Swimmers take full team to districts

MOSES LAKE — The Chiefs are taking 22 swimmers to districts in Ellensburg this weekend. Swims begin at 1 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday.

"This the first year, probably ever, that we've maxed out the number of participants we could take to districts," said head coach Tony St. Onge. "We have four swimmers in every event."

The senior led team will have to make up some ground in the pool with only two events currently qualified by time for the state championships.

Swimmers get once chance to qualify for the next round so their best race has to be every race.

"So far so good," St. Onge said. "But it all depends on how they swim."

Currently, the battle for the district title looks like it will be another rematch of the battle for the top spot in the league, between Moses Lake and Eastmont.

"It'll be down to the wire," said St. Onge. "Every single event will be a battle."

Now that the team has met their goal of getting the maximum number of swimmers to districts, their next challenge will be to get as many swimmers as possible through to the championship rounds.

"The goal is to have a bunch of kids in the finals," St. Onge said. "To win a district championship you have to blitz 'em in the finals."

The swimmers from Moses Lake that are going to districts are: Marc Bales, Brian Butterfield, Eric Butterfield, Chandler Byington, Trevin Byington, Ilya Demchuk, Chris Forrest, Marshall Goodrich, Jeremy Grant, Kraig Grant, Dylan Grigg, Nick Kardong, Austin Massart, Mario Polito, Brad Reeder, Cesar Seanez, Aleksey Semenko, Craig Stout, Jacob Smedley, Chris Cowles, Anthony Palmen and Chad Borg.