Pony swimmers finish in Helena

One day in the pool is all that stood between the Havre High boys and girls swim teams and the 2013 Montana State Swimming Championships.

That day was Saturday as the Blue Ponies competed in the always tough, Bohn-Moerer Invitational at the Carroll College PE Center Pool in Helena. The meet included some of the best Class AA teams in the state, as well as Havre's Class A rivals, Billings Central and Hardin.

The Blue Pony boys made a strong showing by scoring 73 points to finish seventh overall. Helena High scored 302 points to finish first, while Billings Central was second with 193 points and Missoula Hellgate was third with 177 points. HHS did finish ahead of the Hardin Bulldogs, as well as three AA squads.

The Blue Pony boys biggest points came from the 200-yard freestyle relay team, which took fifth. The Ponies finished the race in 1:41.48. No HHS individuals finished in the top five on any race.

The Pony girls on the other hand, struggled against the tough competition Saturday. Havre scored just nine points to finish in 11th place, finishing only ahead of Hardin. Helena High won the girls meet with 340 points, while Hellgate was second with 291 and Bozeman was third at 161.

Still, Saturday's meet was the final live tuneup for the state meet, so the important thing for all the Pony swimmers was the competition. And Havre certainly got plenty of that Saturday in Helena.

The Ponies will now have a week to prepare for the state meet, which will be held Feb. 8-9 in Hardin.

Carroll PE Center Pool, Saturday

Team scores

GIRLS

1, Helena High 340; 2, Hellgate 291; 3, Bozeman 161; 4, Sentinel 125; 5, Billings Central 112; 6, Butte High 79; 7, Capital High 67; 8, Glacier High 43; 9, Flathead High 40; 10, Big Sky/Loyola 33; 11, Havre 9; 12, Hardin 2

BOYS

1, Helena High 302; 2, Billings Central 193; 3, Hellgate 177; 4, Glacier High 169; 5, Butte High 130; 6, Bozeman 109; 7, Havre 73; 8, Hardin 65; 9, Capital High 48; 10, Big Sky/Loyola 21; 11, Sentinel 3.

Individuals & relays, Top-5

Girls 200 Medley Relay

1, Hellgate High 'A' 1:52.44; 2, Helena High 'A' (Libby Hardwick, Kaitlyn Kleppelid, Callan Blossom, Kate Murphy), 1:53.73; 3, Bozeman 'A' 2:00.22; 4, Billings Central 'A' 2:02.21; 5, Sentinel 'A' 2:05.32.

Boys 200 Medley Relay

1, Billings Central 'A' 1:41.67; 2, Bozeman 'A' 1:51.05; 3, Helena High 'A' (Stephen Murphy, Colton Bauer, Pat Hooks, Nick Angeli), 1:52.89; 4, Hellgate High 'A' 1:54.74; 5, Butte High 'A' 1:58.04.

Girls 200 Freestyle

1, Hailey Jacobson, Hellgate, 2:01.07; 2, Andrea Schmidt, Sentinel, 2:05.66; 3, Erika Ackerlund, Helena, 2:06.92; 4, Philesha Dolan, Helena, 2:09.26. 5, Libby Hardwick, Helena, 2:12.28.

Boys 200 Freestyle

1, Pierce Oja, Central, 1:49.92; 2, Joshua Loyda, Glacier, 1:53.77; 3, Stephen Murphy, Helena, 1:54.55; 4, Pat Hooks, Helena, 1:56.63; 5, Colton Bauer, Helena HS-MT, 2:02.77.

Girls 200 IM

1, Kaitlyn Kleppelid, Helena, 2:12.08; 2, Sami Duvall, Central, 2:21.79; 3, Kate Murphy, Helena, 2:25.52; 4, Gabbi DeMarinis, Capital, 2:25.56; 5, Maddi Reynolds, Hellgate, 2:28.84.

Boys 200 IM

1, Matt Wehr, Central, 2:03.45; 2, Pete Kotson, Helena, 2:04.31; 3, Jake Cirincione, Glacier, 2:08.17; 4, Gage Gibson, Helena, 2:10.87; 5, Wesley Mack, Capital, 2:16.29.

Girls 50 Freestyle

1, Jenna Marsh, Central, 23.84; 2, Kate Zimmer, Big Sky/Loyola, 24.72; 3, Hanni Leach, Hellgate, 25.34; 4, Adria Bentley, BHS, 26.56; 5, Kelsey McElwain, Helena, 26.61.

Boys 50 Freestyle

1, Pete Kotson, Helena, 22.14; 2, Jordan Loyda, Glacier, 22.69; 3, Logan Streit, Glacier, 22.82;4, Bryson Boese, Central, 23.31; 5, Zack Gray, Central, 23.79.

Girls 100 Butterfly

1, Kate Zimmer, Big Sky/Loyola, 58.86; 2, Makayla Crist, Sentinel, 1:02.05. 3, Callan Blossom, Helena, 1:02.81; 4, Sami Duvall, Central, 1:03.03. 5, Mary Rhoades, Hellgate, 1:03.34.

Boys 100 Butterfly

1, Matt Wehr, Central, 54.36; 2, Jake Cirincione, Glacier, 54.70; 3, John Szekely, Hellgate, 1:00.75; 4, Luke Befumo, Hellgate, 1:01.96; 5, Keegan Whelan, BHS, 1:03.31.

Girls 100 Freestyle

1, Jenna Marsh, Central, 52.54; 2, Andrea Schmidt, Sentinel, 56.87; 3, Kate Michell, Hellgate, 59.08; 4, Kelsey McElwain, Helena, 59.85; 5, Rory Anderson, Hellgate, 1:00.62.

Boys 100 Freestyle

1, Logan Streit, Glacier, 50.21; 2, Pierce Oja, Central, 51.37; 3, Jordan Loyda, Glacier, 51.53; 4, Cameron Gentry, BOZ, 53.58; 5, Reed Bachman, Hellgate, 53.86.

Girls 500 Freestyle

1, Emma Foster, Helena, 5:24.33; 2, Kate Murphy, Helena, 5:35.50; 3, Makayla Crist, Sentinel, 5:38.22; 4, Philesha Dolan, Helena, 5:50.94; 5, Mary Rhoades, Hellgate, 5:54.36.

Boys 500 Freestyle

1, Pat Hooks, Helena, 5:09.59; 2, Stephen Murphy, Helena, 5:10.90; 3, Joshua Loyda, Glacier, 5:17.55; 4, Nick Angeli, Helena, 5:19.74; 5, Orion Kubat, BOZ, 5:21.59.

Girls 200 Freestyle Relay

1, Helena High 'A' (Kaitlyn Kleppelid, Danielle Conquergood, Erika Ackerlund, Emma Foster), 1:45.51; 2, Sentinel High 'A' 1:48.84; 3, Bozeman 'A' 1:49.83; 4, Hellgate High 'A' 1:50.25; 5, Billings Central High 'A' 1:52.24.

Boys 200 Freestyle Relay

1, Glacier High 'A' (Joshua Loyda, Jake Cirincione, Logan Streit, Jordan Loyda), 1:30.48; 2, Billings Central High 'A' 1:32.65; 3, Helena High 'A' (Gage Gibson, Austin Burns, Nick Angeli, Pete Kotson), 1:35.24; 4, Bozeman 'A' 1:40.63; 5, Havre High 'A' 1:41.48.

Girls 100 Backstroke

1, Hanni Leach, Hellgate, 57.36; 2, Molly Hamilton, BOZ, 1:02.55; 3, Libby Hardwick, Helena, 1:02.76; 4, McKinley Hall, BOZ, 1:07.53; 5, Jessica Stenberg, Glacier, 1:09.11.

Boys 100 Backstroke

1, Gage Gibson, Helena, 59.37; 2, Keegan Whelan, BHS, 1:00.54; 3, Jacob Wheeler, BHS, 1:00.99; 4, Blaine Berrington, BHS, 1:10.10; 5, Cameron Dole, Helena, 1:11.65.

Girls 100 Breaststroke

1, Kaitlyn Kleppelid, Helena, 1:07.02; 2, Hailey Jacobson, Hellgate, 1:07.57; 3, Kelsi Nabity, BOZ, 1:13.93; 4, Callan Blossom, Helena, 1:14.53; 5, Jordan Burt, BOZ, 1:15.06.

Boys 100 Breaststroke

1, Carl Johnson, HAR, 1:10.39; 2, Colton Bauer, Helena, 1:11.84; 3, Jacob Wheeler, BHS, 1:14.25; 4, Mark Bruschwein, Central, 1:15.68; 5, Nolan Fromm, Hellgate, 1:16.18.

Girls 400 Freestyle Relay

1, Hellgate High 'A' 3:46.95. 2, Bozeman 'A' 4:00.11. 3, Helena High 'B' (Kelsey Bogumill, Philesha Dolan, Julianne Jones, Kyleen Dolan), 4:06.09; 4, Glacier High 'A' (Emma Hornby, Jackie Stenberg, Sara Burch, Jessica Stenberg), 4:08.64; 5, Hellgate High 'B' (Amanda Kump, Kennedy Salonen, Rory Anderson, Ellen Sears), 4:14.49.

Boys 400 Freestyle Relay

1, Glacier High 'A' (Joshua Loyda, Jake Cirincione, Logan Streit, Jordan Loyda SR), 3:23.27; 2, Helena High 'A' (Gage Gibson, Stephen Murphy, Pat Hooks, Pete Kotson), 3:26.98; 3, Bozeman 'A' 3:35.55; 4, Billings Central 'A' 3:40.17; 5, Butte High 'A' 3:56.83.