Havre swimmers dive into a new season

While basketball and wrestling will get most of the headlines this winter, do not forget the Havre High swim teams as they get ready to dive into their season. As he heads into another year leading the Blue Ponies, HHS head coach Bill Kilgore expects his team grow throughout the year and compete.

"My expectations are always that our kids learn how to be good teammates and build team cohesion," Kilgore said. "I believe our expectations are always just a state championship. Whether we get there or not is a different story but I think we always at least start with those expectations."

The Blue Ponies will have several returners on both the boys and girls swim teams. On the boys side, Conner McKay, Carson Sandstrom and Chase Mariani will return for their senior seasons. Some other returning swimmers that Kilgore expects to make an impact this winter include Koby Preputin and Blake Talor.

On the girls side, the Ponies will be led by returning swimmers such as Kate Hemmer, Allie Messinger, Kyla Burchard and Willow Riggin. Some younger swimmers that will look to take a leap this season also include Hailey Gingery, Brenna Hanson, Jayla Meldrum and Katie Messinger.

The Ponies will also have some newcomers on both teams. Freshman Micah Cammon will look to start his high school swim career while the girls team will have many young swimmers such as Elizabeth Carroll, Ainsley Courtnage and Liliana Smith that will look to make an impact from the jump.

The Ponies will compete in many meets over the course of the season. Kilgore believes his swimmers are more than capable of competing in their meets, but there are a couple of teams that he knows will be trouble this winter.

"We're always in the hunt with Hardin and Billings Central," Kilgore said. "They're the ones that are always our biggest nemesis."

The Ponies begin the season Dec. 10 with the Billings Invitational. The following weekend, the Ponies will have the pre-relay and a relay in Great Falls, which are the meets that Kilgore looks forward to the most this season.

After the winter break, the Ponies return to Havre Jan. 7 to host a meet. Through the rest of January, the Ponies will compete in three meets, with one in Hardin and two in Great Falls. The Ponies will then wrap up the season with the state meet in Bozeman starting on Feb. 10.

The HHS swim teams will begin the season with the Billings Invitational Dec. 10.