Time to Dive In

Swimming at Havre High has always been a strong tradition. And that tradition won't change this winter, as the Blue Ponies get set to jump in the pool once again.

And the Blue Ponies get to jump into their own waters to start the season, as the Havre Invitational will be held Saturday at the Havre Community Pool.

Havre High is led by second-year head coach Bill Kilgore, and the Pony boys and girls are excited about the upcoming season, after the Havre girls finished third in Class A a year ago, and the Pony boys finished fifth.

"Our team is very excited to start this year," Kilgore said. "We've had record attendance at our voluntary open pool swims in the pre-season and our roster numbers are up again this year. They truly are working as hard as they can to bring a championship to Havre."

Both of Kilgore's squads also return plenty of talent to the pool, too, starting with Amelia Miller, who returns after having reached two finals at last year's Montana State Swimming Championships. Miller is already highly-decorated, and she comes back as one of the top freestyle swimmers in the state. Miller is also part of a strong group of returning Pony girls, including Jessica Otto (butterfly), Jillian Reighard (all-around), Hannah Lunak (backstroke) and Lacey Huseby (butterfly).

"The girls team once again will be a solid team built with strong depth and a punch of strong talent on the upper end," Kilgore said. "Leading the way are our senior girls and captains, Amelia Miller, Jess Otto, and Jillian Reighard. Those girls are setting the bar high and teaching the newcomers just what it will take to meet the lofty goals of a state championship. The strength of the team, though, is the consistent depth in all the strokes across all of the classes. Girls like Hannah Lunak and Lacey Huesby, among others, will help round out the roster. We will definitely miss the talents of one of our swimmers who relocated to Florida this summer, Ally Padgett, but we have some new young swimmers that will be able to step up and fill the void in Kobi Burchard and Megan Miller.

"The future of our girls swimming program is strong with the resurgence of a fantastic feeder program in the Lion's Swim Club lead by Jill Cammon," he continued. "As these girls continue to move through the program, Havre will have much success in the future."

Others in the Havre High girls program this season include, Angela Rhines, Morgan Flammond, Alexis Haney, Gabriella Kucera, Victoria Messineo, Brynn Nault, Aria Pratt, Hannah Pratt, Kimberly Shanks, Star Thomas, Laura Vance, Natalie Verploegen and Carsyn Vogel.

The Pony girls are just two years removed from their last state championship, and they'll be chasing one again this season, though Billings Central and Whitefish will be tough, as well.

Meanwhile, the Havre boys have been building in recent years, and though the Ponies did lose several key seniors from last year's team, they should be strong again, led by the return of Paxtin McCann (butterfly), Jacob Miller (breaststroke), Noah Gjesdahl (freestyle), Ammon Lines (all around) and John Klein (freestyle), while Riley Kilgore and Logan Twombly are also back, as is Kabe Burchard. Christian Mathis is a newcomer Kilgore is excited about as well.

"The boys team has been a work in progress the last few years as we rebuild the numbers and depth," Kilgore said. "We continue with growth and depth as our goal as well as improvement in the standings. This year's team will be led by a patchwork of all the classes that are quickly gaining confidence. The team's strength lies in the core of young men that has helped lead the boys team back to success. Swimmers like juniors Paxtin McCann, Noah Gjesdahl, Ammon Lines, and John Klein are bolstered by journeymen swimmers in sophomores Jacob Miller, Riley Kilgore and Kabe Burchard. Junior newcomer Christian Mathis looks to make an impact in his first season with the Blue Pony Swim Team along with the hard working Logan Twombly."

Aylan Pratt is another experienced swimmer who will help the Ponies this season.

Of course, the Havre boys always have to contend with strong teams from Billings Central And Hardin, while Whitefish is quietly building a strong program, as well. But Kilgore also sees so much potential, along with plenty of talent, in both of his teams and that should make for an exciting season in the pool.

"Our team's motto this year is 'Choose Excellence,'" Kilgore said. "The Blue Pony swim team will always have the goal of a state championship, but in order to do that, our swimmers must choose to do all of the little things in order to reach such a lofty goal. So our goal first and foremost is to make good decisions as individuals and as a team across all aspects of our swimmer's lives: nutrition, work ethic, responsibility, dependability, accountability and honesty just to name a few. So the measurable goal will always be a championship, but the real goal for this team is to learn how to make the choices to get there."

As always, the Ponies will work their way through a tough schedule in December and January, building up to the Montana State Swimming Championships, which will be held Feb. 9-10 in Great Falls.

For now though, Havre is focused on starting the season with the Havre Invitational. The meet is Havre's only home meet of the season, and it will also serve as senior day for all of the Pony senior swimmers. It's an exciting time for the Ponies, and Kilgore said his teams will be ready to go.

"We are swimming farther and faster in workouts at this point in the season than we have in the five years I've been working with this team, and the kids are really getting after it," Kilgore said. "They truly are working as hard as they can to bring a championship to Havre. It's a little like New Year's Day, the start of the season is a clean slate waiting for the young men and women of this team to write their story. How can you not be excited about that?"

The Havre Invitational will start at noon. Saturday in the Havre Community Pool.