MILL CREEK — The Jackson girls swimming team was looking for a challenge early on this season.

Kamiak was more than happy to oblige.

Boosted by a deeper squad and some strong individual efforts, the Knights handed the Timberwolves a 98-72 loss in a Western Conference South Division dual meet Tuesday at the Mill Creek Swim Club.

Last year, the two teams hooked up at the end of the season and in year’s past sometimes the meet was rescheduled for later in the season. This year Jackson coach Drew Whorley, however, wanted to see how his team stacked up against a stronger team.

Whorley liked what he saw.

“I felt good about it,” he said. “We’re a pretty talented team this year. I thought it would be of great service to swim a team that’s better than us early in the season so we can come back and make adjustments and figure where we’re at and proceed to get better. We had really good swims up top.”

Junior Amber Pleasant won the 50- and 100-yard freestyles and posted a state qualifying time (25.59) in the former event. Senior Lindsay Pagard captured the 200 freestyle (2:06.08) for Jackson’s other individual triumph.

The Wolfpack’s 400 freestyle relay finished first (3:50.27) and also met the state qualification standard. The team consisted of all four returning members — Pagard, Rogers, Pleasant and Angie Wang — who placed fourth at the last year’s state championships.

“I think the 400 free was the best (race),” Pleasant said. “From the beginning of the season we’ve had a little bit of trouble getting that … so it finally came together today and everyone was pumped. I really felt like we were a team today.”

Though the district meet is six weeks away and plenty of training remains, the Timberwolves are looking forward to tangling with Kamiak one more time.

“We did well today,” Rogers said. “I know that our team can do so much better at districts. We’ll give them (Knights) a lot harder race. Today, I think we made them earn their win and districts are going to be really tough.”

Although Rogers swam a state qualifying time (2:14.84) in the 200 individual medley, she was a little disappointed overall in her swims.

“I did not do as well as I had hoped,” she said. “I just didn’t feel as good in the water. But I stayed positive the whole time … Amber did well.

“There was a lot of spirit and we all stuck in there for every race.”

Rogers came into the meet with a state time in the 100 butterfly, which is surprising because she considers it her worst stroke. Rogers also is very close to the qualification standard in the 100 breaststroke and also is aiming for state times in the 100 backstroke and 100 freestyle.

Pleasant has met the qualification standard in the 500 freestyle. Wang is about half a second shy of a state time in the 100 butterfly.

“All the girls that have been leading us thus far swam great today,” Whorley said. “Some of the kids that are usually there for depth and scoring third, fourth and fifth places had some good swims and stepped up, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

Many of the younger Jackson swimmers should benefit by facing off against a team, such as Kamiak, early in the season, according to Pleasant. The inexperienced freshmen and sophomores learned what it feels like to go up against a top flight team.

“It was a good chance for people to get up and race earlier in the season and get good practice swimming against fast people, so that they can swim fast,” Pleasant said. “I think this really pushed people and really got them to go to the next highest gear — swimming faster and swimming harder and really working on finishing the race.”

The Timberwolves have plenty of work ahead but if they keep at it, they should be in good shape for districts, according to Whorley.

“Based on what I saw today and knowing that we’ve got eight weeks before state and six weeks before districts, I feel good about where we’re at,” he said. “I know that these next six weeks, the work that we’re going to do in the pool, is going to have a great impact on our ability to race. So I expect to improve exponentially in a lot of places.”