WALLA WALLA — An old sports adage goes, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”

True as the statement may be, the Moses Lake High School boys’ swim & dive team will gladly accept its start to the new season, thank you very much.

The squad took home the Eastern Washington Relay Meet title on Saturday with a 205-point performance at Whitman College, outdistancing second-place Richland, by eight points.

In order to score points a team had to finish in the top 16 of an individual event.

“With three scoring relays allowed in each event and the top 16 relays able to score points a team needs a lot of depth to rack in the team points,” Chiefs coach Tony St. Onge said. “Moses Lake had 24 swimmers on scoring relays and that was the deciding factor in this competition.”

The 300-meter individual medley team of Reuben Huddleston, Kyle Reeder, and Evan McFarland recorded the top finish of the day, taking second place.

Third-place in the 150-meter backstroke relay was the team of Ian Isherwood, Cody Wilson, and Colby Byington.

Other top five finishers included; Thomas O’Neil, Brandon Emerson, and McFarland (4th in breaststroke relay), Dominic Cachiotti, Nick Reed, and Reeder (4th in mixed distance relay), Byington, Reeder, McFarland, and Huddleston (5th in 200-meter medley relay), Kodi Niversen , Skyler Galloway , Damien Cachiotti, and Doninic Cachiotti (5th in 200-meter free relay), and Parker Merkley, Niversen , Huddleston (150-meter fly relay).

Overall there were a total of 13 top ten finishes recorded in the day’s events.

“This was a positive start for the Chiefs with everyone getting in on the action,” St. Onge said.

On Friday, the boys attended the 11-Dive Meet at Central Washington University in Ellensburg and Braxton Ford qualified for the state meet with 301 points.

“This was a great start for the MLHS dive program,” St. Onge said. “Having an individual qualify for state at the first early season meet is remarkable and shows the talent within the program.”

The team continues its season 4 p.m. Thursday when they host Wenatchee at Moses Lake High School.

Saturday, they travel to Eastmont to compete in the Pentathlon.