High School Dual Meet Win Streaks – What is the National Record?

By Jason Marsteller

PHOENIX, Arizona, October 5. WITH recent reports from various sources about this streak or that streak either ongoing or being broken stated as the "national record," SwimmingWorldMagazine.com is curious to find out exactly what is the true national high school dual meet win streak record.

Recently, the Arizona Republic reported that Scottsdale Desert Mountain had broken the "high school girls swimming dual meet national record streak" of Phoenix Xavier Prep with a 97-89 triumph that stopped Xavier's streak at 217.

Xavier's streak must be honored for its longevity as it began all the way back in 1984, well before any of the current swimmers were born. Also, the squad from Desert Mountain should be recognized for finally overcoming Xavier as it has been gunning for them for quite some time.

However, another girls swim team may actually lay claim to the national record. The Cheshire High Rams are on track to win 235 straight dual meets as of Oct. 15. That record began 21 years ago in 1986, and Ed Aston has been at the helm the entire time. That is also an impressive feat that definitely deserves to be lauded.

However, the feat still leaves some confusion on the "national record" for the girls.

What about the boys?

We asked Bob Klapthor of the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (NISCA), who happens to be instrumental in our High School National Championship every year, what he knows about a national dual meet record.

He explained that there are usually some issues with people claiming national records for dual meet streaks, as there are no standards for whether you count invitationals or not, and no one really keeps track of these types of records anyway.

He did point to a pair of reported streaks that are quite impressive. North Penn's boys ran up 251 consecutive dual meet victories with the streak ending in February 2005, while Dick Hannula had an entry in the Washington State Hall of Fame about Tacoma Wilson winning 323 successive meets from 1960-83.

SwimmingWorldMagazine.com is interested to hear back from all of our states on their longest streak records. Please contact us by using the Reaction Time feature below to help us figure out if there actually is a reportable "national record" of this nature. It would be nice to finally put this debate to rest, if at all possible.

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