Mavs find success at districts

WENATCHEE — The Moses Lake Mavericks swim team competed in the 4A District 5 tournament in Wenatchee on Wednesday evening where the team took second overall. After a week of adversity, the Mavs are prepping to now send their athletes to state. 

“It went amazing,” said Mavs Head Coach Tony Preston. “We’ve been preparing by traveling to swim at the Wenatchee pool to practice and doing dry land and visualization techniques. Getting (to districts) we just had strong swims all the way through.” 

In preparation for districts, the coach said it was important to send the Mavs in with a positive outlook on their situation after losing their home pool last week.  

“It’s just taking the same set of circumstances and saying, ‘We’re going to be positive; this is going to make us tougher, this is going to make us race harder,’” he said. “It’s been hard not having our own pool to swim in, but also knowing that we were blessed to have Wenatchee hosting us for both the competition and practices.” 

The Mavs qualified for state in all three relay events at districts. The team took second in the 200-yard Medley with Lennox Leeder, Luca Cristoloveanu, Conner Fear and Matt Molitor, second in the 200-yard Freestyle with Sam Molitor, Cristoloveanu, Matt Molitor and Sam O’Shea and first in the 400-yard relay with Sam Molitor, Leeder, Matt Molitor, and O’Shea. 

Moses Lake qualified for five individual events at state, with Cristoloveanu taking first in the 100-yard Breaststroke at 1:00.13. Matt Molitor qualified by taking second in the 200-yard Freestyle with 1:55.06. 

Sam O’Shea qualified for two individual events after taking second in the 200-Yard Individual Medley and second in the 100-Yard Backstroke. Leeder also qualified after taking second in the 500-Yard Freestyle with 5:07. 

“The kids got up and battled,” said Preston. “I would say most of the close races when it came down to it, we won at a fingernail or the width of a hand. I’m just really impressed with all my boys and also my divers from last Thursday, we were able to complete that before the pool got shut down.” 

As Moses Lake prepares for the trip west to the state tournament, he said the team will be training to compete at their best. Wenatchee will continue to allow the Mavs to use their pool and Eastmont has also lent their facility for training purposes. 

Training will consist of a combination of in-pool and dryland practices at home as the other facilities become available. While Preston said things are still up in the air on the finer details, the positive mindset from the team should carry them into next weekend. 

"That’s really what it’s all about, is building that resilience,” said the coach. 

He said the Mavs are ecstatic about their successes at districts and are ready to move on to the next step in their competition. 

“They’re really happy, and we’ll get into the business of talking about what the state competition looks like when we’re at practice,” said Preston. “I know they’re feeling good, they’re going to be tired, but we’ll move on. We’ve got more work to do.” 

The Mavs will be heading to King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way to compete in the WIAA State Swimming Championships next weekend. Competition starts Feb. 20 at 8 a.m. 

    Moses Lake athletes dive into the Wenatchee pool to warm up for the district meet Wednesday.
  

    Mavs swimmers stand on the edge of the pool as they practice at the Wenatchee pool prior to the district tournament.