CHENEY – The Blackhawks girls swimming program kicked off its return to the pool after over a year away due to the COVID-19 pandemic with a pair of wins in a virtual meet on Saturday, Feb. 20.
Swimming in their individual pools, the Blackhawks downed Pullman 97-59 and easily topped Clarkston, 116-36. No individuals results were available at press time.
Cheney returns four swimmers from the team that finished seventh overall at 2A state competition in fall 2019 — Janie Richards, Jade and Asia Gere and Adelyn O’Dell. Richards captured a state title in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5 minutes, 18.99 seconds, defeating Pullman’s Melrose Gilbert.
The junior also placed fourth in the 100 backstroke. Sophomore Asia Gere was fourth in the 200 free and fifth in the 500 free, with the junior Jade Gere seventh in the 200 free. O’Dell returns for her senior season.
“We have a solid upper class,” head coach Jennifer Hochwalt said. “We have time to build our skills before moving to 3A (classification) next year.”
Cheney, Pullman and Clarkston hook up for two more virtual meets, Feb. 26 and March 5. Should conditions involving COVID-19 allow it, they hope to potentially hold two in-person meets, March 12 and 19 along with a district meet March 26-27, location yet to be determined.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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