LACEY — The Capital girls swim and dive team has had to play a rather bothersome game of what head coach Patti Peterson called “musical pools” this season.
Due to the closure of The Evergreen State College’s pool, which used to be home to the Capital program, the Cougars have had to bounce around the limited number of pools in Thurston County to practice and host meets.
But the young Capital squad, made up of 14 total swimmers and eight freshmen, have improved meet by meet despite the circumstances. The Cougars’ most recent victory came on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at River Ridge 84-78, lifted by a pair of qualifiers for the district meet.
Junior Tessa Nielsen cruised to a first-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly with a district-qualifying time of 1:13.97. Additionally, Capital’s 200-yard medley relay team of Masha Olson, Brooke Machut, Nielsen and Amanda Tang blew past their previous best time by seven seconds at 2:30.85, enough to punch their ticket to districts and win the event.
With just 11 swimmers suiting up on Tuesday, Peterson was tasked with spreading out her athletes across the three relays, and all 11 competed in relays.
“All of our relays really stepped up to the plate and did what they needed to do,” she said. “It’s a young team. They’re still learning, but as the season has gone on, we’ve been doing a lot better. I’ve been really proud of them. With the musical pools, it’s not been easy. You don’t know where you’re gonna end up.”
One of the biggest difference-makers for Capital against River Ridge was senior Amanda Tang serving as the lone diver in the meet. She scored 119.85 and gave the Cougars six points in a six-point victory.
“Diving always gives us the extra points,” Peterson said. “If we didn’t have Amanda, we wouldn’t have won. We have a really good dive coach.”
On top of her success in the 100-yard butterfly, Nielsen won the 50-yard freestyle at 29.90 seconds, another PR that was less than a second away from qualifying her for districts. River Ridge’s Emily Wlodkowski finished in second with a PR of 31.51 seconds, and Arizona Fouts also clinched a PR of 31.56 seconds. Fouts won the 100-yard freestyle at 1:10.16, narrowly missing her PR of 1:10.07. Wlodkowski picked up a PR in the 100 free at 1:11.60 in second place.
Both competitors in the 200-yard individual medley — Capital’s Machut and River Ridge’s Makenzie Pickens — picked up personal records to finish in first and second, respectively. Machut swam 3:22.06 in a three-second PR, while Pickens finished in 3:38.37 to slice 11 seconds off her time.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Capital freshman Julia Oestreich took the top prize at 2:51.25, while River Ridge’s Finn Smith finished in second at 3:01.95.
All four swimmers in the 500-yard freestyle either swam their lifetime-best time or were a second off, led by Capital sophomore Syd Stengel in first place at 8:06.92. Capital’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Nielsen, Oestreich, Tang and Olson took first at 2:07.24 to win by 18 seconds.
Olson earned a first-place time of 1:28.36 in the 100-yard backstroke, and Tang triumphed in the 100-yard breaststroke with her best time yet of 1:30.78. River Ridge’s 400-yard freestyle relay team of Brennan Gore, Ruby Ripp, Wlodkowski and Fouts punched their ticket to districts at 5:03.93 to take first place.
“They did great today. We are wrapping up a really fun season. Almost all of my girls PRed. Our last relay finally qualified for districts, so that was what we were most excited about,” River Ridge head coach Nikki Viehweg said.
The Puget Sound League tournament looms for both teams on Oct. 24, but before that, River Ridge will host North Thurston on Thursday, Oct. 15 and Capital will take part in a friendly meet with Olympia and Timberline that night.
