions in the standings but also dropped over four seconds from his prelims time to earn the qualifying Age Group Regional time.

Lindberg’s success would carry over to finals with him achieving a best time in the 100 butterfly with a fourth-place finish.

Aline Davis and Kathryn Duvall, both 10 years old and attending their first championship meet, swam for best times in nearly all of their events. Davis dropped over five seconds in her 100 breaststroke and finished in fifth place, while Duvall finished in the top eight in the 50 breaststroke, 50 backstroke and 100 breaststroke.

Their male counterpart, 10-year-old Dylan Moore, finished in the top eight in all of his events. He dropped over seven seconds in his 100 butterfly and finished in third place.

Aidan Devine, 12, swam to top eight finishes in finals in both his 50 and 100 breaststroke.

Zachary Washburn, 14, finished in first place in all of his events, achieving new meet records in five of those. He dropped nearly three seconds in his 100 butterfly and was part of both the 400-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay. Washburn was joined on the relays by his teammates Moore, Devine and Lindberg.

This weekend, the Manta Rays will host a home meet at the Tony St. Onge Pool of Dreams, with teams from around the Inland Empire in attendance.