Wenatchee swimmers dominate district meet

Girls swim and dive dominated the final day of performance at districts in Moses Lake today. Aside from qualifying six individuals for state and nearly doubling the score of second place Moses Lake. The Panthers also won 10 out of the 12 events. Seniors Jessica Wierzbicki and Isabelle Dressel were honored with “Swimmer of the Year” and their coach James Elwyn was awarded “Coach of the Year.”

Senior Alyssa Laney, junior Aleah Bucknum, and sophomore Sophia Dillon took second through fourth respectively in the dive completion. Both Laney and Bucknum qualified for state. Dillon may qualify for state due to allocation procedures.

The top swimmers today were Wierzbicki and Dressel, hauling in four victories apiece.

“We had a lot of great times and a lot of great swims,” Elwyn said.

Wenatchee divers also had strong performances overall.

“The girls were a lot less nervous and ended up scoring quite well,” Dive coach Nicklas Petersen said. “We have, honestly, had a few better [meets], but I am very happy with how today went. The girls really showed up and competed quite well.”

Bucknum, who qualified for state, had a difficult first half of the meet, but turned it around today.

“Last night I had to just forget about [Friday’s competition] and come in with a good attitude and try my best,” Bucknum said.

As she looks forward to state, she hopes to not only improve her placing, but have since fun while she’s at it.

“My goals are to make podium and just to have fun and relax,” Bucknum said. “Last year was my first year and I was really stressed about it so I want to go into it with a good attitude [this year].”

Dressel reflected on today’s performance, and is continuing to look forward to state.

“[The hardest part of the meet was] not being tapered. It really sucks going into a meet and you really want to do good but you’re just not rested for it,” Dressel said. “You have to stay positive knowing that our bigger meet is coming. Still, having good swims is really nice and it just makes me more excited for when you get tapered.”

Dressel was also honored to have received the “Swimmer of the year” award with her team mate, Wierzbicki.

“The best part [of the meet] was winning “swimmer of the year” with [Jessica Wierzbicki]. I think that the fact that we both won was just cool.”

In a team loaded with high performance seniors, this was the last districts for many top athletes. “It’s sad. It makes me sad. I’m going to miss the whole team.”