Chiefs swimmers end season with win at boys district championship
Moses Lake High School senior Cole Lindberg makes his way across the pool at MLHS on Thursday afternoon in the final heat of the 100 yard butterfly event.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald
Moses Lake High School super senior Jared Grant competes in his final swim meet on Thursday afternoon after graduating this spring.
Moses Lake High School senior Zach Washburn makes his way back down the pool in the final heat of the 100 yard backstroke event on Thursday afternoon in Moses Lake.
Moses Lake senior Ryan Jorgensen dives into the pool at the start of the final heat in the 50 yard freestyle event Thursday afternoon at Moses Lake High School.
Moses Lake High School's Kade Pack competes in the final heat of the 100 yard breaststroke event at the Boys Championship Finals Meet on Thursday afternoon in Moses Lake.
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake High School boys swim team wrapped up the 2021 season with a win at the 2021 Boys Swim and Dive District Championships meet at MLHS’ Tony St. Onge Pool of Dreams Thursday.
The Moses Lake Chiefs finished with a team score of 169 points, edging out second-place Wenatchee High School by fewer than 20 points, and enjoyed a number of individual successes as well.
Senior Zachary Washburn brought in four first-place finishes. Washburn took first place in the 500-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke, and was part of the 400-freestyle and 200-yard medley relay teams, both of which finished first.
Issac Patten, Cole Lindberg and Ryan Jorgensen joined Washburn in the 200-yard medley relay. Patten, Lindberg and Ashton McKean joined Washburn in the 400 freestyle relay.
Lindberg finished first overall in the 100-yard butterfly event in addition to the relays. He also took third in the 200-yard individual medley. Ryan Jorgensen placed second overall in the 50-yard freestyle and fifth in the 100 butterfly. Jorgensen was also part of the second-place 200-yard freestyle relay team, joining McKean, Nicholas Moore and Kade Pack.
Patten took second in the 100-yard freestyle event and third in the 100-yard backstroke. Moore placed third overall in the 200-yard freestyle. McKean finished third in the 50 freestyle and eighth in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Pack took fifth overall in the 100-yard breaststroke and fourth place in the 200 individual medley. Damien Paluch finished second overall in the 200-yard freestyle.
Senior team captains Jorgensen and Lindberg talked about wrapping up their final swim meet less than a week after celebrating graduation.
Jorgensen said it’s been nice having any sort of a season this year despite not getting a shot at state. Jorgensen credited hard work for his improvement these past four years in addition to great support.
“I’ve had good coaches that helped, good teammates,” Jorgensen said.
Moses Lake head swim coach Lindy Williams said she was so impressed with this year’s team and said it would be hard to tell this was a shortened season looking at the attitude and work ethic of her swimmers.
After losing longtime head coach Tony St. Onge before the season, Williams said the seniors stepped up this season for her in ways she didn’t even know she needed.
Williams discussed seeing Washburn move on after this year, a swimmer with school records in every individual event.
“The way he trains and his mentality for setting small goals and then big goals and actually celebrating them when he gets them with pride, but in a humble way, is a leadership tool for this team to see,” Williams said.
She said Moses Lake is lucky to have his name up on the record board and added it’s a legacy that won’t come down quickly.
Williams said this shortened season was a blessing helping her to figure out the effort, time and energy that goes into head coaching. Next year, she said, she hopes to carry on St. Onge’s legacy of positive mental attitude with a “Lindy twist.”
Casey McCarthy can be reached at cmccarthy@columbiabasinherald.com.
