Piranhas Swim Team makes big splash at Bitterroot

Piranhas Swim Team dove into the 2012 season on time and with a bang this past weekend for the Bitterroot Swim Meet in Hamilton. 

Twenty-one swimmers from towns such as Plains, Thompson Falls and Hot Springs competed at the meet, in which other Western teams of the Montana Swim Federation also swam for ribbons and improved times.

“It was our first meet of the season and we were just so glad to have made it, since last year we had to miss a few meets,” Coach Melanie said. “But our swimmers have been in the water for a few weeks, and Coach Chelsea and I were fully confident in their technique. They’ve been working really hard.”

In the relay portion of the meet, three teams from age ranges 8 & under to 15-19 represented the Piranhas on the scene Saturday during finals, and all three teams placed in the top 6 of both freestyle and medley relays. In the 8 & under class, the relay team comprised of Makiya DuBois, Grace Horton, Genevieve Deschamps and Alexis Helterline took fourth overall in the 100 yard freestyle relay with a time of 2:18.51. That same team also took second overall in the 100 yard medley relay on Sunday, with Deschamps leading off with backstroke, Horton dominating with breastroke, DuBois kicking it with butterfly, and Helterline bringing it home with freestyle. Their time was 2:13.41. 

In the 9-10 class, the relay team of three T-Falls girls Kendra Newman, Kelsey Frank, Gabriella Pallister and one Plains girl, Natalee Deschamps, took fifth overall in the 100 yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:31.34 and fourth overall in the 100 yard medley relay with a time of 1:47.45. Frank, one of the many newcomers of the season, shone in her backstroke portion of the medley that gave the Piranha girls a nice lead. Deschamps pulled hard in breastroke, while Newman performed a lovely butterfly, and Pallister brought it in with a speedy freestyle. 

In the 15-19 girls relays, a team of misfits came out of nowhere and made quite a statement to the other relay teams. Due to lack of older swimmers, Piranhas coaches swam up not only one but two younger-class swimmers to make the senior girls relay team, and also have welcomed a 17-year-old Texan to the team. Keely Benson, 16, Danika Whitcomb, 13, Jacelynn DuBois, 11, and Hayley Crowson, 17, comprised the senior girls relay team and exhibited two dynamic races despite the odds. Crowson was even fresh off the plane from Houston and had not fully adjusted to the Montana mountain air - or altitude. But the team did very well, with a third place overall finish in the 200 yard freestyle relay with a time of 2:07.03 and a second place overall finish in the 200 yard medley relay with a time of 2:26.01. The misfit medley was led by Crowson with her stellar backstroke, carried next by DuBois with a fast-cutting breastroke, then Benson’s powerful butterfly and then anchored by Whitcomb’s torpedo-esque freestyle. The girls were all very excited to have placed so well at such a large meet, as were the coahes. 

On the individual front, the Piranhas had most of their swimmers advance from Saturday prelims to Sunday finals. On the senior swimmers individual front, Keely Benson, 16, of Plains took seventh overall in the 50 yard freestlye, third in the 100 yard freestyle, and sixth in the 50 yard butterfly. Hayley Crowson, 17, of Deer Park, Texas took sixth in the 50 yard freestyle after over a year out of the water due to knee surgery. She said she is very happy to be swimming again. Caleb Connolly, 15, of Plains took fifth in the 400 yard freestyle, fourth in the 200 yard IM, and fifth in the 100 yard breastroke.  

Other standout swims by Piranha athletes were that of 8-year-old Makiya DuBois, who had two first-place finishes in her individual events, which were the 25 yard butterfly and 50 yard freestyle; and also the race by second-year swimmer Matthew Daems-Woods, 7, of Plains in the 25 yard freestyle, in which he placed 11th, was his first ribbon win. 

The Piranhas have welcomed many new swimmers this season as well as retuning ones. 

“Our new swimmers had the skills to compete well for the first time,” Coach Chelsea said. “And returning swimmers were able to hone their skills in the first few weeks of practice. We are looking forward to the rest of the season, and we expect our swimmer to do very well.”

The swimmers hope to swim fast again and with more teammates in attendance this weekend as Piranhas will host a meet this weekend in the pool park.