The Havre High boys and girls swim teams knew what they were up against heading into the 2013 state swim meet. After all, Billings Central is a dominant presence in Montana high school swimming, and the Rams were the defending Class A boys and girls champions.
But little did the Blue Ponies know they would be up a against a Billings Central team swimming into uncharted territory, on the boys side anyway.
Havre High was in Hardin Friday-Saturday for the 2013 MHSA State Swim Meet. In the final Class A standings, both the HHS boys and girls finished in second place, as expected, behind the Rams. The Havre boys scored 26 points, which was good enough for 12th overall, as Havre finished ahead of three Class AA schools and Hardin. Meanwhile, the HHS girls finished with seven points, finishing only ahead of Hardin, which did not score.
And while it was no surprise that the Billings Central boys topped the Class A podium, the big surprise was, the Rams scored the most points of any boys team in the meet. Billings Central scored 189, which was 10 points better than Class AA champion Helena High, marking the first time a Class A school scored enough to claim the overall state title at the combined state meet.
And while the Blue Pony boys didn’t have the firepower to keep up with the Rams, and none of the Class AA’s did either, it was still a strong showing for the Ponies, who got an individual place from senior Nick Rhines in the 100 freestyle, while all three of Havre’s relay teams also reached Saturday’s final.
"For our boys to beat Hardin, which swam so fast all year, that was huge," Longtime HHS head coach Chris Inman said. "All of our boys just swam so hard and did a wonderful job and I'm really proud of them."
Rhines qualified 12th in Friday’s prelims in the 100 free, putting him into Saturday’s consolation final which he ultimately placed 11th. In the prelims, he swam a super-fast 54.83. Meanwhile, Havre’s best relay time in the prelims came in the 200 free relay where the Blue Ponies placed seventh, moving them into Saturday’s championship final. The Ponies didn’t get a top-six finish in the 200 free on Saturday, finishing eighth overall, but they still scored big points, which ultimately allowed them to stay ahead of Hardin. In the final standings, the Ponies edged the Bulldogs by a mere on point.
The Havre boys also got a ninth-place finish in the prelims in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:57.55, while the 400 free relay team placed 10th on Friday with a time of 3:50.02. In the finals, Havre placed ninth in the 400 free relay and 10th I the medley.
Swimming in the medley relay for Havre was Rhines, Taylor Riphenburg, Desmond Fialkosky and Bryant O'Leary. The 200 free team was composed of Rhines, Fialkosky, Riphenburg and Ben Siegel, while the 400 free team was made up of Rhines, Riphenburg, Fialkosky and Paul Jeffery.
"All of our boys got to swim in the finals on Saturday, so that was awesome," Inman said. "Our relays did a great job all weekend, and the combination of them, plus Nick getting into the 100 free really did it for us. Those boys just did a great job this weekend."
On the girls side, Havre got one individual swimmer through to Saturday’s finals. Hannah Pepprock placed 12th in the 100 breaststroke on Friday with a time of 1:21.22, and her times in both the prelims and finals helped HHS score a second-place Class A finish. Havre’s 200 free relay team also placed ninth in the prelims with a time of 1:57.68 and the 400 free relay team finished 14th in the prelims at 4:24.70. The 200 free team of Skylar Vukasin, Lieza Reighard, Morgan Jappe and Megan Smith competed in Saturday's finals.
"All of our girls swam really well," Inman said. "Hannah Pepprock getting into the final was a huge surprise and she did an awesome job. That was really great for her.
"I'm just so proud of our girls for stepping up and scoring those points," she added.
So that the end of a thrilling weekend in Hardin, the Blue Ponies wrapped up another successful season in the pool. And with the 15 swimmers HHS took to state, Inman couldn't have been more thrilled.
"All of our kids swam amazing this weekend," Inman said. "All of them took so much time of their best times and that was really exciting. For us to go out and swim that hard and do that well, I'm just really proud of all of them."
2013 MHSA State Swim Meet
At Hardin
Saturday Finals
BOYS
Team scores -- Billings Central 189, Helena 179, Kalispell Glacier 166, Billings Skyview 162, Missoula Hellgate 130, Bozeman 105, Butte 95, Great Falls CMR 53, Billings West 38, Billings Senior 30, Great Falls 28, Havre 26, Hardin 25, Missoula Sentinel 19, Helena Capital 16, Missoula Big Sky 2.
200 medley relay -- 1, Billings Central (Wehr, Matt , Oja, Pierce, Boese, Bryson , Zins, Chandler ), 1:40.01. 2, Billings Skyview (Crowe, Chandler , Allen, Paul , Luterbach, Chris , Marchant, Brayden ), 1:42.19. 3, Missoula Hellgate (Martyak, Patrick JR, Kreilick, Uriah SO, Szekely, John JR, Bachman, Reed JR), 1:47.09. 4, Butte (Wheeler, Jacob FR, Whelan, Keegan SO, Sison, Gavin SO, Bentley, Jake FR), 1:49.41. 5, Billings West (McNea, Jordan , Smith, Conrad , Needham, Jacob , Feldcamp, Connor ), 1:51.18. Helena, DQ.
200 freestyle -- 1, Oja, Pierce, BCH, 1:49.11. 2, Murphy, Stephen, HHS, 1:53.22. 3, Mostefa, Habib, BOZ, 1:53.47. 4, Loyda, Josh, GHS, 1:53.90. 5, Hooks, Pat, HHS, 1:54.70. 6, Angeli, Nick, HHS, 1:55.00.
200 IM -- 1, Wehr, Matt, BCH, 1:57.54. 2, Crowe, Chandler, BSV, 1:57.60. 3, Cirincione, Jake, GHS, 2:06.17. 4, Whelan, Keegan, BHS, 2:09.02. 5, Martyak, Patrick, MHG, 2:09.11. 6, Allen, Paul, BSV, 2:11.30.
50 freestyle -- 1, Loyda, Jordan, GHS, 22.08. 2, Kotson, Pete, HHS, 22.18. 3, Kubat, Orion, BOZ, 22.67. 4, Streit, Logan, GHS, 22.81. 5, Luterbach, Chris, BSV, 23.22. 6, Szekely, John, MHG, 23.50.
100 butterfly -- 1, Wehr, Matt, BCH, 53.66. 2, Cirincione, Jake, GHS, 55.28. 3, Zins, Chandler, BCH, 56.37. 4, Frieders, Nathan, BSR, 56.51. 5, Luterbach, Chris, BSV, 56.73. 6, Gibson, Gage, HHS, 57.00.
100 freestyle -- 1, Kotson, Pete, HHS, 47.56. 2, Loyda, Jordan, GHS, 48.83. 3, Streit, Logan, GHS, 49.79. 3, Kubat, Orion, BOZ, 49.79. 5, Gray, Zack, BCH, 52.21. 6, Frieders, Nathan, BSR, 52.90.
500 freestyle -- 1, Hooks, Pat, HHS, 5:06.64. 2, Mostefa, Habib, BOZ, 5:06.86. 3, Angeli, Nick, HHS, 5:12.95. 4, Murphy, Stephen, HHS, 5:14.43. 5, Bentley, Jake, BHS, 5:19.43. 6, Bauer, Colton, HHS, 5:26.55.
200 freestyle relay -- 1, Glacier (Loyda, Jordan SR, Cirincione, Jake FR, Loyda, Josh JR, Streit, Logan SR), 1:30.48. 2, Billings Central (Oja, Pierce , Boese, Bryson , Gray, Zack , Wehr, Matt ), 1:30.69. 3, Billings Skyview (Crowe, Chandler , Luterbach, Chris , Johnson, Magnus , Marchant, Brayden), 1:33.33. 4, Helena (Angeli, Nick FR, Murphy, Stephen JR, Burns, Austin SR, Kotson, Pete JR), 1:34.71. 5, Bozeman (Kubat, Orion SR, D'Isidoro, Ben SO, Mostefa, Habib JR, Gentry, Cameron JR), 1:34.75. 6, Missoula Hellgate (Szekely, John JR, Choi, Ethan FR, Bachman, Reed JR, Martyak, Patrick JR), 1:34.82.
100 backstroke -- 1, Crowe, Chandler, BSV, 52.74. 2, Loyda, Josh, GHS, 55.68. 3, Mason, Ryan, MSN, 57.65. 4, Zins, Chandler, BCH, 57.68. 5, Johnson, Magnus, BSV, 58.06. 6, Wheeler, Jacob, BHS, 59.52.
100 breaststroke -- 1, Oja, Pierce, BCH, 1:01.03. 2, Whelan, Keegan, BHS, 1:04.80. 3, Allen, Paul, BSV, 1:05.49. 4, Brennan, Patrick, CMR, 1:05.56. 5, Martyak, Patrick, MHG, 1:06.16. Parker, Elijah, CMR, DQ.
400 freestyle relay -- 1, Glacier (Loyda, Josh JR, Loyda, Jordan SR, Streit, Logan SR, Cirincione, Jake FR), 3:18.67. 2, Helena (Gibson, Gage SR, Murphy, Stephen JR, Hooks, Pat JR, Kotson, Pete JR), 3:25.70. 3, Bozeman (Kubat, Orion SR, Mostefa, Habib JR, D'Isidoro, Ben SO, Gentry, Cameron JR), 3:27.99. 4, Billings Skyview (Allen, Paul , Lambert, Eric , Johnson, Magnus , Marchant, Brayden), 3:34.21. 5, Billings Central (Zins, Chandler , Boese, Bryson , Gray, Zack , Bruschwein, Mark ), 3:36.85. 6, Butte (Sison, Gavin SO, Bentley, Jake FR, Wheeler, Jacob FR, Whelan, Keegan SO), 3:39.99.
GIRLS
Team scores -- Helena 220, Missoula Hellgate 218, Bozeman 154, Billings Central 121, Great Falls CMR 103, Missoula Sentinel 102, Great Falls 71, Kalispell Glacier 68, Butte 62, Billings Senior 40, Kalispell Flathead 34, Billings Skyview 31, Helena Capital 31, Missoula Big Sky 28, Billings West 11, Havre 7.
200 medley relay -- 1, Missoula Hellgate (Leach, Hanni SO, Jacobson, Hailey JR, Monroe, Cece SO, Rhoades, Mary JR), 1:51.20. 2, Billings Central (Schuett, Ashley , Marsh, Jenna , Duvall, Sami , Sorli, Kya ), 1:55.49. 3, Helena High (Hardwick, Libby SR, Kleppelid, Kaitlyn SR, Ackerlund, Erika JR, Conquergood, Danielle SR), 1:55.59. 4, Bozeman (Hamilton, Molly SO, Nabity, Kelsi JR, Hall, McKINLEY FR, Walkuski, Grace SO), 1:56.98. 5, Missoula Sentinel (Dennis, Kyla FR, Brooks, Ellen FR, Schmidt, Andrea SO, Crist, Makayla SO), 1:59.68. 6, Great Falls (Bjorsness, Katie SR, Houck, Hayley JR, Conrad, Bri JR, Cherewatenko, Lane SR), 2:01.72.
200 freestyle -- 1, Jacobson, Hailey, MHG, 1:57.11. 2, Sechena, Shelby, CMR, 1:57.12. 3, Foster, Emma, HHS, 1:58.60. 4, Crist, Makayla, MSN, 2:01.41. 5, Murphy, Kate, HHS, 2:04.88. 6, Hamilton, Molly, BOZ, 2:07.16.
200 IM -- 1, Kleppelid, Kaitlyn, HHS, 2:07.72. 2, Duvall, Sami, BCH, 2:18.95. 3, Monroe, Cece, MHG, 2:20.38. 4, Demarinis, Gabbi, CHS, 2:21.59. 5, Heryla, Kate, CMR, 2:25.66. 6, Houck, Hayley, GFH, 2:26.07.
50 freestyle -- 1, Marsh, Jenna, BCH, 23.52*. 2, Zimmer, Kate, MBS, 24.37. 3, Siebenaler, Makenna, GHS, 25.51. 4, Krueger, Cassie, FHS, 25.73. 5, Luoma, Linnaya, BSV, 25.96. 6, McElwain, Kelsey, HHS, 26.33.
100 butterfly -- 1, Marsh, Jenna, BCH, 56.10*. 2, Zimmer, Kate, MBS, 58.32. 3, Schmidt, Andrea, MSN, 1:00.21. 4, Blossom, Callan, HHS, 1:00.37. 5, Duvall, Sami, BCH, 1:00.94. 6, Hall, McKinley, BOZ, 1:02.19.
100 freestyle -- 1, Leach, Hanni, MHG, 54.35. 2, Blossom, Callan, HHS, 55.87. 3, Crist, Makayla, MSN, 55.93. 4, Siebenaler, Makenna, GHS, 56.47. 5, Bentley, Adria, BHS, 57.42. 6, Burt, Jordan, BOZ, 57.45.
500 freestyle -- 1, Sechena, Shelby, CMR, 5:15.17. 2, Foster, Emma, HHS, 5:18.60. 3, Schmidt, Andrea, MSN, 5:29.08. 4, Michell, Kate, MHG, 5:29.43. 5, Murphy, Kate, HHS, 5:29.95. 6, Stenberg, Jessica, GHS, 5:36.39.
200 freestyle relay -- 1, Billings Central High School 'A' (Sorli, Kya , Klaudt, Cate, Duvall, Sami , Marsh, Jenna ), 1:44.22. 2, Helena (Blossom, Callan SR, McElwain, Kelsey SR, Murphy, Kate FR, Foster, Emma SR), 1:45.01. 3, Missoula Sentinel (Crist, Makayla SO, Gray, Hailey JR, Dennis, Kyla FR, Schmidt, Andrea SO), 1:47.22. 4, Missoula Hellgate (Anderson, Rory FR, Salonen, Kennedy FR, Everett, Baylee SO, Reyniolds, Maddi JR), 1:47.81. 5, CMR (Shaw, Morgan SO, Smith, Maddi FR, Fowler, Alicia JR, Sechena, Shelby SR), 1:48.14. 6, Bozeman (Burt, Jordan SR, Bahn, Alexis JR, Thomas, Alissa JR, Miller, Sydney SO), 1:49.29.
100 backstroke -- 1, Leach, Hanni, MHG, 56.91. 2, Hamilton, Molly, BOZ, 1:01.89. 3, Hardwick, Libby, HHS, 1:02.11. 4, Hall, McKinley, BOZ, 1:02.84. 5, Bentley, Adria, BHS, 1:05.04. 6, Monroe, Cece, MHG, 1:05.45.
100 breaststroke -- 1, Kleppelid, Kaitlyn, HHS, 1:04.48*. 2, Jacobson, Hailey, MHG, 1:08.35. 3, Houck, Hayley, GFH, 1:12.41. 4, Nabity, Kelsi, BOZ, 1:13.08. 5, Burt, Jordan, BOZ, 1:13.96. 6, Luoma, Linnaya, BSV, 1:15.30.
400 freestlyle relay -- 1, Missoula Hellgate (Leach, Hanni SO, Michell, Kate JR, Rhoades, Mary JR, Jacobson, Hailey JR), 3:41.55. 2, Helena (Blossom, Callan SR, Murphy, Kate FR, Foster, Emma SR, Kleppelid, Kaitlyn SR), 3:43.34. 3, Bozeman (Walkuski, Grace SO, Hall, McKinley FR, Hamilton, Molly SO, Burt, Jordan SR), 3:49.78. 4, CMR (Shaw, Morgan SO, Heryla, Kate FR, Fowler, Alicia JR, Sechena, Shelby SR), 3:53.08. 5, Billings Senior (Boese, Alyssa , Kouwenhoven, Bailey , Tidswell, Selena , Lyle, Alexys ), 3:56.87. 6, Glacier (Stenberg, Jessica SR, Burch, Sara SR, Hornby, Emma FR, Siebenaler, Makenna SR), 3:57.70.
Friday Havre Results
Prelims
Girls 200 Medlaey Relay — Havre, 14th Place, 2:13.94
Boys 200 Medley Relay – Havre, 9th Place, 1:57.55
Girls 200 Freestyle — McKenna Barkus, 29th Place, 2:40.98
Boys 200 Freestyle — N/A
Girls 200 IM — N/A
Boys 200 IM — N/A
Girls 50 Freestyle — Morgan Jappe, 23rd Place, 29.54; Skylar Vuskasin, 39th Place, 32.07; Hannah Pepprock, 41st Place, 32.59; Larissa Price, 41st Place, 32.59.
Boys 50 Freestyle — Ben Siegel, 25th Place, 27.10; Bryant O’Leary, 29th Place, 27.26; Paul Jeffery, 35th Place, 28.04.
Girls 100 Butterfly — Jackie Martin, DQ.
Boys 100 Butterfly — N/A
Girls 100 Freestyle — Lieza Reighard, 24th Place, 1:03.69; Larissa Price, 41st Place, 1:11.45; McKenna Barkus, 46th Place, 1:12.25; Skylar Vukasin, 48th Place, 1:13.03.
Boys 100 Freestyle — Nick Rhines, 12th Place, 54.83; Desmond Fialkosky, 16th Place, 56.14; Taylor Riphenburg, 19th Place, 57.31; Ben Siegel, 1:01.59.
Girls 500 Freestyle — Samantha French, 33rd Place, 7:04.29.
Boys 500 Freestyle — N/A.
Girls 200 Free Relay — Havre, 9th Place, 1:57.68.
Boys 200 Free Relay — Havre, 7th Place, 1:41.18.
Girls 100 Backstroke — Megan Smith, 25th Place, 1:14.96; Samantha French, 35th Place, 1:27.05.
Boys 100 Backstroke — N/A.
Girls 100 Breaststroke — Hannah Pepprock, 12th Place, 1:21.22.
Boys 100 Breaststroke — Bryant O’Leary, 16th Place, 1:15.22.
Girls 400 Free Relay — Havre, 14th Place, 4:24.70.
