Richland’s Hinkley, Schaef named All-Area swim and dive MVPs

When the Richland High School girls swim and dive squad gathered for its end-of-the-year awards, two Bombers were named team MVPs.

Those honorees — sophomore swimmer Claire Schaef and senior diver Kelsea Hinkley — top this year’s Herald All-Area selections.

Hinkley won the Class 4A state diving championship in Federal Way, while Schaef finished third in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle.

“I was talking to my coach and teammates to really get my mind off things,” Hinkley said. “I prayed before every dive.”

Hinkley beat Wenatchee’s Ali Brandt by more than 20 points to become Richland’s first state dive champion.

“I just thought it would be a fun thing,” Hinkley said of her decision to go out for diving as a sophomore. “I had no idea that (winning a state title) would happen.”

The former club gymnast displayed a knack for diving early on, though there were some bumps along the way, said Richland/Hanford dive coach Melissa Fields.

“I was trying to teach her how to do a back dive, and she kicked me in the face,” said Fields, who shares All-Area coaching honors with the schools’ swim coach, Randy Willis.

But Hinkley went on to place 14th at state her first year and fourth as a junior. She also won district titles in 2013 and 2015.

All three of Fields’ state divers this year — Hinkley and Kelsey Olsen of Richland, and Hanford’s Amanda Andersen — improved in placing and points over last season. Hinkley joined Southridge’s Danielle Freund, the 2013 3A champion, as the only Tri-City divers to win state titles.

“We’ve been fortunate the last few years because we’ve had such great divers, and having the competition at home helps,” Fields said.

Hinkley might dive in college. She’s considering a recruiting trip to the University of Idaho, where Andersen — her cousin — hopes to pole vault.

It won’t be long before Schaef has to start thinking about her college plans, but her immediate focus is on training for December’s Speedo Winter Junior National Championships in Austin, Texas. She will swim the mile, 500 free and 200 butterfly.

It will be the biggest meet of her career so far — and perhaps a game-changer in terms of her confidence at future competitions.

Schaef was second in the 500 free and fifth in the 200 at state as a freshman. Her times during this year’s meet weren’t far off from where they were last season, which was a little disappointing for her. But she swam season bests in both events: 1 minute, 55.05 seconds in the 200 preliminaries and 5:05.95 in the 500 final.

“I’m really hoping to get under 5 (minutes) in this coming season,” Schaef said. “I just need everything to line up right, and I’ll be able to do it.”

Schaef excels at distance swimming, but she’s also quite the sprinter. In the district final of the 400 free relay, her time of 53.85 was more than a second under the state-qualifying standard for the 100 free.

“I did a season-best 24 in the 200 free relay, and I did a low 53 in the 400 free relay,” she said. “That was really exciting for me to be able to get that low. Last year, I was doing 56s.”

Schaef is pondering the second half of her career with the Bombers. She admits she’s not always comfortable with the spotlight, but she wants to be captain as a senior.

“In my two years, I’ve seen examples of good and bad leadership, and I want to use them to form my own methods,” she said.

Schaef and Hinkley are joined on the All-Area first team by Richland’s Alyssa Musick, Lauren Hall and Katie Schroder. The quintet helped Richland place fifth at state, one year after the Bombers won their first team title.

“Richland and Jackson were tied (for the championship) last year, and we came in fourth and fifth,” said Willis, who also coached Hanford this year to the top finish at state among Mid-Columbia 3A teams. “The only way we could have come in fourth was if everything transpired as perfectly as it did last year, and that just doesn’t happen. Our girls did everything they could. Fifth place any other year, we would have been tremendously excited.”

But people around Richland High are starting to recognize the swim and dive team’s achievements.

“Even last year, when we took first, people came up to me and said, ‘We have a swim team?’ But most people knew and came up and congratulated us this year, so that’s nice,” Hinkley said.

NOTES: Everyone on the All-Area first or second team competed at state this year.

Hall and Musick swam at state all four years, along with Prosser’s Becky Wildman and Kennewick twins Alexis and Blair Murphy. Hall and Musick were a part of Richland’s best four-year stretch at state — second in 2012, fifth in 2013 and 2015, and tied for first in 2014.

The Murphys went to state as a duo in 2014 and 2015, both swimming in two individual events apiece. Alexis and Blair’s older sister, Hailey, also was a four-year state qualifier. The 2013 Kennewick High graduate was an assistant coach for the Lions this year.

Wildman swam on a relay all four years at state and competed individually in the 100 breaststroke (2014, 2015) and 100 free (2015).

This story was originally published November 30, 2015 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Richland’s Hinkley, Schaef named All-Area swim and dive MVPs."