Moses Lake girls split double meet with Eastmont, Wenatchee
Moses Lake freshman Issabelle Parrish swims toward the finish line on Thursday night on her way to a win in her first-ever high school event, taking first place in the 200 yard individual medley at Moses Lake High School.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald
Moses Lake freshman Issabelle Parrish makes her away across the pool during the 200 yard individual medley event on Thursday night at the Tony St. Onge Pool of Dreams at MLHS.
Moses Lake's Makhaela Parrish swims in the 200 yard freestyle event, taking first place on Thursday afternoon at Moses Lake High School.
Moses Lake's Laurel Knox leaves the starting box as the final heat of the 50 yard freestyle individual event kicks off at Moses Lake High School on Thursday night.
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake girls swim and dive team hosted its first meet of the season with Eastmont and Wenatchee at the Tony St. Onge Pool of Dreams at Moses Lake High School Thursday night.
The Chiefs split their team results, defeating Eastmont by a score of 99 to 87 and falling to Wenatchee by the same score. Wenatchee defeated Eastmont 100-86 to sweep both teams.
The Chiefs lineup of Laurel Knox, Lydia Jensen, Makhaela Parrish and Issabelle Parrish took first place in the 200-yard freestyle relay and second in the 400 freestyle relay.
Makhaela Parrish started the individual events with a first place finish for the Chiefs in the 200 freestyle. Parrish also took first place in the 100-yard backstroke and second place in the 100-yard freestyle.
Parrish said it was exciting because she wasn’t expecting a win.
“I didn’t actually think I was going to get the win,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting that time either.”
Shortly after Makhaela’s win, her younger sister Issabelle Parrish kicked off her first high school swim meet with a win in the 200-yard individual medley.
Moses Lake’s Laurel Knox took first place in the 500-yard freestyle event and finished second in the 50 freestyle. Aniston Dana took third place in the 50 freestyle and finished third in the 100-yard butterfly, too.
Moses Lake head coach Lindy Williams is filling in for Tony St. Onge as he recovers from his battle with cancer. Williams said her team was exceeding her already high expectations.
“This is our first real meet of the season, and we’re going lights out,” Williams said. “We started really strong with two awesome swims by the Parrish sisters.”
With a shortened preseason to get ready this year, Williams said they came into the start knowing they had to “get fast” in a hurry. She said it helps a lot of her upperclassmen swim year-round, which helps them come in with some extra muscle the newer girls are still building.
“We’ve been really trying to sprint as much as possible in practice, which has been a challenge with our practice times,” Williams said. “But our workouts have been super intentional and we’re seeing that here.”
Williams said she’s channeling her “inner Tony” as she steps in to lead the team this spring, and is relying on her assistant coach and seniors to help her take on the task. She said they’re trying to honor their longtime coach Tony St. Onge early on this season with one simple goal: swimming fast.
