It's time to race

The goals are always high for the Havre Blue Ponies when it comes to the Montana State Swimming Championships. After all, the Ponies have won many Class A boys and girls championships over the last 20 years.

But when Havre gets to the pool for the 2019 state meet this weekend in Bozeman, goals will be at an all-time high.

While chasing Class A team titles is still at the top of Havre's to-do list this weekend, all Blue Pony swimmers can now achieve individual Class A glory, as well. Starting this season, Class A will, for the first time, have its own individual championship races. In past state meets, all Class AA and A swimmers swam together, and that will still be the case for today's preliminaries. However, Saturday, there will be a final for AA swimmers and a final for A swimmers in each event.

And that is one of the many reason Havre head coach Bill Kilgore's teams are excited about this particular state meet.

"Fired up is an understatement," Kilgore said. "These kids have been working so hard all of these months for this one meet and the possibility of bringing a championship back to our community, that's keeping them focused, relaxed and ready has been a real challenge for me as coach. Truth be told, it's hard for coach Cammon and me to keep ourselves on a slow burn and not get too excited."

The Havre boys will be excited this weekend because, the Blue Ponies are among the favorites to win the Class A team title. Led by star senior Sergio Tamayo, as well as standout junior Jacob Miller, and veterans like Paxtin McCann, Christian Mathis and more, the Pony boys have been among the top teams in Class A all season long.

"Our boys team has had some pretty lofty goals for this meet, and they have the talent and potential to meet them this year," Kilgore said. "Stroke by stroke and yard by yard, they will have to earn every single point that they can, but a top-two finish is definitely possible. Jacob Miller and Sergio Tamayo have their sights set at bringing home a first-place finish in at least one of their two individual events and Christian Mathis is looking to crack into the top three in his 100 backstroke. The most important races for us will be the three relays and the double points they bring. If we can place well in those, I like our chances."

Kilgore also noted that on the boys side, every Class A squad, which includes powerhouses Billings Central and Hardin, as well as Whitefish and Columbia Falls are strong this season.

Meanwhile, the Havre girls might have a bit of a difference experience at this weekend's meet. They still have strong swimmers in Kobi Burchard, Megan Miller and veteran seniors like Hannah Lunak and Lacey Huseby. But, Kilgore said, this season has been a bit of a building process for HHS.

"The girls team is a bit of a different story from the boys," Kilgore said. "We are in a rebuild year with them and this will be the first state meet for several of them, in fact, over half are underclassmen. Scoring points in the girls division is going to be difficult for us, but Megan Miller, Kobi Burchard, Aria Pratt and Hannah Lunak are poised to claw their way into the top six finals in their individual events and earn some very important points for us. As with the boys, our relays can make all the difference in the final standings."

Hardin, Billings Central and Whitefish all have strong teams on the girls side, as well.

And while trophies and medals are what the Ponies are after this weekend, Kilgore also spoke about what he wants most out of his teams in their final races in what has been a tremendous year for the Pony swimmers.

"I want to see their joy at being a representative of our community, school, and team at the biggest swim meet that Montana high school swimming has to offer," Kilgore said. "I want to see them smile when they make new friends and when they congratulate the swimmer in the lane next to them at the end of a hard race. I want to see them take in the experience and rise to the magnitude of the event by swimming to their utmost ability. I want them be able to lay their head down Saturday night and be able to say that they gave all that they could give and that they feel the pride of having done so. Most of all I just want them to have a blast in a sport that they love while soaking in all of the emotions that a state championship meet brings."

The Montana State Swimming Championships begin with preliminaries today. The finals and consolation finals will take place Saturday. All the action will be held inside the Bozeman Swim Center.