The Cheney girls’ swim team is gaining some good experience on the road, and will participate in their first home meet this week at the Eastern Washington University pool.
The team has performed in two contests thus far, the Ephrata Jamboree and a match against Ellensburg.
The Ephrata meet didn’t affect Cheney’s rankings, and offered a chance for some of the novice swimmers to get some hands-on experience in a real competition setting. Cheney did take second in the 200 yard medley relay, with a time of 2:05.99, just a little behind West Valley-Spokane’s relay time of 2:04.14.
Another strong performance was from freshman Alexis Schmidt in the 100 butterfly, coming in at 1:04.44, behind West Valley-Spokane’s Caitlin Quaempts, who won in 1:02.56.
For their second match, against Ellensburg, freshman MaKenzie Norman took an easy lead with 25.73 in the 50 yard freestyle, earning six points for the team. Norman also took second in the 100 freestyle, coming in at 57:17.
Although strong performances were present throughout the Ellensburg event, Cheney was unable to walk away with the win.
Senior Kaylie Watters was another strong performer in Ellensburg, winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:22.31, nearly four seconds ahead of her Ellensburg rival. Schmidt was another swimmer taking first place in the 100 fly, with a time of 1:04.34.
“We have several kids new to the sport,” head coach Jennifer Hochwalt said.
Right now, swimmers are still figuring out the best way to perform, and getting a feel for their rhythm. But, there are signs already of coming together as a cohesive unit during swim meets, performing as one.
“Right now, we’re starting to work together as a team,” Hochwalt said.
The team faces a tough match against Clarkston today (Thursday, Sept. 26), and then against Selah at the EWU pool Thursday, Oct. 10.
“I think they’ll do good,” Hochwalt said.
James Eik can be reached at james@cheneyfreepress.com.
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