Cheney girls defeat Clarkston swimmers

The Cheney High School girls’ swimming team continued an already good start to the season last week, defeating Clarkston 85-60 at home.

Head coach Jennifer Hochwalt said the meet went pretty good overall, and was yet another solid stepping stone for the young team. Many girls are still getting their rhythm down and building a strong foundation for future meets.

“We have a few more girls who hadn’t been to a meet yet, so it was exciting to see them get some experience,” she said. “The new girls are really starting to improve.”

Overall, the team is where she expected them to be at this point in the season.

“We just need to improve on swimming,” Hochwalt said. “The last couple of events, we get a little tired. But ,that’s a lot of swimming in one setting, which can last about an hour and 10 minutes.”

Freshman Alexis Schmidt captured second place in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:10.66. Fellow freshman MaKenzie Norman also won the 50 free, continuing her on her strong performance in Ellensburg.

Senior Kaylie Watters won in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:21.60.

In addition to strong individual efforts, the team’s 200 and 400 relay events were won by Cheney. Hochwalt said one item the team needs to work on is to ensure its energy continues throughout the match, instead of lowering as the events continue.

“It’s about being able to compete at the end of it like you did at the beginning,” she said.

James Eik can be reached at [email protected].