By JOHN McCALLUM
Editor
The Cheney High School girls swim team finished its regular season with a pair of home meets last week.
The Blackhawks had a good performance but came up just a bit short in a meet Tuesday against visiting Pullman, losing 94-75. Thursday Cheney had more luck in a double-dual meet with Prosser and Selah, downing the Mustangs 101-67 but losing to a strong Vikings squad, 110-66.
Rachael Edwards led the Hawks against Pullman, placing first in both the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 butterfly with times of 2 minutes, 32.75 seconds and 1:11.65. Rachel Babcock took first in the 100 freestyle with a time of 1:01.43, while Andrea Felice provided Cheney's only other win by capturing the 50 free in 28.79.
Cheney coach Jennifer Hochwalt felt her team swam well, but was missing several swimmers due to illness. Seniors Elle Britton and Katie Grime would have contributed to the Hawks scoring if available, she said.
Thursday, against Prosser, Cheney received first place individual finishes from Babcock and Heather Spall. Babcock took first in the 100 free with a time of 1:02.46, while Spall finished first in the 500 free in 6:18.08.
Cheney also had some top performances from a pair of relay teams. The 200-free team of Katie Shea, Grime, Felice and Babcock captured first against the Mustangs with a time of 2:02.90, while the 400 team of Edwards, Spall, Britton and Babcock took first with a time of 4:24.18.
Babcock and Edwards led the Hawks performance against Selah. The seniors each grabbed four firsts, with Babcock winning the 200 and 100 free races in 2:16.66 and 1:02.46, while Edwards touched the wall first against Viking swimmers in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke in 2:33.57 and 1:19.69. Spall also took first in the 500 free.
Saturday the Hawks hosted Pullman in a time trial at Eastern Washington University's pool. The trial was in place of a regularly scheduled meet that had been canceled, and was not scored.
“It was a fun meet, and we had four new qualifying times for districts,” Hochwalt said, adding Washington Interscholastic Activities Association rules allow district qualifying from such events as long as certain requirements are met, such as timing races with two stopwatches.
“As long as it's all legal, they'll let you do that, and we were supposed to have a meet anyway,” she said.
The Hawks finish the regular season with a 1-5 meet record. It's been a difficult year for the team from a scheduling standpoint, with Cheney swimming three meets in September, and then not competing again until Oct. 13.
Hochwalt said her swimmers have done well, however, with many of the freshmen showing improvement from the beginning of practices, and having at least 10 swimmers qualify for district competition. That competition is next for the Hawks, taking place Oct. 30-31 in Ellensburg.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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