Cheney swimmers place third at districts in Moses Lake

The Cheney High School girls swimming team appears to peaking at the right time — in the postseason.

The Blackhawks turned in some of their best times of the season last Friday and Saturday at district competition in Moses Lake, finishing third overall in the team standings behind Ellensburg and district champion Pullman. In the process, Cheney will be sending two individuals and two relay teams to the 2A state meet Nov. 10-11 at the Federal Way Aquatics Center.

Courtney Hanson and Isabell Williams both qualified for state in individual events. Hanson finished second in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 58.52 seconds, a mark head coach Jennifer Hochwalt was faster than this time last season.

Williams took second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:07.84. She also provided Cheney some scoring with a sixth-place finish in the 200 freestyle.

Williams and Hanson will also be competing on a couple relays at Federal Way. The 400-freestyle team of Abby Wood, Hope Zarragoza, Williams and Juliet Richards finished second with a time of 4:18.59, while the 200-freestyle team of Wood, Williams, Echo Mecklenberg and Hanson qualified with a third-place finish in 1:52.97.

In other individual finishes, Hanson was fourth and Evarosa Perry eighth in the 200 individual medley, with Mecklenberg, Wood and Zarah Meyer went 6-7-8 in the 50 freestyle. Mecklenberg was sixth in the 100 butterfly, Richards was fifth in the 500 freestyle and Meyer and Elizabeth Potter went 7-8 in the 100 breaststroke, with the 200 medley team finishing fifth.

In calculating possible finishes and times, Hochwalt said she penciled Cheney in as a solid third-place team, but it turned out they were closer to finishing second than she anticipated. The Blackhawks were missing several swimmers due to other commitments, and Hochwalt said they could have been inserted into events such as the 200 IM or the 100 freestyle and finished in the top eight.

“We did much better than I expected, and we’re still pretty young,” she said. “It was just a great meet. They swam well overall.”

Hochwalt also praised the efforts of her “seasonal” swimmers, those who don’t compete in the off season but come out in the fall.

Cheney awaits results of district competition in Western Washington this weekend, with the outside chance several more swimmers might qualify for state as wildcards. In the meantime, Hochwalt said they’ll engage in the same routine they have in past seasons in preparing for state — slower, endurance work this week to stay in shape followed by faster, more intense speed workouts to gear up for competition.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.