EAST WENATCHEE — The Moses Lake Mavericks swim team had a successful evening on the road Wednesday as they travelled to Eastmont for a dual meet. By the end of the meet, the Mavericks won with a score of 114 to Eastmont's 61. 

"It was a great meet," said Mavs Head Coach Tony Preston. "We haven't travelled in a long time. We do a lot of home meets because of the facilities in our league, so the travel to Eastmont was a great chance to get some experience in another facility." 

Heading into another training facility brings challenges since the environment can be different and travelling can make the athletes feel a little tired. Preston said their focus heading into Wednesday was to put their best foot forward and try to give their best performance in each event.

"(Eastmont's) water is a little hotter than ours, but they're a great host and we love going there," he said. 

In the 200-yard medley relay, Moses Lake's team of Kimball Roylance, Paysyn Torrey, Sydney Stevens and Taylor McKay (2:13.29) took first. The team of Ava Center, Sarah Heaps, Ally Hindman and Ava Robinson (2:23.28) took third. 

The 200-yard freestyle relay was won by the Mavs team of Andi Hardebeck, Paysyn Torrey, Sydney Stevens and Taylor McKay (1:58.39). Taking third was Moses Lake's Sarah Heaps, Ciara Quilter, Ava Center and Ellen Center. 

Moses Lake took second in the 400-yard freestyle relay with the team of Ellen Center, Andi Hardebeck, Ava Robinson and Kimball Roylance (4:34.60).  

Sydney Stevens (2:18.31) took second in the 200-yard freestyle followed closely by Andi Hardebeck (2:20.43) in third. Ellen Center (2:46.67) took second in the 200-yard individual medley, and Ava Robinson took second in the 50-yard freestyle. 

Moses Lake dominated the diving portion of the event with Mia Thompson (118.55), Lyla Jackson (113), and Kolby Cobb (91.05) taking the top spots. Things went the same in the 100-yard butterfly with Moses Lake's Ellen Center (1:17.31), Ally Hindman (1:29.56) and Kolby Cobb (1:33.04) claiming first second and third respectively. 

Another Mavs dominated event was the 500-yard freestyle with Sydney Stevens (6:06.08) taking first, Paysyn Torrey (6:08.43) in second and Danyelle Juardo (12:47.46) in third. 

"Danyelle Juardo, she was awesome," said Preston. "She swam the whole thing, the whole team got behind her. That was a great celebration." 

Andi Hardebeck (1:03.49) led the Mavs in the 100-yard freestyle with a third-place finish and Taylor McKay (1:18.22) took second in the 100-yard backstroke. Paysyn Torrey (1:22.03) and Sarah Heaps (1:27.36) claimed the top two spots of the 100-yard breaststroke. 

"Had some girls swim in some off events and try some new things out and it was really good," said Preston. 

While travelling to meets can bring challenges, the coach said it also has great benefits with the most important being the opportunity to further the team bonds. 

"We haven't been on a bus in the last two years since I started," he said. "Now that we're able to ride a bus it was good team bonding, good experience when we got there and I think they're going to take that away from a meet like this." 

With a month of the swimming season behind them, Preston said the Mavs bonds with each other have grown significantly. They have multiple team dinners throughout the season, and at practice the experienced swimmers are paired with girls with less experience. 

"We have 30 girls so there's lots of different chances to bond and be part of the team," said the coach. "Each and every one has found their place on the team and has found themselves a good spot to work for the Mavs swim and dive program." 

Coming out of Wednesday's meet, Preston said the swim team is going to work on recovering themselves, while the diving team prepares to polish up their dives for an individual meet on the road Friday. 

With Moses Lake now in the halfway point for their season, the coach said he also wants to spend some time recognizing the hard work that the girls have put in. They'll also be setting their sights on the future. 

"We want to recognize the hard work we've put in and also the hard work to come," said Preston. "We're going to work on that at practice and really set ourselves up because this is our month, we have from October 1 to October 31, that's when district finals are." 

The Mavs diving team is heading to Wenatchee Friday at noon for an individual meet. Moses Lake's next home meet will be Thursday where they will host Wenatchee.

    Ava Center, a freshman, and Ellen Center, a senior, stand together for a photo ahead of a previous meet this season.