The Whitefish girls won the Class A state swimming championship last weekend at the all-class meet in Great Falls.
Whitefish tallied 74 points to edge out second-place Billings Central with 58. On the boys side, Billings Central won the team title with 80 points, unseating defending state champion Columbia Falls, which took second with 68 points. Whitefish was third with 27.
Columbia Falls senior Colton Babcock won the state title in the 100 freestyle, breaking the state record with a time of 46.31 seconds, and placed second in the 500 freestyle. He also swam on the fifth-place 200 freestyle relay team and seventh-place 400 freestyle relay team with Sage Wanner, and Zayne Friar. Samuel Pierce also swam on the 400 relay team and Russell Albin was on the 200 relay squad.
A pair of underclassmen propelled the Whitefish girls to the championship. Competing against swimmers from Class AA and Class A in the combined finals, freshman Caroline Dye placed third in the 200 individual medley and sixth in the 100 butterfly. Sophomore Annie Sullivan took fifth in the 500 freestyle and eighth in the 200 freestyle. Both girls also competed on the fourth-place 400 freestyle relay and seventh-place 200 medley relay team along with Sonja Ring and Jessica Young. Ring also took 11th in the 500 freestyle.
On the boys side, Columbia Falls’ Friar also placed ninth in the 200 freestyle and 12th in the 100 butterfly. Whitefish’s Denver Dicks placed 12th in the 100 freestyle and tied for 11th in the 100 breaststroke.
In the Class AA ranks, Glacier’s Nate Burnham took second in the 50 freestyle and third in the 100 freestyle. He also competed on the sixth-place 200 medley relay team and 200 freestyle relay team with Alex Bertrand, Keegan Mackenstadt and Miguel Generoso. Bertrand also placed 10th in the 200 individual medley and 11th in the 100 breaststroke. Generoso took 11th in the 100 backstroke.
The Flathead girls 200 medley relay team — Maddie Huestis, Shayenn Thompson, Delanie Eliason and Emily Cephers — placed ninth, and the 400 freestyle relay team with the same competitors placed eighth.
Missoula Hellgate won both the boys and girls team titles for the fourth year in a row.