The Cheney High School girls swimming team downed Clarkston 133-34 on Sept. 22 to collect the Blackhawks first dual meet win of the season.
Cheney won all 11 events, beginning with Makenzie Norman, who added the 200-yard freestyle and the 500 free to the list of events she will swim at state in late November. The senior turned in a time of 2:01.63 to capture first in the 200 free, needing just 2:08.00 to reach state, and touched the wall first in the 500 free in 5:29.92, easily surpassing the state qualifying time of 5:45.00.
Echo Mecklenburg collected first place finishes in the 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly with times of 2:42.05 and 1:13.24. Alexis Schmidt won the 50 free in 27.68 seconds and took first in the 100 breaststroke in 1:17.03.
Courtney Hanson was first in the 100 free in 1:03.67, and Isabell Williams took first in the 100 backstroke in 1:14.63 to round out the individual races. Cheney also won all three relays, beginning with the team of Norman, Schmidt, Mecklenburg and Hanson taking first in the 200 medley with a time of 2:05.50, 3.5 seconds off a state qualifying mark.
Norman, Hanson, Mecklenburg and Schmidt took first in the 200-free relay in 1:50.17, just short of the 1:48.17 needed for state. Melissa Johnson, Abby Wood, Evarosa Perry and Williams wrapped up the meet with a first-place finish in the 400-free relay with a time of 4:39.18.
Cheney’s depth helped against the Bantams, leading to the Blackhawks placing at least two swimmers in the top-three finishers of each race. In the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly, Cheney swimmers captured all three top slots, with Johnson and Elizabeth Potter going 2-3 in the individual medley and Perry and Hannah Rigo 2-3 in the 100 butterfly.
Second place finishes went to Hanson in the 50 free, Williams in the 100 free and Esperanza Zaragoza in the 100 backstroke. Placing third were Perry in the 200 free, Johnson in the 500 free and Potter in the 100 breaststroke.
In the relays, the team of Johnson, Janice Powell, Potter and Lucy Boston was third in the 200 medley; the team of Abby Wood, Perry, Zarah Meyer and Williams was second in the 200 free and the team of Rigo, Meyer, Talley Larsen and Potter was second in the 400 free.
Finances kept the Blackhawks from taking part in the Mukilteo Invitational north of Seattle last Saturday. Instead, Cheney, Clarkston and Pullman swam against each other in a non-league double-dual meet, allowing head coach Jennifer Hochwalt an opportunity to mix things up in the event rotation.
“We got to try a couple of different things, which is always fun,” she said.
Hochwalt said all the swimmers did well. Hanson’s performances in the 200 IM and the butterfly, along with Johnson’s marks in the 100 backstroke, stood out in that they were all 2-3 seconds faster than their previous times. Hochwalt also said several of the new swimmers did well in the 100 free and butterfly.
Hochwalt divides the swimming season into three parts, with part one centering on event techniques. Part two is where the swimmers race hard without getting a lot of rest between meets and practices. That is reversed in part three as the Blackhawks cool down in preparation for districts and state.
Cheney has entered part two, and over the next couple weeks won’t be getting a lot of rest. The Blackhawks traveled to Prosser Oct. 4 for a meet with the Mustangs and Grandview, and return home for a meet this Friday with Selah.
Cheney wraps up the season with home meets against Southridge, Oct. 16, and Pullman, Oct. 22.
“They’re swimming pretty tired,” Hochwalt said. “They’re racing tired, but they’re racing well.”
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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