PORT ANGELES — When Ashlee Reid was picked as a captain for the Port Angeles girls swimming team the role trumped her personal aspirations for her senior season.
“I really wanted us to go far,” Reid said.
The Roughriders did just that, claiming West Central District and Olympic League championships for the second consecutive year.
Leading the way was Reid, who also achieved her
personal goals.
“Myself, I wanted to go to state, since I have every year since I was a freshman, and place at state,” she said.
Reid won district titles in the 100-yard freestyle, 100 backstroke, 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay.
Then, at the Class 2A state meet, she fulfilled her goal by placing — finishing eighth or better — in all four events: sixth in the 100 freestyle, sixth in the 100 backstroke, fourth in the 200 medley relay and seventh in the 400 freestyle relay.
These district titles and state placements earned Reid the All-Peninsula Girls Swimming MVP determined by a poll of area coaches and Peninsula Daily News sports staff.
The closer Reid got to the end of her high school swimming career, the more important leading her teammates became.
“I knew I had to go all out, even if it hurt,” Reid said.
“I wanted to give the team something they could look up to for years to come.”
Reid calls herself a leadership-oriented person and said she loves being part of a team.
“It’s kind of hard to do everything by yourself,” she said.
“For the future, it teaches you to work as a team. Learning to do that is one of the most important things.
“I like to talk to people and get to know people and form better bonds.”
Her desire to lead extends to dry land.
Although Port Angeles’ softball team, for which she is a power-hitting, two-time All-Peninsula third baseman, doesn’t designate captains, Reid felt the responsibility of leadership as one of the team’s seniors.
She also was one of the leaders of Port Angeles High School’s Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, or NJROTC, program, for which Reid said she was a commanding officer, color guard commander and a drill team commander.
“I really like the military aspect,” Reid said of the ROTC.
“I like the discipline and how everything is run.”
Reid began swimming competitively when she was 7 years old with the Port Angeles Swim Club.
She changed strokes and distances often until setting on what she likes to do most: sprints.
“Sprinting is definitely my thing,” Reid said. “It’s more of a competition [that longer distances].”
Reid said her upper-body strength makes her a strong sprinter. (It also helps in softball: “I think that’s what helps me be a power hitter, and my throwing,” she said.)
“I work at it really hard,” Reid said, adding that some of that strength is built with the pushups she is required to do with the NJROTC.
That strength helped her move up two spots in the 100 backstroke to sixth in the state finals after finishing eighth in the state semis.
“Almost didn’t make finals, but I did and I moved up,” Reid said. “That was a proud moment for me.”
Her backstroke also played a major role on Port Angeles’ fourth-place state finish in the 200 medley relay, which Reid swam with Carter Juskevich, Jaine Macias and Audra Perrizo, all of whom join her on the 2014 All-Peninsula team.
“I do like the relays, especially the medley because I lead off with my backstroke,” Reid said. “It’s kind of like a mini-team.”
Reid finishes her career with four All-Peninsula swimming nods to go along with her four state appearances.
But her future isn’t in the pool.
Reid will attend the University of Idaho, where she will be part of the college ROTC program.
After graduation, she plans to be an officer in the Navy.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
[Editor’s note: Online version updated to correct Kylee Reid’s school affiliation.]
