The Cheney girls swimming team had a good showing at the 3A state championship meet, Nov. 14-16 at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way. Cheney placed eighth overall with 79 points, edging Sammamish High School by four points for the spot but well back of state team champion Mercer Island’s 381 points.
Three individuals scored points for Cheney. Senior Lauren Howe placed seventh in the A final of the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 53.72 seconds. Howe was also eighth in the A final of the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.56 seconds.
Senior Joyalise O’Dell was 15th overall, seventh in the B final of the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1 minute, 0.95 seconds. O’Dell finished in the same position in the 100-yard backstroke B finals with a time of 1:02.49.
Sophomore Madi Bauman placed 11th overall, third in the B finals of the 200-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 1:59.43, bettering her preliminary time of 2:00.23 by 8/10ths of a second.
Sophomore Jezelle Schmidt also competed in the preliminaries of the 100 back, placing 25th overall in 1:06.51.
Cheney’s three relay teams also brought home points in the final standings. The 400-yard freestyle team of Joyalise O’Dell, Bauman, freshman Acacia O’Dell and Howe was seventh overall in the A final with a time of 3:46.22.
The 200-free team of Bauman, sophomore Bethany Bleam and seniors Sage Schaefer and Howe was 10th overall, second in the B finals with a time of 1:44.78. Finally, the 200-yard medley team of Schmidt, the O’Dells and Bleam finished 13th overall, seventh in the B final with a time of 1:58.17.
With fall sports wrapped up, both Cheney and Medical Lake athletes have begun competing in winter sports competition.
CHENEY
Boys basketball
The Blackhawks are still searching for their first win after three games as of press time, Dec. 11. Cheney lost its opener to Greater Spokane League 2A West Valley, 55-49, on Dec. 3, followed by a 66-55 loss to North Central Dec. 6 and 65-59 to Mead, Dec. 10.
Girls basketball
Cheney is 1-2 through Dec. 10 action. The Blackhawks opened with a 50-27 loss to West Valley, but got into the win column with a 57-28 win over North Central.
The girls lost 52-28 at Lakeland on Dec. 11.
Wrestling
The Blackhawks placed five wrestlers in the finals and collected a couple of titles at the Medical Lake Scramble, Dec. 7. Alex Kurakin pinned Mt. Spokane’s Ethan Hayward to win at 120 pounds while Maddoc Finch notched an 11-4 decision over North Central’s Malachi Moyer to win at 175.
Colten Bowthorpe, Hank Ghering and Cooper French were each second at 113, 138 and 190 pounds respectively.
Cheney was to compete at Ferris, Dec. 11, Central Valley on Dec. 18 and at the West Valley Invitational Dec. 21 before heading into the winter break. They resume action Jan. 4 at home in the Blackhawk Invitational.
MEDICAL LAKE
Boys basketball
The Cardinals are 1-2 as of Dec. 11. Medical Lake lost their first two games to a pair of 2B schools, Kiona-Benton on Dec. 5, 63-57 and 76-55 to St. George’s on Dec. 7, but found their way into the win column on Dec. 10 with a 72-64 win over Northport.
Girls basketball
The Cardinal girls are 2-1 in action through Dec. 10. They opened with a 40-19 loss to Kiona-Benton, but rebounded with wins over St. George’s, 41-40, and Northport, 43-31.
Wrestling
The Cardinals put three wrestlers in the finals of their home invitational on Saturday, Dec. 7 – and emerged with three individual Medical Lake Scramble titles.
James Oliver won at 126 pounds with a 5-1 decision of Colville’s Bryce Davis. Hudson Raulston followed with a 34-second pin of Lewis and Clark’s Kaydn Norris at 132 pounds while Tru Cole closed with a pin of LC’s Mike Mann to win at 215 pounds.
