By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

Riverlands survived a nip and tuck meet at LaVacherie Thursday to open its season with a thrilling 284-265 victory.

Albert Hane, Kyle Wilking and Merryn Guidry each took three first place finishes to highlight the day for Riverlands, which led for most of the meet but never by more than 16.

“This was one of the biggest meets for us this season. We needed to win,” said Riverlands coach Carla Lambert. “It gets our confidence up.”

The Stingrays (1-0) led 62-46 after the opening freestyle event, but LaVacherie began to immediately cut into the lead. Riverlands led 115-101 after the backstroke and 161-158 after the breaststroke. Riverlands extended its lead back to five entering the relay events by edging LaVacherie in the butterfly. But a 42-28 LaVacherie advantage in the medley relay put Riverlands behind for the first time all night, 244-235, entering the final event — the freestyle relay.

But while LaVacherie scored seven relay wins in the medley to three for Riverlands, the Stingrays reversed matters in the freestyle relay, taking seven wins of their own to create the 19-point margin of victory.

“I was really pleased with the relays,” said Lambert. “Everyone really stepped up for us.”

Lauren St. Martin, Sarah Carambert, Anna Guidry, and Maddie Guidry were each first place winners in two events for Riverlands.

Caroline Torres, Brian Comisky, Maddie Sympson, and Jack Chapman rounded out first place winners for the Stingrays.

“LaVacherie swam very well. They’ve got a strong team,” said Lambert. “Our kids knew what they had to do and swam their best.”