HHS swimmers do more than just compete with GFH, CMR

The Electric City has had some great competitions this season when it comes to swimming and the Havre High swim team has been to Great Falls three times so far this year to compete, including last Friday.

The Blue Ponies competed in the 2020 Great Falls-Havre Duals in the Swarthout Pool Friday, taking third and fourth place for both the boys and girls teams.

The girls teams took third with 121 points and fourth with 99 points, while the boys teams finished third with 88 points and fourth with 74 points.

The competition was tough Friday in Great Falls, but HHS head coach Bill Kilgore was glad to see his team put in a lot of great effort and work in the water.

"While we'll always have trouble competing with the much larger Great Falls teams, I was happy with our performance in the pool," Kilgore said. "Our kids swam really, really well in what will really be our last tune up before the state championship. We swim again next week in Great Falls, and that will be the last official meet before our state meet, but we plan to rest our top swimmers at that meet to help get them ready for the championship. This will allow some of our less experienced kids to be able to showcase their talent, and possibly earn a spot on our state roster."

When it comes to team efforts at the duals, the Havre A boys team took third in the boys 200 yard medley relay with a time of 2:00.78 and the Havre B boys team placed fourth in the boys 200 yard freestyle relay in 1:59.37. For the girls, the Havre A team finished fourth in the girls 200 yard medley relay with a 2:17.04 and the Havre B team placed fourth in the girls 200 yard freestyle relay in 2:10.69.

Individually, there were a lot of notable swims. Carson Sandstrom finished fourth in the boys 50 freestyle in 24.67 seconds, Megan Miller placed fourth in the girls 100 freestyle with a time of 1:01.84 and fourth in the girls 100 backstroke in 1:12.10, Kobi Burchard took second place in the girls 500 freestyle in 6:19.57 and third in the girls 100 breaststroke with a 1:19.20 and Jacob Miller continued to impress in the boys 100 breaststroke with a third-place finish in 1:09.22.

Some swimmers made significant time improvements. Willow Riggin dropped seven seconds in the Girls 200 Freestyle, Wyatt Hagstrom dropped six seconds in the boys 200 IM, Sandstrom dropped one-and-a-half seconds in the boys 500 Freestyle and 15 seconds in the boys 500 freestyle, while Conner McKay dropped 12 seconds in the boys 100 backstroke.

Overall, the Havre swimmers put up some impressive races in Great Falls, but Kilgore saw something else that stood out at the duals.

"This may sound a bit cheesy, but what stood out to me the most was the joint cheer that our kids performed with the kids from Great Falls," Kilgore said. "We started that last year and it has quickly become a tradition for our teams. Coach Cammon and I have always held the belief that there is more to the experience of being a swimmer than just swimming, and this meet is truly a result of that. We are fortunate that the Great Falls coach, Ed McNamee, believes the same way we do, and we can coordinate with him to create a very special experience for our swimmers."

With a lot of time in the Electric City, the Blue Pony swimmers have had a lot of great moments, but Kilgore mentions the most consistent result in the water in

Great Falls.

"We swim in Great Falls more than anywhere, and we are comfortable there," Kilgore said. "It truly feels like a home meet to us when we swim there, and it shows in our kids' times. The consistent result for us in meet after meet in Great Falls is personal best times and quality swims."

And HHS is not done in Great Falls, as the Ponies head there once more on Saturday for a big Great Falls Invitational. Havre will not be swimming its studs to free up space for the younger swimmers on the team. This is the Ponies' last regular season meet before the state meet in Great Falls Feb. 14-15.