MOSES LAKE — “We’re the piranhas and we’re real mean, we can skin a cow in 10 seconds lean!” shouted members of Poulsbo Piranhas Swim Team as they prepared to take to the waters last Saturday at Moses Lake’s McCosh Park.

The Sizzlin’ Summer Invitational, held July 16 and 17, brought swimmers from around the state to 50-meter Olympic size pool, which was longer than most of the team is used to competing in. The length of the pool eliminated turns that either help swimmers by bringing their heartbeat down or causes them to lose time.

For the Piranhas’ Kristine Valdez it was not an issue. Valdez won five of her events at a meet that brought 24 teams and 332 athletes east of the Cascades. Nonetheless, she characterized her performance as “good.”

“I could have tried harder. I didn’t beat any of my times,” she said.

“I’m going to try really hard,” Piranhas Kathryn Parker said, noting that it’s all about personal improvement.

“When I started — I kid you not — I could not swim past those flags,” Erika VanHuis said, indicating flags that are five meters from the wall. Now, VanHuis swims the 200M Backstroke in 3:17.33 seconds.

Christine Nelson shaved 4.65 seconds of her original time in the 50M freestyle as coaches Mark VanHuis and Tom Springer keep the energy positive at pool side.

By the end of the meet, the Piranhas earned its fair share of ribbons and awards. And in spite of only doing “good,” Valdez took third place for overall high points in the 13-14 age bracket. Piranhas David Richardson tied for seventh place in the 16 and older category.

While the pace of the event is that of any competition, the cheering belied this fact and created a friendly atmosphere.

“We are like brothers and sisters,” Kathryn Parker explained, adding with a smile: “We all attack each other randomly.”