Blue Pony swimmers head to Columbia Falls

The Havre High swim teams have yet to take to the road. But the Blue Ponies will finally do that this weekend.

Before the start of the 2021 season, Havre's schedule was still being put together because of COVID-19 protocols. But one thing that had been missing from the schedule early on was a true road meet.

Havre hosted back-to-back meets in the Havre Community Pool to start the season, then last Friday the Ponies participated in the first virtual meet of the year. Havre swam in the Havre Community Pool, and swam against Great Falls High and CMR, which were swimming in their own pool in Great Falls. After the meet, the times and scores from both locations were combined and final results were tallied. So that was a new experience for the Ponies, and head coach Bill Kilgore.

Now, the Ponies will get another new experience when they travel to Columbia Falls Saturday for a meet against Western A schools. It will be the first time Havre has traveled this season, and the first time the Ponies have swam outside the Havre Community Pool.

Still, swimming is swimming, and the Ponies will be ready. The HHS girls are having a strong season, led by veteran swimmers Kobi Burchard, Megan Miller and Morgan Flammond. Aliviah Pratt and Kyla Burchard have also come on strong this season for the HHS girls.

On the boys side, Hiram Cammon is having a really good season thus far, as is Brigham Blackwell. Carson Sandstrom is another standout swimmer, while HHS sophomore Conner McKay is also steadily improving his times, as well, for what is a young Pony boys squad.

The Ponies will swim in Columbia Falls Saturday morning. Their next meet is scheduled for Feb. 6 when they compete in a virtual meet against GFH, CMR and Hardin.