By Gail Wood
They were the underdogs, the unexpected champs.
Even Jak Ayres, North Thurston’s swim coach with the perpetual upbeat, optimistic outlook, was surprised.
Last season, all three of his relay teams, which didn’t have a senior among them, not only made it to state, but they all placed in the top 10 at 2A state.
Surprisingly, his 200-yard freestyle relay that was an all-sophomore crew, gutted out a season-best 1:35.0 to finish ninth.
“We were pretty surprised,” said Scott Harn, the lead-off leg to the 200 free relay. “But I thought we could do it. It was fun.”
While last year was a journey of the unexpected, this season the Rams are loaded, returning all six state qualifiers off last year’s team. After going undefeated in league and in district, winning league and district titles, Ayres’s Rams are favored to repeat.
“That’s our goal is to repeat,” Ayres said. “We have a lot of returning swimmers who have done well. We also have a lot of young talent.”
With proven talent back, Ayres is hoping to improve on last year’s finish at state of 11th place.
“Depth is what gave us our district strength and our dual meet strength,” Ayres said.
North Thurston’s 200 medley relay returns intact after placing sixth at state with a time of 1:47. That team – which is made up of Erik Solveson, Scott Harn, Cameron Peterson and Tyler Ridgeway – cut six seconds off its time from the first meet to the state final.
“They went from 1:53 to 1;47,” Ayres said, quoting the times by memory. “That’s impressive.”
Ayres’s 400 freestyle relay even out did that. That relay, which had two sophomores and two juniors on it last year, cut an impressive 14 seconds off its time from the first meet to the state final. Swimmers on that relay were Ridgeway, Brady Neeley (now both juniors), Solveson and Peterson (now both seniors).
“We just put it all together and got real quick,” Solveson said.
Solveson nearly missed the state meet because of an injury. A week before district, someone accidentally dropped a 10-pound weight on his foot in the weight room, breaking his big toe.
“It was painful,” Solveson said. “I didn’t think I’d be able to swim. It hurt. But I’m glad I swam. It was worth it.”
Solveson and his teammates agreed that there’s a sense of teamwork that’s developed on a relay team, something that the individual events don’t have.
“You mess up and everyone is effected,” Solveson said. “It makes everyone work harder.”
In the medley relay, each of the four swimmers on the relay swims a different stroke. Solveson leads off with the backstroke, his favorite stroke. Harn follows with a breaststroke. Then Peterson swims the butterfly and Ridgeway swims the freestyle on the anchor leg.
“What’s fun about a relay is you have other people to lean on,” Peterson said. “It’s not all you. If you make a mistake, someone else can make it up for you. But you try your hardest. You don’t want to let other people down.”
Both Harn and Peterson turned out for swimming because of family influence. Peterson’s brother, Matt, who is four years older, swam on North Thurston’s team.
“My brother was the one who got me on the team,” Peterson said. “I’m glad I stuck it out.”
Harn’s parents were the ones that got him interested in swimming. His mom and dad both swam in college at Central Washington.
“They loved it,” Harn said.
Now, so does Harn. But unlike most swimmers who make it to state, Harn didn’t start swimming competitively until his freshman year. And his favorite stroke ended up being the breaststroke, which is one of the more difficult strokes to master. He advanced to state last season in the event and placed 15th with a 1:08.4.
“I made a lot of progress my freshman year,” Peterson said. “You have to have good timing.”
Solveson also made it to state in the 200 IM and the 100 backstroke, placing in the top 10 in both events. North Thurston’s two other state qualifiers are Matt Brickey and Brady Neeley, who swam a leg on the Rams’ 200 freestyle relay that placed ninth with a time of 1:35.0.
North Thurston’s success last year wasn’t by accident. It came through gritty hard work. During the Christmas break, Ayres puts his team through two-a-day workouts, going from 8 to 10 in the morning and 3 to 5 in the afternoons for two weeks. It’s his secret weapon to improvement.
“We put a lot of work into those practices,” Ayers said. “They work really hard. It’s an incredible boost. The kids are dedicated.”
Twelve of his swimmers made it to every practice last Christmas break. Now, with 33 turning out, the perfect attendance could go up. Ayres attributed a lot of that commitment to his two team captains – Solveson and Peterson.
“The camaraderie is what pulls this team together,” Ayres said. “It’s really good. It has a lot to do with our two captains.”
Ayres used to coach North Thurston’s swim team in the 1970s. He left, in part to travel the world, and returned three years ago. Back then, he had his team do two-a-days through the season, one in the morning before school and one in the afternoon after school. But he discovered that wore his swimmers down.
“It’s important to keep everyone healthy,” Ayres said.
Top returners (last year’s state qualifiers)
4A
Shelton – its 200 freestyle relay placed 15h at state. That team was made up of Andrew Grant, john Ramsey, Indi Endicott and Ricky Rutledge.
3A
Capital – Nyle Taylor qualified in the 200 freestyle with a 1:47. Jacob Williams placed sixth in the 100 free in 48.2. Nyle Taylor placed ninth in the same event in 48.7. Cougars placed 10th in the 200 freestyle relay (Alec Temple, Jackson Swanson, Jacob Williams, Nyle Taylor) in 1:33. Capital placed 14th in the 400 freestyle (Swanson, Williams, Tyler, Yeager) inn 3:28.4. In the team standings, Capital placed 14th with 47 points.
Timberline – 200 medley relay, which consisted of Peter Emmons, Nathan Knox, Hayden Oliver, Eric Smith, placed 19th in 1:49.6. Oliver placed 22nd in the 100 butterfly 58.4.
2A
North Thurston – Rams 200 medley relay (Erik Solveson, Scott Harn, Cameron Peterson, Tyler Ridgeway) placed sixth in 1:47.4. Solveson was 10th in the 200 IM in 2:11 and 8th in the 100 backstroke in 59.3. Cameron Peterson seventh in the 100 butterfly in 56.6. Rams were ninth in the 200 freestyle relay (Harn, Matt Brickey, Brady Neeley, Ridgeway) were ninth in 1:35.0. 400 freestyle relay (Ridgeway, Neeley, Solveson, Peterson) placed fifth in 3:26.7. North Thurston placed 11th in the team standings with 17 points.
River Ridge – Hawks 200 medley relay (Christian Dilworth, Durias Thomas, Danny Hayes, Justice Dutton) placed 14th in 1;54.8. Michael Evans placed fourth in diving with a 312.40 and teammate Nic Musselman) placed 17th with a 76.55 after the first round. River Ridge (Thomas, Dilworth, Hayes, Justice Dutton) placed 12th in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:39.8. Hawks placed 19th team standings with five points.
