Time to dive in and race

Another winter sports season is already near its end as teams prepare for the postseason. The Havre High swim teams will finish up their season this weekend with the state meet in Great Falls.

With such a young team heading to state, HHS head coach Bill Kilgore just wants to see the Blue Ponies learn from this experience.

"We want to gain some experience because we're still really young," Kilgore said. "We need to gain some experience in that regard and just be at state to see the big teams swim. Just see the lights come on and see the show because that can be intimidating for a lot of these guys."

The Ponies will take over 30 swimmers with them to state this weekend. The boys relay team qualified for the 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay. The Havre 'A' 200 medley relay team recorded a time of 2:01.46 during the season to qualify for state and the 200 freestyle relay 'A' team posted a time of 1:45.72. The 400 freestyle relay 'A' team recorded a time of 4:12.85 during the year to make it to state.

The Havre girls relay team will compete in the 200 medley relay, the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay this weekend. The girls 200 medley relay team qualified for state after posting a time of 2:21.30 this year and the 200 freestyle team recorded a time of 2:09.92 this year. The girls 400 freestyle relay team posted a time of 4:57.42 this season to make it to this weekend.

The Ponies have many individual swimmers competing this weekend as well. In the boys 50 freestyle, Carson Sandstrom, Wyatt Hagstrom, Conner McKay and Nate Gregoire will compete for the Ponies. Sandstrom qualified for state with a personal best of 25.42 and Hagstrom posted a time of 26.69 to make it to this weekend. McKay's best time this season was 26.80 and Gregoire posted a time of 29.75 to qualify for this weekend's tournament.

In the boys 100 butterfly, Hiram Cammon will swim for Havre thanks to a personal best of 1:04.11 this year. He will also compete in the 100 breaststroke after posting a time of 1:14.24 this year. In the boys 100 freestyle, the Ponies will be represented by McKay, Gregoire and Chase Mariani this weekend. McKay's best time this year was 59.78 and Gregoire qualified for state with a personal best of 1:06.12. Mariani posted a time of 1:10.16 this year to make it to state.

Sandstrom and Mariani will swim for the Ponies in the boys 500 freestyle. Sandstrom posted a time of 6:20.25 and Mariani recorded a time of 7:52.34 to qualify for state. In the 100 backstroke, Hagstrom, Koby Preputin and Ezra Goldhan will swim for the Ponies. Hagstrom qualified thanks to a time of 1:08.34 this year. Preputin posted a personal best of 1:20.66 and Goldhaun recorded a time of 1:41.26 this year to make it to state.

The HHS girls swim team will be represented this weekend. In the 200 freestyle, Jayla Meldrum and Hailey Gingery will swim for Havre. Meldrum qualified for the event thanks to a personal best of 2:46.31 while Gingery made it with a time of 2:50.94.

Aliviah Pratt, Emme Lines and Mackenzie Dean will swim for Havre in the 200 IM. Pratt qualified for state with a personal best of 2:51.00. Lines made it with a time of 3:00.33 and Dean qualified with a time of 3:09.12.

In the 50 freestyle, Willow Riggin and Claudia Ucin will swim for the Ponies. Riggin qualified with a time of 32.98 while Ucin made it with a record of 38.61. Dean and Kyla Burchard will swim for Havre in the 100 butterfly. Burchard posted a time of 1:15.22 to qualify while Dean recorded a personal best of 1:38.39 this year.

Meldrum, Gingery and Ada Pratt will race for Havre in this weekend's 500 freestyle. Meldrum recorded a personal best of 7:30.22 this year to qualify. Gingery made it thanks to a time of 7:50.40 while Pratt qualified after a personal best of 7:53.63 this year.

Burchard, Grace Crantz and Kate Hemmer will represent Havre in the 100 backstroke. Burchard qualified for the event after a personal best of 1:13.66 this year. Crantz made it with a time of 1:26.15 while Hemmer qualified with a time of 1:28.37.

The Ponies will have many swimmers compete in the 100 breaststroke this weekend. Aliviah Pratt qualified for the event thanks to a time of 1.20.79 while Lines made it with a personal best of 1:30.42 this season. Ada Pratt qualified with a time of 1:33.26 and Crantz made it with a time of 1:39.04.

At the meet, the Ponies will race against several schools from Class AA and Class A. But Kilgore expects the Ponies' toughest competition to be Hardin and Billings Central. If the Ponies do have an advantage against these tougher schools, it will be the fact that the Ponies have already swam in Great Falls several times this season.

"We're really comfortable in that pool," Kilgore said. "The way that pool's set up, it's a fast pool that we usually swim well in and I do lend that to our familiarity with it."

The Montana State Swimming Championships begin in Great Falls today before wrapping things up Saturday.