Diving into the new season

The Flathead boys and Glacier girls each finished fourth place in a crowded field at the season-opening Kalispell Swim Invitational on Saturday at The Summit Medical Fitness Center.

The Flathead boys were fast at the top, winning six of the 11 individual events, but couldn’t match the depth of Great Falls, Great Falls C.M. Russell and Missoula Hellgate.

Two Braves won both of their events at the meet. Senior Jamie Bouda won the 50-yard freestyle in 21.09 seconds, more than three seconds faster than the field in the meet’s shortest event, and the 100 breaststroke in 59.22, six seconds faster than Whitefish’s Preston Ring.

“I’d like to go under 21 this year (in the 50 free),” Bouda said.

“Flathead, we want to win state. Our guys numbers are pretty low, but we’ve got a lot of power in our few numbers. We’re definitely going to try and podium, but to win would be awesome.”

Junior Jace Reed won the 100 butterfly in 55.48 and the 100 backstroke in 56.35, winning both by at least three seconds. The pair also teamed up to help the Braves win the 200 medley and freestyle relays.

“I don’t ever remember Flathead winning a relay, we were all pretty excited,” Bouda said. “We all went pretty fast there, we had a lot of people yelling for us. That was really cool. After the race, the atmosphere of everyone being pumped was cool. We maybe got a little excessive with our celebration, but we were really pumped.”

Glacier’s Alex Bertrand won the 200 individual medley as the Wolfpack boys finished eighth. Whitefish finished sixth and Columbia Falls ninth.

Glacier junior AJ Popp was one of just two girls to win two events at the meet. Popp won the 100 butterfly in 1:00.6, nearly five seconds faster than the rest of the field, and the 100 backstroke in 1:01.11, finishing with a two second cushion.

“I feel like I can still improve a bit more, but it was good for the first meet,” Popp said.

“I wanted to get back into the swing of things for the high school season.”

Hellgate’s Mari Aoki won the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke in convincing fashion.

The Sentinel girls edged Hellgate for the team title despite winning just two individual events, the Spartans filling out the scoring positions with depth. Hellgate won six of 11 events, including all three relays.

The Glacier girls finished fourth, well behind the deeper Sentinel, Hellgate and CMR squads.

Flathead finished seventh, Columbia Falls eighth, Whitefish ninth and Bigfork 10th.

Kalispell Swim Invitational

Saturday

The Summit

GIRLS

Team Scores — 1, Missoula Sentinel, 459. 2, Missoula Hellgate, 453. 3, CMR, 350. 4, Glacier, 236. 5, Great Falls, 149. 6, Missoula Big Sky/Loyola, 129. 7, Flathead, 121. 8, Columbia Falls, 99. 9, Whitefish, 65. 10, Bigfork, 30.

200 Medley Relay — 1, Hellgate ‘A’ 1:57.70. 2, CMR ‘A’ 2:04.14. 3, Sentinel ‘A’ 2:04.94. 4, Glacier ‘A’ 2:06.04. 5, Hellgate ‘B’ 2:06.57. 6, Sentinel ‘B’ 2:07.64.

200 Freestyle — 1, Kelsey Ammons, Hellgate, 2:06.96. 2, Annie Sullivan, Whitefish, 2:09.95. 3, Jess Byrne, CMR, 2:13.54. 4, Hannah Kittleson, CMR, 2:20.39. 5, Emerald Templin, Columbia Falls, 2:22.87. 6, Amourette Phinney, GFH, 2:25.55.

200 IM — 1, Mari Aoki, Hellgate, 2:10.89. 2, Caroline McCormick, Sentinel, 2:22.50. 3, Molly DeMarco, CMR, 2:30.39. 4, Claire Earl, GFH, 2:31.09. 5, Delaney Carlson, Sentinel, 2:31.10. 6, Mari Rizutto, Hellgate, 2:31.67.

50 Freestyle — 1, Brooklyn Leiby, Sentinel, 26.93. 2, Avery Maxwell, Hellgate, 27.16. 3, Olivia Bauman, CMR, 27.40. 4, Ellie Gashwiler, Sentinel, 27.46. 5, Keidon Reynolds, Sentinel, 27.57. 6, Shayenn Thompson, Flathead, 27.74.

100 Butterfly — 1, AJ Popp, Glacier, 1:00.60. 2, Olivia Bauman, CMR, 1:05.45. 3, Keidon Reynolds, Sentinel, 1:08.05. 4, Kelsey Ammons, Hellgate, 1:08.49. 5, Hannah Jourdonnais, Big Sky/Loyola, 1:10.05. 6, Abby Chipley, Glacier, 1:22.44.

100 Freestyle — 1, Ellee Becker, Hellgate, 58.42. 2, Claire Becker, Hellgate, 58.64. 3, Jess Byrne, CMR, 59.75. 4, Anya Craig, Hellgate, 1:02.19. 5, Mari Rizutto, Hellgate, 1:03.31. 6, Lauren Harmon, Glacier, 1:03.82.

500 Freestyle — 1, Caroline McCormick, Sentinel, 5:35.87. 2, Annie Sullivan, Whitefish, 5:50.55. 3, Mary Burnham, Glacier, 6:06.58. 4, Lillian Gyde, Sentinel, 6:13.30. 5, Hannah Kittleson, CMR, 6:14.62. 6, Morgan Duncan, CMR, 6:26.48.

200 Freestyle Relay — 1, Hellgate ‘A’ 1:50.11. 2, Sentinel ‘A’ 1:50.41. 3, Missoula Big Sky/Loyola ‘A’ 1:57.85. 4, Great Falls ‘A’ 2:00.38. 5, CMR ‘A’ 2:02.70. 6, Columbia Falls ‘A’ 2:06.28.

100 Backstroke — 1, AJ Popp, Glacier, 1:01.11. 2, Ellee Becker, Hellgate, 1:03.52. 3, Molly DeMarco, CMR, 1:07.14. 4, Avery Maxwell, Hellgate, 1:07.34. 5, Taylor Thorne, Hellgate, 1:07.65. 6, Audrey Fero, Sentinel, 1:08.24.

100 Breaststroke — 1, Mari Aoki, Hellgate, 1:08.58. 2, Delaney Carlson, Sentinel, 1:15.11. 3, Claire Earl, GFH, 1:16.80. 4, Indgrid Shannon, Hellgate, 1:19.69. 5, Mary Burnham, Glacier, 1:19.96. 6, Audrey Fero, Sentinel, 1:20.32.

400 Freestyle Relay — 1, Hellgate ‘A’ 3:50.34. 2, CMR ‘A’ 4:09.79. 3, Sentinel ‘A’ 4:14.44. 4, Sentinel ‘B’ 4:15.74. 5, Glacier ‘A’ 4:16.13. 6, Great Falls ‘A’ 4:21.88.

BOYS

Team Scores — 1, Great Falls, 433.5. 2, CMR, 302. 3, Missoula Hellgate, 226.5. 4, Flathead, 211. 5, Missoula Sentinel, 190. 6, Whitefish, 155. 7, Missoula Big Sky/Loyola, 151. 8, Glacier, 147. 9, Columbia Falls, 59.

200 Medley Relay — 1, Flathead ‘A’ 1:44.98. 2, Hellgate ‘A’ 1:48.95. 3, Whitefish ‘A’ 1:51.53. 4, Sentinel ‘A’ 1:53.57. 5, Great Falls ‘A’ 1:53.85. 6, CMR ‘A’ 1:57.24.

200 Freestyle — 1, Tanner Baldry, Hellgate, 1:50.67. 2, Preston Ring, Whitefish, 1:53.46. 3, Alex Vatoussis, Sentinel, 1:54.91. 4, Brandon Hanlon, GFH, 1:57.80. 5, Caleb Winkler, Glacier, 2:03.53. 6, Jaxon Gronning, CMR, 2:07.37.

200 IM — 1, Alex Bertrand, Glacier, 2:08.46. 2, Joseph Guter, GFH, 2:11.74. 3, Andrew Houston, CMR, 2:20.64. 4, Gabe Jourdonnais, Big Sky/Loyola, 2:28.08. 5, Ben Macrow, Hellgate, 2:28.90. 6, Jake Kittleson, CMR, 2:29.22.

50 Freestyle — 1, Jamie Bouda, Flathead, 21.09. 2, Jase Harris, GFH, 23.45. 3, Ben Huotari, CMR, 24.04. 4, Mark Herzog, Hellgate, 24.46. 5, Dane Becker, Hellgate, 24.93. 6, Russell Albin, Columbia Falls, 25.19.

100 Butterfly — 1, Jace Reed, Flathead, 55.48. 2, Dane Becker, Hellgate, 58.99. 3, Andrew Houston, CMR, 59.95. 4, Alex Bertrand, Glacier, 1:00.95. 5, Jorgen Midboe, Big Sky/Loyola, 1:01.34. 6, John Shaw, CMR, 1:02.56.

100 Freestyle — 1, Jase Harris, GFH, 52.87. 2, Alex Vatoussis, Sentinel, 52.95. 3, Gus Desouza, Flathead, 53.20. 4, Ben Huotari, CMR, 53.40. 5, William Evans, GFH, 55.59. 6, Keegan Mackenstadt, Glacier, 56.69.

500 Freestyle — 1, Tanner Baldry, Hellgate, 5:14.95. 2, Alex Stein, Whitefish, 5:31.84. 3, Alex Houston, CMR, 5:34.47. 4, Joel Bonilla, GFH, 5:44.76. 5, Pete Anderson, GFH, 6:11.88.

200 Freestyle Relay — 1, Flathead ‘A’ 1:33.58. 2, Great Falls ‘A’ 1:41.46. 3, CMR ‘A’ 1:42.46. 4, Missoula Big Sky/Loyola ‘A’ 1:47.29. 5, Whitefish ‘A’ 1:54.84. 6, CMR ‘B’ 1:55.72.

100 Backstroke — 1, Jace Reed, Flathead, 56.35. 2, Bremer Deaton, Sentinel, 1:00.64. 3, Jorgen Midboe, Big Sky/Loyola, 1:00.91. 4, Matthew Perez, Whitefish, 1:01.28. 5, Mark Herzog, Hellgate, 1:02.58. 5, William Evans, GFH, 1:02.58.

100 Breaststroke — 1, Jamie Bouda, Flathead, 59.22. 2, Preston Ring, Whitefish, 1:05.68. 3, Brandon Hanlon, GFH, 1:08.66. 4, Gus Desouza, Flathead, 1:08.95. 5, Joseph Guter, GFH, 1:10.12. 6, Caleb Winkler, Glacier, 1:12.34.

400 Freestyle Relay — 1, Great Falls ‘A’ 3:35.43. 2, Hellgate ‘A’ 3:36.72. 3, Sentinel ‘A’ 3:44.28. 4, Glacier ‘A’ 3:58.49. 5, Great Falls ‘B’ 4:01.96. 6, CMR ‘B’ 4:16.07.