Blackhawk swimmers enter break with good league mark

Cheney High's boys swimming team is off to a 4-2 start on the season and is now ready for some time off over the holidays.

The Blackhawks opened with a pair of wins at Lions Pool in Yakima on Dec. 2, defeating the host Prosser Mustangs 80-69 and a shorthanded Grandview team 117-11. Cheney followed that with competition Dec. 9 again at Lions Pool, losing to the host Selah Vikings 110-50 but earning wins over Toppenish, 98-54, and East Valley-Yakima, 96-65.

The Blackhawks finished the 2017 part of their schedule last Thursday, Dec. 14, losing at home to Pullman 138-31. Cheney head coach Jennifer Hochwalt said that with so many new swimmers this season, she elected to go with a different strategy against the Greyhounds by letting them try different strokes.

"So we had a lot of people swimming new events," she said.

Hochwalt said everyone swam well and most everyone dropped times, notching new season best marks and in some cases personal records. Junior Eric Foien dropped 20 seconds from his previous best in the 200-yard individual medley, posting a time of 2 minutes, 35.27 seconds; with sophomore Walker Ross going eight seconds faster in the 100 backstroke in 1:14.90

Sophomore Seth Wilcox was six seconds faster in the 100 breaststroke at 1:22.00 and senior Kevin Houndonougbo seven seconds faster in the breaststroke, beating a mark he set five days earlier against Selah.

Sophomore Matthew Norman had good swims in the 200 and 500 freestyles, as did freshman Andrew Kennedy in the 100 freestyle and freshman Cameron Villalobos in the 200 free, swimming that event for the first time. Cheney's best finishes came in the relays as both the 200 individual medley and 200 free teams placed third, with the 400 free team of Norman, Steven Freeman, Foien and Zack Jongeward second.

Foien turned in a couple first-place finishes in Selah, capturing the 200 free in 2:15.12 and the 500 free in 5:50.53. Norman was second in the 200 IM in 2:38.68 and third in the 100 free in 1:11.34. The same 400 free team that competed against Pullman finished second in 4:01.24.

In the first meet hosted by Prosser, Cheney got first-place finishes from Foien in the 500 free, Jongeward in the 200 free and the 200 medley relay team. Second-place finishes went to Foien in the 200 free, Norman in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly, Ross in the 500 free and senior Sam Steele in the 100 breaststroke.

Mitchell Johnson was third in the 100 backstroke, while both freestyle relay teams finished second.

Hochwalt said Medical Lake High's four swimmers competing as a co-op team also have been swimming well. Senior returnees Jon Harper and Phoenix Hanks have been going faster in their events, with Harper dropping 10 seconds in the 100 free and five seconds in the breaststroke.

Newcomers Nolan Davis and Michael Mikolajczyk are also doing well, with Davis right behind Hanks in the 50 and 100 free events.

Cheney takes a break from competition over the holidays, returning to Central Washington Athletic Conference/Great Northern League action on Monday, Jan. 8 by hosting Selah at Eastern Washington University's pool. But while the Blackhawks may not be doing much competing, Hochwalt said they will still be doing a lot of swimming, taking time out only around Christmas and New Year's days.

"Other than that, they are going to be swimming pretty hard," she said. "And, they have no school, so they will have lots of time to rest."

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