Greyhounds host senior night swim meet

PULLMAN — It was senior night for Pullman High boys swimming, and warm feelings abounded in the cozy space of Pullman Aquatic and Fitness Center as the Greyhounds concluded their regular season with a dominant showing against the visiting Moses Lake Mavericks on Tuesday.

Seniors celebrated

Prior to the last race of the evening, the swimmers stepped away from the competition pool for a ceremony to honor their two graduating seniors, William Miller and Teo Uberuaga.

Stepping forward with a microphone, second-year Pullman coach Jacob Hogg delivered initial remarks in praise of the pair, who both played integral roles in the Hounds’ run to the Washington Class 2A state title last year — Miller winning the 100-yard freestyle and each swimming legs in the Hounds’ victorious 400 freestyle relay effort.

“Those two seniors have been a very important part of not just Pullman High School swimming, but Pullman swimming,” Hogg said. “As in, the clubs; they’ve coached kids; they’ve done so much for the community through swimming. It’s really important to recognize that.”

The Greyhounds’ top junior Jake McCoy, who is himself the reigning state champion in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke, took his own turn to relate affectionate anecdotes about the seniors as they were lavished with balloons and gift bundles.

“I’ve known those two for so long, and we’ve been really good friends forever,” McCoy said. “I asked Jacob if I could do (speeches about) them, because they’re really good guys.”

To cap off the proceedings, Miller led a traditional team ritual meant to fire the Hounds up for the meet’s conclusion.

“PASSION! PASSION! PASSION!” rose the chant as he stood on a chair above the throng of his teammates and poured a taste of passionfruit juice from a jug into each of their mouths before downing the last of it himself.

With that, it was back to business.

Hounds maul Mavericks

No new school records were set, as has been a regular occurrence this season for Pullman, but the hosts consistently proved a cut above the visiting Mavericks.

Observers sitting on the bleachers or standing at either end of the pool had a perspective sufficiently up-close that they caught a smattering of droplets churned up by the competition, and especially the more furious diving and swimming of the sprint events. The relatively long-distance 500 freestyle race saw all three Greyhounds finish well before the first Moses Lake swimmer, in some cases lapping the Mavericks.

Official results of the meet were not available at press time.

“It feels kind of bittersweet at this point,” Uberuaga said of having completed his final high school regular season. “I’m looking forward to postseason. I think it will go really, really well. I think all of us are looking forward to postseason.”

Gearing up for “hell week”

With their regular season complete and a nine-day hiatus from competition before they host the district meet at WSU’s Gibb Pool on Feb. 2-3, the Hounds are heading into what McCoy terms “hell week.”

“It’s just a really hard week, full of lots of training and lots of yards,” he said. “We’re going to really kind of break the body down, get everything down so we can build the muscle back up and kind of rest going into Districts and State. I think we’ve got a good group of guys that are going to go really fast, and I’m excited.”

Miller referred to hell week as “our hardest training of the year,” after which the team will “start tapering off, resting up for Districts and State” in hopes of being “really full of energy and ready to go.”

Regardless of their district results, the Hounds, who have already posted a host of state-qualifying times over the course of the season, will look to defend their state title on Feb. 15-17 at King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash.