MOSES LAKE – Coming off three consecutive top 10 team finishes at the 4A Girls State Swimming and Diving Championships, this year’s senior-heavy Maverick girls swimming and diving team has a new leader from the pool deck, in Moses Lake alum Tony Preston.

“It’s all about helping and making sure the girls have a program, and for me, it’s the legacy of swimming in Moses Lake,” Preston said. “That legacy starts with Tony St. Onge, it continues with Lindy (Williams) and Jason (Hart), who were the last two high school coaches. I just want to see that continue.” 

Preston’s competitive swimming career began when he was a freshman at Moses Lake, eventually going on to swim for Central Washington University. Following coaching stints in Moses Lake with the Manta Rays, Coos Bay, Oregon and East Wenatchee, becoming Moses Lake’s head coach is a full-circle moment. 

At last year’s state championship meet Moses Lake took home a sixth-place finish, scoring 128 points in the three-day meet and left with an individual state champion after graduate Issabelle Parrish won the 100-yard freestyle. In 2022 Moses Lake finished fourth in the state, a year after taking seventh at state.

The Mavericks bring back three individual state swimmers from a year ago in seniors Kathryn DuVall, Julia Heaps and Alli Hines. To get back to Federal Way, it’ll take a group effort. 

“We’re all better when we push each other, and when we’re all there for each other it’s going to work out,” DuVall said. 

The trio of state returners make up part of Moses Lake’s group of 11 seniors, a significant portion of the team’s 25-swimmer roster. 

“I really want them to have a great senior year,” Preston said. “Coming out of the pandemic and all the other challenges we’re facing, I want to ignore all that and say, ‘Just go out and swim, and have fun.’ If you have fun and you go race, the times will come; Tony St. Onge taught me that.” 

Preston described his coaching style as “meet the kids where they’re at,” and said he lets the elder swimmers on the team lead the way in out-of-pool workouts among other things in practice. 

“That’s how I teach, that’s how I parent, that’s how I coach,” Preston said. “I have expectations – I'm not here to babysit anybody, I’m here to work with you and get you to be the best you can. I want you to step up, I don’t want to micromanage. It’s amazing when you give them some of that responsibility to shoulder how much they will grow out of that.” 

Having the team’s seniors lead the way is appreciated, Heaps said. 

“Now that we’re seniors, we know where we want to go – we know we want to go to state, we know we want to improve, and having a coach who really encourages that and lets us train how we need to train and race the events we need to race to do the best we can, I think that’s really important,” Heaps said. 

Moses Lake kicks off its 2024 season with the Tony St. Onge Invitational on Thursday, beginning at 5 p.m. 

“The energy’s good – we're feeling a lot of gratitude for the people making this work, the coaches and the pool staff, and we’re just happy to be here,” Heaps said.