By JOHN McCALLUM
Editor
Cheney girls' swimming head coach Jennifer Hochwalt knew last Saturday's meet with Selah High School in Yakima would be challenging so it was no surprise when her Blackhawks left Lions Pool having been doused 109-61 by the Vikings.
What did surprise her was her young Blackhawks, who managed to nab more points than expected.
Heather Spall and Jenna Riley led Cheney with a pair of first place finishes each. Spall was first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1 minute, 11.34 seconds, 3.5 seconds ahead of Selah's Rainan Viernes; and was first in the 100 butterfly in 1:07.51, almost 3.5 seconds ahead of the Vikings' Emily Gonseth.
Riley finished first in the 200 individual medley in 2:27.66, well ahead of Gonseth in second, and was first in the 100 breaststroke in 1:15.54, almost 8 seconds ahead of Selah's Ashley Anderson.
Katie Shea brought home second and third place finishes for Cheney in the 500 and 50 freestyle. Shea finished 16.5 seconds behind Viernes in the 500 in 6:36.54 and was just over a second back of Bethany Bradford in the 50 at 31.68 seconds.
Selah's Nicole Bannister captured the 50 in 27.69.
Marlena Hamilton also took second and third in the 200 and 500 free, finishing 19.59 seconds behind Aricka Smith in the 200 in 2:39.23, and 27.55 back of Shea in the 500 in 7:04.39. Sophia Schwalbe was Cheney's other top-three finisher, placing third in the 200 free in 2:40.77.
The Blackhawks' 200 IM and 400 free teams both finished second. The 200 team of Erin Moseley, Riley, Spall and Alexis McHan finished with a time of 2:16.89, 17.47 seconds behind the Vikings team of Viernes, Anderson, Gonseth and Bannister, while the 400 team was second in 4:26.32, just over one-half second behind Selah's Viernes, Bradford, Gonseth and Smith.
Hochwalt was happy with Saturday's results and said she saw several things she can work on with her team by moving some swimmers around into events where they might be more suited. She'll get a chance to do that without having to worry about the ramifications counting in the Eastern Washington swimming standings.
The Blackhawks travel to Walla Walla for the Palouse Championships on Saturday. Hochwalt said 6-7 teams from 2A/3A/4A schools would be competing, with the event order and distances being the same as high school meets.
Hochwalt said several Blackhawk swimmers are beginning to emerge as championship contenders. What Cheney needs now are others to fill in places behind and help Cheney's meet scoring.
“We have a couple of swimmers who keep giving us Ws,” Hochwalt said. “We just need to develop the depth to get more consistent second and thirds.”
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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