Chiefs qualify three relays, seven individuals for Saturday's finals at the 4A District 6 meet

MOSES LAKE ­— All you can do is go out there and swim faster than you ever have before. Time tends to sort the rest out in a hurry.

The Moses Lake girls did a pretty fair job putting themselves in position, qualifying three relays and a handful of individuals for the finals of the 4A District 6 swimming and diving championships at Tony St. Onge Pool of Dreams Thursday afternoon.

Thursday's action was a coach's juggling act, where to move the chess pieces to qualify the most for Saturday's championship and consolation races. The top two relays and top two in each individual event qualify for the 4A state championship meet. For those who have not met the state qualifying standard, it's now or wait until next year.

The Chiefs, who finished 3-3 during the Columbia Basin Big Nine regular season, rose to the occasion with some good swims, qualifying all the relays and seven individuals for the finals.

“We had a great prelim meet with overall 95 percent faster swims today,” Chiefs coach Tony St. Onge said. “But, we'll have to be faster on Saturday.”

Time waits for no one, and the Wenatchee Panthers swept not only numbers, but quality swims into the finals, where they'll take a run at the district championship, and more importantly, push numbers on through to the 4A state meet in November.

The Chiefs medley relay knocked 4.8 seconds off their previous best time of 2 minutes, 03.99, placing third (1:59.13). Brittney Richeson (backstroke), Jessica Williams (breaststroke), Cora Dana (butterfly), Lacy Johnson (freestyle) crushed their best time of the season to set up a showdown with Wenatchee (1:55.58) and Eastmont on Saturday.

“I don't think there was one leg that stood out. We've been tapering all week and we all took a big chunk off today,” Lacy Johnson said. “It's all about the team. We wanted to be swimming well going into finals. Hopefully we'll get first or second and move on to state.”

Said Williams, “I want to go fast ever race, so I don't take it easy in prelims or finals,” she said. “It's all in your head and about training. If you put in the time training, then you have to get it in your mind to go fast.”

The Wenatchee medley relay swam a near state qualifying 1:55.00 in winning the race. They are clearly the team to beat. But that second qualifying spot is up for grabs. Eastmont (1:56.25), Moses Lake (1:59.13), Eisenhower (1:59.23) and even Davis (1:59.96) will be shooting for the second spot.

“Today gets us closer to state. We'd like to take the same amount of time off on Saturday and qualify,” Dana said. “You push for prelims just to get to finals and when you get to finals you give it all you have. Nothing left, that's what we plan on doing.”

Dana, Laurel Knox, Jessica Williams, Lacy Johnson (1:46.32) placed second in the 200 relay. That same lineup placed third (3:59.04) in the 400 to end the first day of competition.

On an individual basis, Dana earned a championship swim in the 50 freestyle. Johnson qualified for the 100 freestyle. The Chiefs have Knox (2:07.65) and Richeson (2:11.57) in the 200 freestyle championship race. They also have Richeson (5:48.46) and Jaydyn Johnson (6:38.35) in the 500 freestyle and Jessica Williams (1:13.36) in the 100 breaststroke.

Diving preliminaries begin at noon on Friday and the championship swims begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Local championship swim qualifiers

200 Medley Relay

3. Moses Lake (Brittney Richeson, Jessica Williams, Cora Dana, Lacy Johnson), 1:59.13

200 Freestyle Relay

2 Moses Lake 1:46.32

(Cora Dana, Laurel Knox, Jessica Williams, Lacy Johnson), 1:46.32

400 Freestyle Relay

3. Moses Lake (Cora Dana, Laurel Knox, Jessica Williams, Lacy Johnson), 3:59.04

50 Freestyle

3. Cora Dana, 25.80

100 Yard Freestyle

6. Lacy Johnson, 59.28

200 freestyle

4. Laurel Knox, 2:07.65

8. Brittney Richeson, 2:11.57

500 Freestyle

3. Brittney Richeson, 5:48.46

8. Jaydyn Johnson 6:38.35

100 Breaststroke

4. Jessica Williams, 1:13.36