Havre swimming kicks off 2023 with home meet

On Saturday at the Havre Community Pool, the Havre High swimming teams competed in their lone home meet of the season as they swam against CM Russell and Great Falls High School. At the meet, the HHS boys team finished second and the HHS girls team took third. With strong performances from many individuals, HHS head coach Bill Kilgore liked how the Blue Ponies looked in their first action of 2023.

"I think our swimmers performed amazingly well coming off the Christmas break," Kilgore said. "There have been a lot of hit or miss practices during the holidays and I was really happy with the dedication our team showed by making workouts during that time. That dedication proved itself today and I am proud of all of them."

During the meet, the Ponies held their senior day to honor their swimmers leaving at the end of the season. From the boys team, the Ponies honored Chase Mariani, Carson Sandstrom, Conner McKay and Nate Gregoire. On the girls team, they honored Kate Hemmer, Allie Messinger, Chloe Shennum, Hannah Gingery, Willow Riggin, Courtney Burchard and Ali Maloughney. As their careers soon come to a close, it will be bittersweet for some seniors to move on from the program.

"The swim team is more than a team, it's a family to me. I've had countless memories with them," McKay said. "But I'm just happy to be here with everyone."

In the pool, the Ponies made the most of their lone home meet of the season. The HHS boys team finished second with 164 points while Great Falls took first and CM Russell finished third. In the girls meet, CM Russell took first and Great Falls took second. Havre came in third with 150 points.

Many Ponies had excellent performances in the meet. Liliana Smith took first in the girls 200-meter IM with a time of 3:03.52. She also took fifth in the girls 100-meter freestyle with a time of 1:17.31. Freshman Elizabeth Carroll also swam well as she finished fifth in the girls 100-meter butterfly with a time of 1:34.59 and she took fifth in the girls 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:45.46.

Kyla Burchard took second in the girls 200-meter IM with a time of 3:07.76 and she finished fourth in the girls 100-meter butterfly with a finish of 1:30.32. Willow Riggin had a couple of strong finishes as she took fourth in the girls 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:43.82 and she placed fifth in the girls 400-meter freestyle with a time of 6:23.11.

In the girls 200-meter IM, Hemmer finished fifth with a time of 3:53.46. Hailey Gingery finished sixth in the girls 100-meter freestyle with a time of 1:19.17 and Jayla Medlrum placed sixth in the girls 400-meter freestyle with a time of 6:45.50. In the girls 100-meter backstroke, Ainsley Courtnage finished sixth with a time of 1:32.77.

The HHS girls team also did well in several relay events. In the girls 200-meter medley relay, the HHS A team took third with a time of 2:36.50. In the girls 200-meter freestyle relay, the HHS A team took third with a time of 2:23.46 and the HHS B took sixth with a time of 2:36.24. In the girls 400-meter freestyle relay, the HHS A team placed third with a time of 5:20.11 and the HHS B team took fifth with a time of 6:09.46.

On the boys side for the Ponies, Sandstrom had a strong performance in his final home meet as he placed first in the boys 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1:23.46 and he took second in the boys 50-meter freestyle with a time of 28.13.

Micah Cammon had a solid day as he took second in the boys 100-meter butterfly with a time of 1:21.71 and he took third in the boys 200-meter freestyle with a time of 2:41.76. Koby Preputin swam well as he took third in the boys 200-meter IM with a time of 3:14.00 and he took third in the boys 400-meter freestyle with a time of 5:57.79.

Ezra Goldhaun did well in the boys 100-meter backstroke as he took third with a time of 1:41.21. Blake Taylor had a strong day for the Ponies as he finished third in the boys 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:25.06 and he took sixth in the boys 400-meter freestyle with a time of 6:18.73.

Mariani finished sixth in the boys 100-meter freestyle with a time of 1:21.37. In his final time at home, Gregoire took fourth in the boys 200-meter freestyle with a time of 2:46.49 and he took fourth in the boys 400-meter freestyle with a time of 6:02.31.

McKay also made the most of his last time at home as he placed fourth in the boys 200-meter IM with a time of 3:14.12 and he took fourth in the boys 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:28.37. The Havre pool is notorious for its size compared to other pools, so McKay believes getting to practice in it every day gave the Ponies an advantage.

"We're going to be the most comfortable in it because we swim in it every day," McKay saud. "I think the difficulty of our pool has definitely made us better swimmers. I hate it, but I love my pool."

The boys had some strong finishes in the relay events. In the boys 200-meter medley relay, the HHS A team took first with a time of 2:12.80 and the HHS B team finished fifth with a time of 2:42.89. The HHS A team took second in the boys 200-meter freestyle relay with a time of 1:56.47 and the HHS A team took fourth in the boys 400-meter freestyle relay with a time of 5:14.80.

The Ponies will now just have three more meets this season before the state meet in Bozeman next month. Now that their lone home meet this season is over with, Kilgore believes not only was it a good step forward for the program this season, but for the foreseeable future.

"I believe that our seniors have blazed a path, set the standard and showed the younger swimmers what this team is about," Kilgore said. "With experienced high school swimmers and new swimmers who are experienced in swimming funneling into the high school program, I believe Havre is in a very good position to be successful for years to come."

The HHS swim teams will next compete in the Hardin meet this Saturday.