RHS Girls Win Districts, 1st Time in 10 Years - By Rylee Morris
After winning the MCC Championships, the Richland Girls Swim and Dive team immediately knew they were top contenders for the 4A Swim and Dive District title. 10 years ago, in 2014, the Richland Girls won 4A Districts and 4A State titles, but since then, Richland has yet to claim another one. It was an intense weekend, encompassing all ranges of emotions. As head coach Nicole Weinman said to the girls heading into the meet, “You just have to reach your hand out and take what’s yours. We can only win if you guys work together and believe you can win.”
Thursday in Moses Lake, diving commenced. With the Whitman College Pool lacking a dive tank, divers traveled to Moses Lake High School for their competition. Richland divers Alice Williams and Manhattan Averett, were the top competitors heading into the meet, being seeded first and second. If the divers pulled off a one-two finish, they would collectively earn 37 points. However, Chiawana diver Ashlin Blair, put up a fight and ultimately took second to Alice Williams. It was a thrilling start to the meet, putting Richland at the top of the 4A teams.
Friday, the swim portion of the meet kicked off. Districts is a prelim/final meet. The first day of the meet is the preliminary round, with only the top 16 from each event advancing to finals. Then, the next day, the top 16 girls swim in two heats of eight swimmers. The consolation finals swims first with ninth through sixteenth place. Then, the championship heat swims second with the top eight swimmers. It is an advantage being in the championship heat, as you are able to score more points than the consolation final. For example, the heat winner of the consolation finals could have a faster time than eighth place in the championship heat but is not able to score more points. There is also another layer of complexity in advancing to finals from preliminaries, as each team is only allowed to have four swimmers final collectively.
It was noon, and the preliminaries were underway. Richland qualified all relays for finals with second-place finishes in the 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay and a first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. All Richland girls swam their hearts out, with almost every swimmer making it into the top 16 and being able to advance to finals. However, not all swimmers were able to advance. With such a big team of 20 swimmers, Richland exceeded their allotted four swimmers and was able to advance to finals. The 50-yard freestyle was a prime example. Richland swimmers Elisabeth Schmitt and Alex Schafer tied for eighth place, yet they were both unable to make the final. Brooke Posada, Kaitlyn Prigge, and Rylee Morris had taken third, fifth, and sixth place, resulting in a swim-off for Schmitt and Schafer. After the 500-yard freestyle, Schmitt and Schafer had a nail-biting swim-off. The packed deck of swimmers and spectators went quiet, the buzzer went off, and the crowd roared. The two girls came in neck and neck only a tenth of a second apart, with Schmitt in first and advancing to finals. The girls rode the wave into finals on Saturday. After such a successful day in the preliminaries, the girls and the coaches had full confidence they could win the district championship title for the first time since 2014.
Saturday kicked off with fast 200-yard medley relays. Richland, Hanford, and Kamiakin swam side by side until the anchoring leg, where Hanford and Kamiakin pulled ahead, resulting in a 3rd-place finish for Richland. Swimmer Sydney Johnson from Kamiakin said post-meet, “This year's district felt uplifting in a way. The atmosphere is full of young girls and coaches doing what they love, and it’s amazing to be a part of it. I feel like I put a lot of pressure on myself to get better times and improve. I use that pressure to keep going when it hurts in a race. Richland brushed off the loss with exceptional swims by Shyla Asmus in the 200-yard freestyle, Kristyna Matyas in the 200-yard individual medley, and Madalynn Norris in the 100-yard butterfly, all three placing third and going personal best times. The 50-yard freestyle followed, containing all 4 Richland swimmers in the championship heat, a huge point-scoring proponent. Brooke Posada, in the 50-yard freestyle, was the first from Richland to punch her ticket to state, placing second and going a personal best time of 26.10. Once again, in the 100-yard freestyle, Richland had all four finalists in the championship heat. Rylee Morris, who returned to swimming only a month and a half ago due to a fractured wrist, qualified for state, placing second with a best time of 59.56. Shyla Asmus followed this by also making it to state in the 500-yard freestyle, placing second with a best time of 5:36.33. Asmus then had a quick turnaround to the 200-yard freestyle with teammates Brooke Posada, Rylee Morris, and Madalynn Norris. It was a head-to-head battle for 2nd place, and the final allotment was to state between Richland and Hanford. Shyla Asmus fought hard to keep Anikka Peterson from Hanford behind her and touched her by seven-tenths of a second. It seemed like there were Bombers everywhere, as for a third time, Richland girls filled the championship heat of the 100-yard backstroke. Brooke Posada took second place and now qualified in two individual events. Kaitlyn Prigge also had a strong 100-yard backstroke, placing third with the best time and overcoming adversity from an injured back. Going into the last individual event of the 100-yard breaststroke, Sofia Sydor of Lewis and Clark came out of nowhere, placing second with a six-second drop from preliminaries. Madalynn Norris, one of Richland’s best breaststrokers, held on and had a great finish into fourth place.
Finally, it was the 400-yard freestyle relay, the very last event. The total team scores between Richland and Hanford were excruciatingly close. Richland’s same relay of Brooke Posada, Rylee Morris, Madalynn Norris, and Shyla Asmus stepped up behind the blocks, ready to throw down a fast relay and fight it out with Hanford’s relay for second. Brooke Posada and Hanford swimmer Esther Mei kept close to each other in the first 100 yards. Brooke Vincet dove in for Hanford with Rylee Morris on her heels. The two relays kept close to each other until Morris pulled ahead at the 200-yard mark. Madalynn Norris dove in before Abby Schroder of Hanford, who is keeping the lead for Richland. Norris neared the wall, and Shyla Asmus dove in, throwing down a fast 100-yard split to beat out Hanford and place second. Richland now had two out of three relay teams going to state.
The meet was now concluded, but there was chatter between meet officials. The whole pool went silent as the announcer declared the scoreboard was incorrect. Coaches and athletes waited anxiously for the officials to resolve whatever problem had arisen with the 400 free relay. After a few minutes, it was announced that Hanford and Chiawana had disqualified their relays. Richland was relieved, they knew they had won the meet. The 400-yard freestyle relay awards concluded, and it was announced Richland was the 2024 4A District VI Champions. The girls crowded the podium, elated by the feat they had just accomplished as a team. They had won districts for the first time in 10 years. The weekend was an incredible way to enter the postseason. The Richland swimmers now head to the WIAA State Championships in two weeks, with Brooke Posada swimming the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke, Shyla Asmus swimming the 500-yard freestyle, and Rylee Morris swimming the 100-yard freestyle, the team of Brooke Posada, Rylee Morris, Madalynn Norris, and Shyla Asmus swimming the 200 and 400 yard freestyle relays.
