By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
When you have only one home appearance of the season, you probably need to make the most of it.
The Havre High swim team will make its only home appearance of the year on Saturday at the Montana State University-Northern college pool for the Havre Invitational swim meet at noon.
The Ponies took partial teams to last weekend's Kalispell Invitational and fared pretty well. With just about everyone competing on Saturday, head coach Chris Inman is hoping for even better results.
"Everybody's going to swim this weekend," Inman said. "They'll get to compete in two individual events and two relays."
Joining Havre at the meet will be Kalispell, Great Falls High, C.M. Russell High School and the newly formed Harlem High girls team.
It is the same teams as last weekend, but there should be even more competition with many swimmers gaining the minimum 10 practices required to compete.
"Kalispell is always very good," Inman said. "They have a lot of depth on both teams. They would have to be the favorite on both sides. They just have so many kids competing compared to other teams."
Great Falls High will also bring a very good girls squad to the meet. The Bison edged Havre last weekend for second place in Kalispell.
"I think our girls have a chance to finish second, but it will be tough because Great Falls is pretty good."
Inman also believes the Pony boys can finish second behind Kalispell. The boys will have five relay teams in the 200 freestyle relay, three in the 200 medley relay and two in the 400 relay.
The girls will suit up four teams in the 200 freestyle relay, three in the medley and two in the 400.
Inman will be watching all of the performances in the relays very closely.
"Relays are going to win us a state championship," Inman said. "We're looking at finding the right combination of swimmers to get our best teams."
Besides preparing for state, there is an ulterior motive for her swimmers and it's competing at home in front of friends and family.
Swimming very rarely steals the spotlight from the other winter sports. However, this weekend the wrestling team and both basketball teams are gone, leaving the swimmers as the only show in town.
"I hope that people come out and watch us, and see what swimming is all about," Inman said. "These kids work really hard and this is a big meet for them."
