Photo by John McCallum Alexis Schmidt cuts through the water of Eastern Washington University's pool on her way to a win in the 200-yard individual medley against visiting Ellensburg last Friday.
By JOHN McCALLUM
Editor
The final score of the Cheney High School girls swimming team's dual meet with Ellensburg last Friday may not have been to the Blackhawks liking, but the individual results were more than satisfactory to their head coach.
Cheney fell 90-80 to the visiting Bulldogs, a much better result between two more evenly matched teams than last year's103 – 60 loss on the road. But in narrowly missing a win, the Blackhawks qualified for state in three more events, with two swimmers bettering their already state-qualifying marks in two others.
"Much closer, really good," head coach Jennifer Hochwalt said. "All in all, I was really happy with the results."
Seniors Alexis Schmidt and Makenzie Norman added to their busy schedule this November in Federal Way by qualifying for two more events. Schmidt turned in a first place time of 2 minutes, 17.36 seconds to qualify for state in the 200-yard individual medley, needing 2:23.90 to make it to Federal Way. Schmidt had previously qualified for state in the 100 butterfly, but bettered her time of 1:01.77 with a first-place mark against Ellensburg of 1:01.24.
Norman added the 50 free to her state schedule, touching the wall first against the Bulldogs in 24.97, breaking the state standard by 1.23 seconds. Norman also captured first in the 100 free with a time of 54.89, bettering her state-qualifying time turned in at the Sept. 10 Prosser jamboree by 1.20 seconds.
Cheney's other state time came in the 400 free relay, with Norman and Schmidt teaming with Courtney Hanson and Isabell Williams to capture first in the event in 3:59.26. The quartet needed 4:01.00 or better to qualify for Federal Way.
Cheney's final win came in the 200 free relay, with the team of Norman, Echo Mecklenberg, Hanson and Schmidt taking first in 1:48.75, one-quarter second off the state mark of 1:48.50.
Cheney has more swimmers, and thus more depth in events, than last year's squad. That showed against Ellensburg as the Blackhawks had top-three finishes in 10 of the 11 events.
Elizabeth Johnson turned in a pair of second place finishes in the 200 and 500 free races, posting a time of 2:25.22 and 6:31.54. Williams placed third in both events in 2:25.89 and 6:36.36.
Elizabeth Potter took second in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:30.70. Hanson notched a third-place finish in the 200 IM in 2:49.10, while Mecklenberg placed third in the 100 butterfly in 1:12.96 and the 100 backstroke in 1:13.48 and Abby Wood took third in the 100 free in 1:10.17.
"It was a good first dual meet," Hochwalt said of her team's effort.
The Blackhawks return to the pool today (Sept. 22) with a trip south to face Clarkston. Hochwalt said she intends to mix things up a bit, putting some of the seasoned varsity swimmers in events they don't normally swim to give them a break and keep them fresh.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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