Mavs win title at Big 9 districts

MOSES LAKE — The Mavericks outscored second-place Wenatchee by over 100 points at last weekend’s Columbia Basin Big 9 district championships meet in Moses Lake, qualifying for 10 swims at next week’s state championships in the process.

“It was a great time, I’m super happy for the guys,” Hart said. “Really, it was the totality of who we have — we had 22 athletes in the meet and 21 of them scored points. It’s hard to compete with that, and not just small points but big points. It was, truly, a total team effort.”

Eight Mavs won district titles at Saturday’s finals meet: Senior Damien Paluch in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events; junior Dylan Moore in the 200-yard individual medley; junior Luke Molitor in the 100-yard butterfly; and the 400-yard freestyle relay team of sophomore Sam Molitor, sophomore Sam O’Shea, freshman Matthew Molitor and junior Vince Bodenman. Senior Danny Thurman won titles and set meet records in the adaptive 50-yard freestyle and 50-yard backstroke swims.

“They work hard, and they are coachable,” Hart said. “I think, ultimately, when it comes time for those big races, guys are most likely to step up.”

Along with the district champions, Moses Lake will send to state its 200-yard medley relay team of Moore, sophomore Josiah Wallace, Luke Molitor and senior Carter Beus; Sam Molitor in the 200-yard freestyle; Luke Molitor in the 50-yard freestyle; and the 200-freestyle relay team of Luke Molitor, Moore, Beus and Bodenman.

“It’s pretty exciting, and everyone’s feeling pretty good about what they’re doing,” Hart said. “It’s cool to see.”

Hart highlighted the performances of Paluch and Bodenman as notable performances from Saturday’s district finals.

“He knocked it out of the park winning both the 200 and 500 free,” Hart said of Paluch. 

“What he’s doing in the water, it’s pretty impressive,” Hart said of Bodenman.

The Mavericks won the Big 9’s regular season title this winter, as Hart pointed toward the team’s depth as a reason for their success.

“We have really good swimmers on the team, but we have a lot of them,” Hart said. “Some of the best athletes of the team, their scores in districts two years ago in the 50 free couldn’t even be on the district team this year. They’ve improved immensely.”

That improvement stems from the swimmers’ culture.

“It’s the culture, and I think it’s who they are,” Hart said. “I’m fortunate that they allow me to help them. They’re fun to be around, they're good boys — I cannot make that point enough.”

The 4A Boys State Swimming and Diving Championships begin Wednesday, Feb. 14, with the diving competition. Preliminary rounds of the swimming competition begin at 1 p.m. Feb. 15.

“We’re definitely starting our taper,” Hart said. “In swimming you kind of go hard, hard, hard, then you rest. When you do that, you work on more speed-type stuff, then you spend a little bit more time on the blocks doing starts, relay starts. Just trying to help the guys with some small things to help them improve operations.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Big 9 District Championships Team Scores

Moses Lake – 556 points
Wenatchee – 439 points
West Valley (Yakima) – 314 points
Eastmont – 282 points
Eisenhower – 134 points
Sunnyside – 107 points
Davis – 83 points

    Moses Lake scored more than 100 points more than second-place Wenatchee at Saturday’s Columbia Basin Big 9 district championships.
  

    Moses Lake junior Luke Molitor swims during the preliminarily round of the 100-yard butterfly Thursday.