Mavs start winter swim and dive

MOSES LAKE – The Moses Lake High School Mavericks boys swim and dive team began their season last Thursday with a home meet against Eastmont, Eisenhower, Wenatchee, West Valley, Sunnyside and Davis. Mavs head coach Tony Preston said the meet was a great way to get the season started. 

“I thought it went really well,” said Preston. “This was a non-scored meet so we couldn’t really see how we stacked up there, but between us and Wenatchee we’re two pretty deep teams.” 

The meet consisted of five swim events and a diving event, with the Mavs seeing multiple athletes making top ten placements in each. In the 50-yard Freestyle, Matt Molitor took third with 23.30, Lennox Leeder took fourth with 23.32, Sam O’Shea took fifth with 23.34, Sam Molitor tied for eighth with 23.85 and Josiah Wallace took 10th with 23.89.

Leeder took third in the 50-yard Breaststroke with 30.47, followed by Wallace in fourth with 30.58, Sam in fifth with 31.26, O’Shea in sixth with 31.34 and Matt in 10th with 33.13. The Mavs placed a little lower in the 50-yard Backstroke with Leeder taking fourth, O’Shea taking fifth and Sam taking seventh and similarly in the 50-yard Butterfly with Leeder in fifth, O’Shea in sixth and Sam in seventh. 

The Mavs relay team of O’Shea, Leeder, Wallace and Sam took second overall with a final time of 1:33.92. 

Preston said the level of competitiveness being shown on the team this early is exciting to see and with a group of around seven seniors on the roster, this should only continue to strengthen throughout the season. 

The younger athletes on the team are also showing great results, such as Leeder, a sophomore, who consistently placed top five in each of the events. This year, around five of the athletes from the freshman class joined the team with competitive club experience through the Manta Rays. 

“It's really nice to see them come in and just ready to go and train hard with the boys for a much more intense season,” said the coach. “Club swimming is spread out, whereas high school swimming is compact, and they both have some really good advantages to these kids training in their racing.” 

The Mavs are also seeing a major increase in team size this season, with around 33 athletes currently on the roster with some still signing onto the team. He said this was a major increase from their last season, which saw numbers in the low 20s. 

One of the goals that the MLHS swimmers have set for themselves this season is to try and be pushed hard this season. Preston said that he always pushes camaraderie and togetherness along with the training, but the athletes came forward and asked the coaches to really push them this season. 

“Our team culture is very important, and the kids really want to put training right up there as well,” he said. 

As Preston heads into his fourth season as the Mavs head coach, he said it will once again be exciting to see the “pop-out” stars come up this year and watch in real time as the athletes improve in each meet.  

“Looking forward to seeing that in the racing and just seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces when they’ve done good and knowing that they’re happy with their season really helps me out a lot,” said the coach. 

With the season in full swing, the Mavs are now preparing for a big test as they head to Wenatchee on Thursday. Preston said this will be a great test to see how well the team can stack up depth-wise against a tough Wenatchee team. 

Having both teams still very early in their seasons, he said that the team will prepare through coaches putting together their lineups to best spread out their depth to get as many top three scorers as possible.  

“Just coming up with a roster to try and match,” said Preston. “It’s a chess game, moving your pieces around and wondering where the Wenatchee coach is going to put his pieces.” 

The Mavs will be on the road Thursday against Wenatchee at 4:30 p.m. 

    Mavs swimmers Josiah Wallace, Matt Molitor, Sam Molitor and Luke Molitor line up before a relay race at the state swim meet. Josiah Wallace and Sam Molitor are returning as seniors this season and Matt Molitor is returning as a junior.
  

    MLHS swim team displays their trophy from the Big 9 tournament last season. The team is returning this season with 33 athletes on the squad.