Mavs find success at Yakima meet

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Mavericks swim team traveled to Lions Pool in Yakima last Thursday to compete against Sunnyside and West Valley. At the meet the team found success in the pool and built themselves up for the second half of the season. 

“It’s always a tough pool to swim in; it’s just a little older and racing is a little tougher there, so it’s good for the girls to get out and get that experience,” said Mavs head coach Tony Preston.  

During the meet, the Mavs’ Ellen Center, Paysyn Torrey, Bria Bodenman and Dallie Cobb placed second in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 2:12.91 and Bodenman, Torrey, Cobb and Taylor McKay earned the top spot in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:55.39.  

Center, Ava Robinson, Clara Larkin and Kimball Roylance also took first in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 4:48.33. 

“Our first-place (200-yard) freestyle relay, (we had a) really solid performance there,” said Preston. “(We're) going to need to get that time down going forward, but really good experience to see who’s going to be added to a relay like that come the end of the season.” 

Bodenman also swam for 2:07.84 in the 200-yard freestyle and 1:12.24 in the 100-yard backstroke, both for first place. Center earned second in the 200-yard individual medley with 2:49.14 and in the 100-yard freestyle with 1:05.7, and McKay earned first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 6:26.21 and earned second in the 50-yard Freestyle with a time of 28.56. 

Chloe Saxton earned first in 1-meter diving with a final score of 141.75 and Cobb earned first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:13.94 and first in the 100-yard breaststroke for 1:20.01. 

“Going to Yakima is not easy to compete, so getting there, competing, had a lot of fun watching a lot of team chemistry, kids working together, cheering for each other, so it was overall a good time for us,” said Preston. 

He said the overall speed of the meet in Yakima was something that the team wasn’t used to, with the team hosting a majority of the events during the season at their own pool. This allowed the girls to gain more experience of what it’s like to swim at a different pool as they come into their final home meets of the season. 

With this, he said learning how to travel and perform away from home has been an important experience for the Mavs this season and has given them more opportunities for growth. 

The Mavs have begun to make their transition into the second half of their season, with around four weeks left. Preston said the team is focusing on specialty techniques. 

One thing that the coach said he has also started to do is to ask the players themselves what they want to accomplish and how they plan to work as a team to get there.  

“It’s really that communication piece, doing the little things each and every practice that make us better and stronger, but also knowing that we have 12 events and each one of those events is its own specialty,” said Preston. “Finding what’s unique about each event and really pushing us to do our best in those events.” 

The Mavs’ next meet will be Thursday at 5 p.m. at the Moses Lake High School pool, where they will compete against Eastmont. 

    Brooklyn Nollette, Chloe Saxton and Mia Thompson stand together during the Mavs’ meet at Lions Pool in Yakima. The Mavs had great success at the meet, earning the top spot in multiple events.