George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com
The thing about inviting the cream of the crop to your own swimming meet is that it means that the home team isn’t necessarily the top dog, unless you’re the Havre High girls, which have won seven straight Class A state championships. The Blue Pony girls captured first place honors at the 2006 Havre Invitational Saturday at the Havre Community Pool. The Ponies scored 122 points, edging past CMR, which scored 116. Kalispell was third and Great Falls High was fourth. On the boys side, the HHS boys finished in third place. CMR scored 110 points to win the meet, and Kalispell was second with 82. The Blue Ponies scored 58 points. GFH was fourth with 41. Individually, Havre High had some strong performances on both the girls and boys sides. Kenzie Johnson and Jessica Obrecht each had solid outings for the HHS girls. Johnson earned first-place honors in the 50-yard freestyle race with a time of 28:22. Donelle Williams, Jamaica Kaercher and Kaitlin Perrodin finishes third, fifth and sixth, respectively. Johnson came back to finish third in the 100-yard freestyle event, and she had a strong day on Havre High’s relay teams as well. Obrecht grabbed third place in both 200-yard individual medley and the 100- yard breaststroke. Like Johnson, Obrecht also performed well in the relays. Morgan Zimmer stood out for HHS as well. Zimmer finished second in the grueling 500-yard freestyle race, and she finished third in the 100-yard butterfly race. Kasondra Dawson earned second- place honors in the same race for HHS. Havre High captured the girls team title with not only outstanding individual performances, but also with solid times in the relays. The Ponies finished second and third in the 200-yard Medley Relay, and they grabbed a second and a fifthplace finish in the 400-yard freestyle event. The Ponies also got a second and a fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay. On the boys side, Havre still swam well despite its third-place finish. The Blue Ponies got a second place and a third place in the 50-yard freestyle race. Steven Barton finished second just ahead of teammate Scott Vigliotti. D.J. Stuker, Ryan Kinholt and Logan Floren finished fifth through seventh in the same race. Vigliotti raced well in the lengthy 500- yard freestyle race as well. The HHS senior finished third with a time of 5:59.31. Stuker and Barton were also solid for HHS in the 100-yard breaststroke. Stuker finished third in the event and Barton finished fourth. Jordan Magellsen and Floren also finished sixth and seventh in the 100-yard freestyle, respectively. The Ponies’ best relay performance was in the 200-yard I'm where they finished second. Havre is back in action on Saturday in Great Falls.
