Blue Ponies swim at the Stacy Frey Memorial Invitational

With the postseason approaching, the Havre High swimming teams look to be at their best. This past weekend in Great Falls, the Blue Ponies had another chance to improve as they competed in the Stacy Frey Memorial Invitational. Against tough competition, the HHS boys team finished eighth while the HHS girls team placed 12th.

“Our swimmers performed much better than I anticipated with lots of personal bests. We have been training very hard this month and it’s unusual for the swimmers to swim fast in late January especially at this meet that has so many teams and lasts so long,” HHS head coach Bill Kilgore said. “The good thing about it is that the kids get a chance to experience that type of meet before our state meet so they understand the amount of energy they need to bring.”

The HHS boys team scored 84 points to take eighth in its meet. Billings West won the boys meet with 218 points while Great Falls took second and Bozeman finished third. The HHS girls team scored 19 points to finish 12th. Great Falls won the girls meet with 243.5 points and CM Russell came in second and Billings West came in third.

While the Ponies did not place high as a team, several swimmers had solid showings in the meet. In the boys 50-yard freestyle, Carson Sandstrom finished sixth with a time of 25.55 seconds. In the boys 100-yard freestyle, Conner McKay took sixth with a time of 55.16 seconds.

In the boys 100-yard backstroke, Blake Taylor finished sixth with a time of 1:08.48. In the boys 400-yard freestyle relay, the HHS boys A team finished sixth with a time of 3:55.41.

In the meet, several Ponies shaved off their times. Swimmers such as Kate Hemmer and Katie Messinger dropped at least 10 seconds off their times in certain events. Hailey Gingery dropped nine seconds in the 100.

The Ponies now only have one more meet before competing in the state meet in Bozeman next month. With little time until their most important meet of the season, Kilgore believes they are on track for what they want to accomplish at the end of the year.

“I think, for the most part, we are right where we need to be as far as training and team unity. It’s always great to watch the kids cheer and pull for each other whether they have a great swim or not a great swim,” Kilgore said. “We have one more meet to go before we have to make the cuts for the state meet, so some of the kids that are on the bubble for times will start to get a little bit of a breather as we back off the training and let their bodies rest and recover. The ones that already have times will keep training hard for the next couple of weeks.”

The HHS swim teams wrap up the regular season with the Great Falls/Havre meet in Great Falls this Friday.

Stacy Frey Memorial Invitational

Jan. 21, 2023

Girls Team Scores: Great Falls High 243.5, CM Russell 221, Billings West 212, Billings Central 135, Billings Skyview 110, Gallatin 88, Bozeman 84, Helena High 56, Hardin 55.5, Belgrade 46, Capital 22, Havre 19, Billings Senior 9, East Helena 1.

Boys Team Scores: Billings West 218, Great Falls High 199, Bozeman 154, Gallatin 119, Billings Central 119, Helena High 103, Capital 89, Havre 84, Belgrade 67, Billings Senior 63, Billings Skyview 44, Hardin 22, CM Russell 19.

Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay: 1. Bison 'A' 1:54.18, 2. Rustlers 'A' 1:54.58, 3. BWH 'A' 1:58.81, 4. Helena High 'A' 2:03.41, 5. Central 'A' 2:04.62, 6. Skyview 'A' 2:07.09.

Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay: 1. BWH 'A' 1:44.73, 2. Bison 'A' 1:48.45, 3. Helena High 'A' 1:52.08, 4. Gallatin 'A' 1:53.92, 5. Capital 'A' 1:54.48, 6. Bozeman 'A' 1:54.53.

Girls 200 Yard Freestyle: 1. Lexi Carey, Skyview, 2:04.27, 2. Lola Sheridan, BWH, 2:04.55, 3. Ava Cancro, BWH, 2:04.80, 4. Elina Maganito, Gallatin, 2:06.42, 5. Grace Woldtvedt, Bison, 2:06.61, 6. Kaitlyn Thomas, Rustlers, 2:08.63.

Boys 200 Yard Freestyle: 1. Garrett Krattiger, Helena High, 1:50.55, 2. B. Boyer, Bozeman, 1:57.78, 3. Sennett Pizzolato, Senior, 2:00.77, 4. Lincoln Cochran, Capital, 2:00.99, 5. Jericho Jay, Bison, 2:03.08, 6. Chris Long, Bison, 2:03.59.

Girls 200 Yard IM: 1. Crystal Benjamin, Skyview, 2:16.18, 2. Eva Hicks, Helena High, 2:23.07, 3. Julia TenNapel, Bison, 2:25.10, 4. Alexis Hubbard, Bozeman, 2:28.31, 5. Alexandra Moore, BWH, 2:29.35, 6. AJ Lilyquist, Belgrade, 2:33.43.

Boys 200 Yard IM: 1. Syler Pizzolato, Senior, 2:04.13, 2. Devin Goetsch, Helena High, 2:08.88, 3. Greyson Piseno, Central, 2:14.35, 4. Samuel Wendt, BWH, 2:16.64, 5. Alex Clapper, Gallatin, 2:21.85, 6. Thomas Wahl, Bison, 2:26.44.

Girls 50 yard Freestyle: 1. Isabella Pachek, Bison, 25.70, 2. Grace Woldtvedt, Bison, 26.43, 3. Kelly Early, Central, 26.61, 4. Onika Gray, Rustlers, 26.76, 5. Eva Hicks, Helena High, 27.00, 6. Myah Kunz, Central, 28.28.

Boys 50 Yard Freestyle: 1. Scott Anderson, Bison, 23.02, 2. McGuire, Hanson, BWH, 23.25, 3. Isaac Urban, Capital, 24.08, 4. Dylan Neese, Skyview, 24.09, 5. Parks Inlow, Bozeman, 24.71, 6. Carson Sandstrom, Havre, 25.55.

Girls 100 Yard Butterfly: 1. Georgie Hatzenbeller, Rustlers, 1:01.48, 2. Ella Kingsland, Bison, 1:03.03, 3. Taylor Kotsch, Rustlers, 1:04.58, 4. Alexandra Moore, BWH, 1:05.58, 5. Lexi Carey, Skyview, 1:08.74, 6. Julia Lund, BWH, 1:09.28.

Boys 100 Yard Butterfly: 1. Devin Goetsch, Helena High, 56.95, 2. McGuire Hanson, BWH, 58.83, 3. Eli Stevens, Bozeman, 59.21, 4. Samuel Wendt, BWH, 59.93, 5. Dylan Neese, Skyview, 1:01.69, 6. Cameron Teerink, BWH, 1:01.77.

Girls 100 Yard Freestyle: 1. Isabella Pachek, Bison, 56.42, 2. AJ Lilyquist, Belgrade, 58.73, 3. Anna Kropf, Rustlers, 1:00.31, 4. Onika Gray, Rustlers, 1:00.36, 5. Makenna Torske, Hardin, 1:00.86, 6. Rachel Hirschi, Skyview, 1:01.11.

Boys 100 Yard Freestyle: 1. Scott Anderson, Bison, 50.21, 2. Daniel Githens, BWH, 50.71, 3. B. Boyer, Bozeman, 53.08, 4. Isaac Urban, Capital, 53.46, 5. Kody Jensen, Belgrade, 54.28, 6. Conner McKay, Havre, 55.16.

Girls 500 Yard Freestyle: 1. Ava Cancro, BWH, 5:27.19, 2. Lola Sheridan, BWH, 5:27.28, 3. Elina Maganito, Gallatin, 5:40.59, 4. Emma Guter, Bison, 5:45.07, 5. Kelly Early, Central, 5:47.74, 6. Corina Amundson, Bozeman, 5:56.90.

Boys 500 Yard Freestyle: 1. Syler Pizzolato, Senior, 5:05.52, 2. Dylan Shelton, Central, 5:11.35, 3. Tyler Zarbock, BWH, 5:14.85, 4. Jaricho Jay, Bison, 5:36.41, 5. Chris Long, Bison, 5:39.25, 6. Ryan Oberg, Capital, 5:49.53.

Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Rustlers 'A' 1:46.26, 2. Bison 'A' 1:51.47, 3. Gallatin 'A' 1:53.44, 4. Hardin 'A' 1:56.08, 5. Central 'A' 1:56.15, 6. Bozeman 'A' 1:58.26.

Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Bozeman 'A' 1:42.29, 2. Belgrade 'A' 1:42.63, 3. Gallatin 'A' 1:43.41, 4. Capital 'A' 1:43.95, 5. BWH 'A' 1:46.29, 6. Bison 'A' 1:46.45.

Girls 100 Yard Backstroke: 1. Taylor Kolsch, Rustlers, 59.86, 2. Kaitlyn Thomas, Rustlers, 59.99, 3. Ella Kingsland, Bison, 1:02.86, 4. Emma Guter, Bison, 1:04.83, 5. Anna Kropf, Rustlers, 1:06.74, 6. Julia Lund, BWH, 1:08.01.

Boys 100 Yard Backstroke: 1. Garrett Krattiger, Helena High, 54.69, 2. Daniel Githens, BWH, 55.61, 3. Dylan Shelton, Central, 56.73, 4. Eli Stevens, Bozeman, 59.72, 5. Alex Clapper, Gallatin, 1:01.42, 6. Blake Taylor, Havre, 1:08.48.

Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke: 1. Crystal Benjamin, Skyview, 1:08.99, 2. Julia TenNapel, Bison, 1:09.68, 3. Georgia Hatzenbeller, Rustlers, 1:09.83, 4. Gracie Gibbons, BWH, 1:16.03, 5. Grace Klempel, Rustlers, 1:19.15, 6. Makenna Torske, Hardin, 1:20.33.

Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke: 1. Tyler Zarbock, BWH, 1:06.48, 2. Aedan Hraban, Central, 1:13.65, 3. Thomas Wahl, Bison, 1:13.68, 4. EJ Sanchez, Bison, 1:14.04, 5. Toby Mark, Hardin, 1:15.32, 6. Aidan VanWyk, Helena High, 1:16.13.

Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Bison 'A' 3:51.77, 2. BWH 'A' 3:56.37, 3. Skyview 'A' 4:11.07, 4. Bozeman 'A' 4:14.34, 5. Central 'A' 4:15.88, 6. Gallatin 'A' 4:16.31.

Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. BWH 'A 3:33.00, 2. Bison 'A 3:36.96, 3. Bozeman 'A' 3:39.63, 4. Gallatin 'A' 3:46.77, 5. Central 'A' 3:48.65, 6. Havre 'A' 3:55.41.