Cheney High School’s boys swim team capped a successful season with a number of accolades — beginning with a second-place finish at 2A district swimming competition last weekend between teams from the Great Northern League and Central Washington Athletic Conference.
Three Blackhawks swimmers qualified in five events for the state 2A/3A/4A meet at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Feb. 17-18, as did three relay teams. The top-three district placers at Washington State University’s pool advanced to Federal Way.
Senior Trevor Babcock added a couple more district titles to his resume, taking first in the 200-yard freestyle, with a time of 1 minute, 48.92 seconds, and in the 100 freestyle in 49.70. He previously qualified in the 200 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke through meeting state time standards.
Freshman Jared Geschke punched his state ticket in two events, finishing third in both the 200 individual medley in 2:12.16, 5 seconds faster than his previous best, and the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.53. His classmate Trae Babcock also qualified with a third-place finish in the 100 butterfly (1:00.14).
Cheney teams finished second in all three relay events. The 200-medley team of Trevor Babcock, Geschke, Trae Babcock and Zach Jongeward turned in a time of 1:50.50; the 200-freestyle team of Trevor Babcock, Matt Christianson, Jongeward and Trae Babcock finished in 1:38.16 while the 400-freestyle team of Steven Freeman, Matthew Norman, Christianson and Jongeward posted a 3:55.12.
Blackhawks head coach Jennifer Hochwalt said her swimmers had “hit and miss” performances during Friday’s preliminary heats. That changed in the finals.
“They swam incredible on Saturday,” she said. “I think all but one had best times.”
Hochwalt said sophomore Erik Foien dropped 16 seconds from his previous best in the 500 freestyle, finishing just outside of the scoring in ninth, while freshman Walker Ross dropped 19 seconds from his previous best in the 200 freestyle. Norman also had several “break out swims” in his events, she added.
That effort extended to the Medical Lake swimmers competing in a co-op arrangement with Cheney. While all did well and dropped times, the top performance went to the 400-freestyle team of Isaac Outheuthapanya, Tylor Edison, Phoenix Hanks and Brayden Bruess — finishing fourth in 3:59.25.
While finishing just outside of state placements, Hochwalt said the Cardinals’ 400 team has a “pretty good shot” of making it to Federal Way as a wild card, once Western Washington district competition is concluded this weekend. Overall, Medical Lake finished seventh as a team, a couple places higher than last year.
Finally, accolades went to Hochwalt and Trevor Babcock. Babcock was named Eastern Washington Swimmer of the Year, while Hochwalt was selected as Eastern Washington Co-Swimming Coach of the Year.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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