Havre High swimmers headed to Missoula

Time is winding down for the Havre High boys and girls swim teams.

The Blue Ponies have just two meets left before the All-Class State Swimming Championships which take place Feb. 10-11 in Billings. An

Havre High's Morgan Jappe competes in the 100-meter breaststroke during the 2011 Havre Invitational last month at the Havre Community Pool. The Blue Pony boys and girls swim teams compete in their next-to-last regular season meet when they visit Missoula Saturday for the annual Missoula Invitational.

d one of those meets will be this weekend when Havre travels west to compete in the Missoula Invitational Saturday at the Grizzly Pool.

The Ponies are coming off a Class AA meet in Great Falls where they once again stood up well to stiff competition. The HHS boys finished a sparkling fifth in last Saturday's Electric City Invite in Great Falls, while the HHS girls finished last, but still swam well.

Havre's schedule prepares the Ponies well for meet's like the Missoula Invite, which will feature all three Missoula schools, as well as teams from Helena, Bozeman and Kalispell, among others. The Ponies are used to swimming against top Class AA competition, so the Missoula meet will not overwhelm Havre.

Where Havre teams make up a bulk of the scoring in the big meets is in the relays. The HHS boys relay teams have been solid all season long, in all three disciplines. The Pony girls also have stacked relay teams. Individually, Havre senior Megan Obrecht has placed in the 100 breaststroke in every single meet she's entered this season, while fellow senior Evan Flathers has placed in at least one freestyle race in every meet he's swam in this season.

So this weekend in Missoula, the Ponies should not only do well in the relays, but they have plenty of individuals to compete with the top swim programs in the state as we.. And it will be important for HHS to swim well, because Missoula and next weekend's Helena Invitational are Havre's last two meets to prepare for the upcoming state meet.

The Pony boys and girls will race in Saturday's Missoula Invite, which will run all day at the UM Grizzly Pool on the University of Montana campus.