Now that’s a way to start off a season.

Despite a loss to the visiting Olympic Trojans (112-58) on Dec. 4, Sequim’s boys swim team set a pair of school records and locked up district meet spots for eight swimmers in nine events.

And it didn’t take long for the Wolves to set the marks, either: Alex Berikoff, Kaleb Needoba, Liam Payne and Jax Thaxton broke the school record in the 200 medley relay, the meet’s first event, with a time of 1:53.61. That broke the SHS record of 1:53.86 set back in 2003.

The Wolves earned West Central District meet berths for two relays in that first event, as the Sequim 200 medley relay B team of Blake Boardman, Zan Graham, Jesse Bobst and Miles Tadlock posted a 2:03.44 mark.

Three events later, Thaxton swam a 23.49-second 50 free, breaking the Sequim High school record set in 2011 by .03 of a second.

Thaxton added a district meet qualifier in the 100 free later in the meet, finishing with a 55.76-second mark.

Needoba placed second in the 100 butterfly with a personal-best 1:02.52, earning a district meet berth, then punched another district meet ticket in the 500 free after finishing in 5:56.

Liam Payne is headed to districts in the 100 breaststroke after placing second against Olympic with a 1:14.69 time.

Sequim’s 200 free relay team — Thaxton, Graham, Needob and Berokoff — is also headed to districts with a 1:42.16 mark.

The visiting Trojans scored well at the Dec. 4 meet, earning seven state 2A meet-qualifying marks and eight district meet times. Haakon and Dietrich Meyer picked up two state meet qualifying times each.

On Dec. 6, Sequim swimmers again set strong times in a 114-56 loss to Kingston, a team that placed third at the state 2A finals last season.

Thaxton broke his own 50 free school record set two days earlier by a fraction with a 23.48-second finish as he closes in on a state meet berth. He also improved his 100 free time with a 53.17-second mark, good for second place and a district berth.

Berikoff also qualified for districts in the 100 free, finishing third in 56.97 seconds.

Needoba posted district meet-qualifying time in 200 free (2:02.5), a full nine seconds better than his seed time, and improved his 500 free mark from two days prior by about 14 seconds (5:42).

Boardman is headed to districts as well, earning a qualifying time after placing third against Kingston with a 1:10.87 mark in the 100 backstroke.

In all, Sequim earned 10 district berths in eight events, including a pair of district marks in the 200 free relay.

Kingston earned eight state 2A meet-qualifying swims — two each from Ethan Fox, Timothy Gallagher and Aron Markow.

Looking ahead

Sequim is back in the pool Dec. 13 at Port Angeles. The Wolves host North Kitsap on Jan. 10 and travel to Silverdale to take on Klahowya on Jan. 17.