Richland second at Class 4A district swim meet
The Richland High School girls swim and dive team picked up a few district titles — and more state berths — during Saturday’s Class 4A finals in Moses Lake.
Claire Schaef repeated as the District 5/6/7 champion in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle, while Kelsea Hinkley won her second district diving crown. Both girls qualified for state earlier this season.
Schaef swam season-best times in the finals, going 1 minute, 55.75 seconds in the 200 and 5:08.54 in the 500.
Hinkley finished 3.25 points ahead of defending champion Ali Brandt of Wenatchee to win the 11-dive meet at Moses Lake High School, which took over from Ellensburg’s CWU Aquatic Center as the district host this year.
“It was pretty crowded,” said Hinkley, who won the district title as a sophomore two years ago. “There were quite a lot of people there. It was loud, and you could hear everyone cheering for you. It was good.”
Katie Schroder was the runner-up in the 100 breaststroke, while Lauren Hall and Alyssa Musick finished 2-3 in the 100 butterfly to secure spots in the Nov. 13-14 state meet in Federal Way. Hall had a state-qualifying time of 1:00.05.
The top three individuals or relays in each event advanced to state. All three Richland relays placed second with state-qualifying times.
The Bombers finished second in the team standings to Wenatchee, which claimed its third consecutive title and sixth in seven years. The Panthers accumulated 574 points to Richland’s 460.
Walla Walla, which got a district championship from Paige Gardner, finished third with 219 points, edging Moses Lake (216).
Gardner won the 100 free with a state-qualifying time of 54.62 seconds and took third in the 100 backstroke.
She will be joined at state by Mackenzie Hale, who was second in the 200 individual medley, and Hally Ruff, who finished third in the 50 free.
Ruff, Hale and Gardner were on the Blue Devils’ state-qualifying 200 medley and 400 free relays. The 200 medley team, which also included Hannah Gardner, clocked a 1:55.86, just under the state time standard of 1:55.90.
The 2A/3A finals were late Saturday. Results will appear in Monday’s paper.
Top three in each final advance to state
Team scores: Wenatchee 574, Richland 460, Walla Walla 219, Moses Lake 216, Eastmont 174, Eisenhower 173, West Valley 134, Sunnyside 117, Davis 53; 200 medley relay: 1, Wenatchee A (Kayli Elwyn, Isabelle Dressel, Jessica Wierzbicki, Jordan Hartley) 1:51.15 (SQ); 2, Richland A (Marcia Kim, Katie Schroder, Alyssa Musick, BreAnn Bell) 1:55.07 (SQ); 3, Walla Walla A (Paige Gardner, Hannah Gardner, Mackenzie Hale, Hally Ruff) 1:55.86 (SQ); 200 freestyle: 1, Claire Schaef (Rich) 1:55.75 (SQ); 2, Hannah VanHeyningen (Wen) 1:57.99 (SQ); 3, Rebecca Bay (Wen) 2:04.35; 200 individual medley: 1, Maya Cunningham (Ike) 2:15.29; 2, Hale (WW) 2:16.92; 3, Elwyn (Wen) 2:17.02; 50 freestyle: 1, Dressel (Wen) 25.24; 2, Audrey Parrish (Wen) 25.48; 3, Ruff (WW) 25.54; Diving: 1, Kelsea Hinkley (Rich) 453.35 (SQ); 2, Ali Brandt (Wen) 450.10 (SQ); 3, Ali Pierce (East) 435.60 (SQ); 100 butterfly: 1, Wierzbicki (Wen) 56.21 (SQ); 2, Lauren Hall (Rich) 1:00.05 (SQ); 3, Musick (Rich) 1:01.04; 100 freestyle: 1, P. Gardner (WW) 54.62 (SQ); 2, Parrish (Wen) 54.96 (SQ); 3, Victoria Peterson (Wen) 55.95; 500 freestyle: 1, Schaef (Rich) 5:08.54 (SQ); 2, VanHeyningen (Wen) 5:13.28 (SQ); 3, Hartley (Wen) 5:14.42 (SQ); 200 freestyle relay: 1, Wenatchee A (Kayli Brown, Dressel, Peterson, Parrish) 1:40.44 (SQ, meet record); 2, Richland A (Neomi Mennetrot, Hall, Bell, Schaef) 1:42.57 (SQ); 3, Moses Lake A (Cora Dana, Megan Washburn, Anna Fair, Shyanne Speed) 1:44.44; 100 backstroke: 1, Wierzbicki (Wen) 59.27 (SQ); 2, Elwyn (Wen) 1:01.23; 3, P. Gardner (WW) 1:01.74; 100 breaststroke: 1, Dressel (Wen) 1:06.94 (SQ); 2, Schroder (Rich) 1:09.68 (SQ); 3, Bay (Wen) 1:09.82 (SQ); 400 freestyle relay: 1, Wenatchee A (Wierzbicki, Hartley, Peterson, Parrish) 3:40.84 (SQ); 2, Richland A (Hall, Mennetrot, Schroder, Schaef) 3:42.57 (SQ); 3, Walla Walla A (Ruff, Hale, Lacey Klem, P. Gardner) 3:51.72.
Katie Dorsey: 509-582-1526; kdorsey@tricityherald.com; Twitter: @KatieS_Dorsey
This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 10:53 PM with the headline "Richland second at Class 4A district swim meet."