North Thurston girls swimming wins 54th consecutive dual meet against Wilson

North Thurston’s 12-point win Tuesday over Wilson was a bit closer than the girls swimming team had been used to.

“We were lucky to squeak by,” North Thurston coach Jak Ayres said.

The North Thurston Rams relied on depth and some key relay wins to lead them to the 96-84 victory, which extends their current dual meet winning streak to 54.

Ayres founded the team in 1969 and coached until 1975. He returned to the program as an assistant seven years ago, and took over again in 2009.

Since then, North Thurston has not lost a dual meet.

“(Coach Ayres) always tells us, ‘This is going to be a tough one guys,’ ” senior Arielle Howell said. “This was actually a tough one.”

Howell won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.33 seconds. She beat Wilson’s closest swimmer by more than two seconds.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Howell (57.18) — who placed eighth in the event at the Class 3A state meet last season — was edged by Wilson’s Madeleine Dodge. Dodge’s time of 55.59 seconds beat the Class 3A state qualifying standard of 55.90.

“She’s always been a rival, but she’s a bit faster,” Howell said. “She’s stayed consistent with her times since last season, and I’ve gained. So, hopefully I can drop back down.”

Howell also swam a leg in North Thurston’s two relay wins — the 200-yard medley and 200-yard freestyle.

The medley combo of Brooke Kuebler, Maya Lawson-Rivera, Howell and Lauren Anderson won with a time of 1:58.52 — 0.42 seconds off of last year’s school-record time at the Class 3A West Central District meet.

North Thurston also took third to open the scoring at 10-4 and never trailed.

Lawson-Rivera, a junior, also picked up decisive wins in the 200-yard individual medley (2:22.69) and 100-yard breaststroke (1:15.15).

“They’re the two events I do during high school, and I’ve been working really hard this summer with my club team,” Lawson-Rivera said.

Nicole Anderson held off Wilson’s Lilly Tran in the 500-yard freestyle to win at 6:00.67. Anderson then jumped directly back into the pool to swim a leg of North Thurston’s 200 relay, which posted a 1:58.05 to edge Wilson’s 1:58.77.

North Thurston and Wilson had six first-place finishes apiece. Ayres said the depth made the difference.

“They’re ready to step up into those fourth and fifth place finishes, which won us the meet,” he said.

Ayres said his team’s ability to gather up those lower-place points will be key in dual meets this season, especially since the team doesn’t have divers. Wilson gained 13 uncontested points in the diving competition.

“It almost cost us a meet today,” Ayres said.

North Thurston will try to continue to accrue every point it can against a speedy 3A Narrows League. The team travels Thursday to Central Kitsap and faces a tough test in Capital on Sept. 24.

“I feel like the whole area is getting faster every year,” Howell said.

This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 9:01 PM with the headline "North Thurston girls swimming wins 54th consecutive dual meet against Wilson."