The Cheney Blackhawk boys swim team, just off of one of its largest districts showings in recent years, sent two individual qualifiers to state competition at the King County Aquatic Center on Feb. 15.
The team took 22 of 33 swimmers to districts, where they moved up one spot from last year and captured third place. Several of those swimmers placed, while Trae Babcock and Jared Jeschke qualified for state.
Babcock dropped two full seconds off his 100-yard freestyle time to take third place in 50.48 seconds. He also was third in the 50 freestyle in 23.02, while Jeschke took third in the 100 breaststroke in 1:06:29, making the swim in under 1:10:00 for the first time all year.
Matthew Norman earned a sixth place in the 200 individual medley in 2:17:97 and an eighth place in the 100 fly in 1:01:62.
At state, Babcock snagged the fifth-place spot in the 100 freestyle in 48.84, a final time clocking in just a hair slower than his preliminary time of 48.55. Babcock also took eighth place in the 50 freestyle in 22.17.
Meanwhile, Jeschke was back after almost a year and a half out of the water with a severe spine injury. While his 1:06:72 time in the preliminary round of the 100 breastroke didn’t quite propel him into the finals, it was his second-best time in that event of the season, marking his official return to fighting form after his injury.
“I thought they did excellent,” head coach Jennifer Hochwalt said. “We didn’t have anybody place individually last year.”
The team also brought a few relay teams to state that didn’t quite squeak into finals, but Hochwalt said swimmers Matthew Norman, Cameron Villalobos and Ben Schreiber all had “some of their best splits in the relays.”
The recent snowfall in Eastern Washington made practice difficult, so several kids were out of the water for almost a week, Hochwalt said.
Looking forward to next season, Hochwalt hopes to maintain this year’s momentum and just a few more kids into the finals, she said.
“They’ve all made a huge improvement,” she said. “They did a fantastic job.”
Shannen Talbot can be reached at [email protected]
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