Cheney's Richards wins state 2A 500-yard freestyle swimming title

FEDERAL WAY – Sophomores Janie Richards and Jade Gere along with freshman Asia Gere led the Blackhawks girls swimming team to a seventh-place finish in competition last Friday and Saturday at the 2A state meet in Federal Way. Cheney tied Lindbergh from Renton — who the Blackhawks narrowly lost to in a dual meet in September — with 136 points.

Richards captured the 500-yard freestyle state title with a time of 5 minutes, 18.99 seconds, bettering her preliminary time from Friday by 15/100ths of a second. She also swam to a fourth-place finish in the 100 freestyle with a time of 1:00.18.

Asia Gere was fourth in the 200 freestyle in 1:59.84, and was fifth in the 500 freestyle in 5:27.54. Sister Jade Gere was seventh in the 200 in 2:03.27, and brought home six needed points by finishing third in the B final — 11th overall — of the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:11.83.

Two of the three Blackhawks relay teams reached and placed in the finals at the King County Aquatic Center. The 200 freestyle team of Richards, Adelyn O’Dell and Jade and Asia Gere finished fifth in a time of 1:45.17, setting a new Cheney High record in the event while the 400 freestyle team of Asia Gere, Izzy Williams, Jade Gere and Richards placed sixth in 3:47.70.

“We had a very strong state showing with several new best times,” head coach Jennifer Hochwalt said. “Our swimmers had five individual races in the finals and one in the semifinals.”

Heading into the 400 relay, the last event of the meet, Cheney was in eighth place with 110 points, one point behind the Blackhawks’ fellow Great Northern League/Central Washington Athletic Conference foe Pullman with Lindbergh in ninth at 106 points. Pullman finished eighth in the event, scoring 22 points, but Cheney’s sixth-place finish was worth 26 points and Lindbergh’s fifth was worth 30 points, vaulting both teams over the Greyhounds into the tie for seventh.

Liberty High School of Renton captured the 2A team title with 268 points, followed by Sammamish in second, Anacortes third and North Kitsap fourth.

GNL/CWAC schools Ellensburg and Selah finished 15th and 21st respectively.

Cheney will lose seven swimmers to graduation this year, two of whom — Williams and Echo Mecklenburg — advanced to state. The Blackhawks made strides in the pool this season, fielding a deep team that lost only once in dual meet action, won a Great Northern League/Central Washington Athletic Conference title and produced a state champion and four state placers, and figure to stand a good chance to build on that success in 2020.

“I am excited by the progress the girls made this year,” Hochwalt said.

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