Piranhas take a bite out of the competition

PLAINS- Young swimmers took to the water over the weekend as Plains played host to the annual swim meet at the EL Johnson Memorial Pool. Hundreds of swimmers, coaches and parents descended on the facility to cheer on their teams in the first meet of the season.

The first day consisted of preliminary events with the top twelve finishers moving on to the finals on Sunday. Swimmers competed in relays, individual medley events where swimmers use all four strokes, and the traditional freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly events.

The Piranhas from Plains faced stiff competition mostly from the Columbia Falls and Bitterroot teams. For several Piranhas, it was their first time competing in a swim meet. The relatively inexperienced swimmers seemed to take the added pressure in stride with about half the team moving on to the next day’s competition.

While Piranha coaches Jake and Rachel Cremer are new to coaching in Sanders County, they are not new to swimming. Both swam in college at the University of North Dakota. Rachel Cremer also is a former coach of the team from Columbia Falls. The coaches were happy to have an opportunity to get the first meet under their team’s belts.

“I thought our swimmers did an excellent job. Almost all of them improved their times from Saturday to Sunday. For our first meet, they did great,” said Jake Cremer.

The Piranhas had a strong showing on the second day, placing third overall. With 34 swimmers competing the coaches had their hands full motivating each individual athlete to perform to the best of their ability.

“We saw a lot of personal best times today. Overall it was a very successful meet. For a lot of them it was their first time so it’s a big deal for them to get out there. This was a very valuable learning experience,” said Rachel Cremer.

Results for the finals in alphabetical order:

Alexander, Grace 3rd place 50-meter freestyle; 5th place 50-meter breaststroke; 1st place 50-meter backstroke; Altmiller, Kylee; 11th place 50-meter backstroke; Arnold, Dewey; 11th place 50-meter freestyle; 4th place 100-meter breaststroke; Benson, Keely; 3rd place 100-meter freestyle; 4th place 50-meter butterfly; 2nd place 400-meter freestyle; Benson, Logan; 10th place 50-meter freestyle; 3rd place 100-meter breaststroke; 3rd place 50-meter butterfly; Cole, Kaylee; 7th place 100-meter IM; 3rd place 50-meter breaststroke; 5th place 100-meter freestyle; Connolly, Josh; 7th place 50-meter freestyle; 4th place 100-meter freestyle; 5th place 100-meter backstroke; Cremer, Darion; 10th place 100-meter freestyle; 11th place 50-meter backstroke; Cremer, Isaac; 11th place 50-meter freestyle; 3rd place 50-meter breaststroke; 7th place 100-meter; Cremer, Noah; 10th place 25-meter freestyle; 10th place 50-meter freestyle; Daems-Woods, Matthew; 9th place 25-meter freestyle; 1st place 25-meter breaststroke; 9th place 50-meter freestyle; Deschamps, Genevieve; 5th place 25-meter freestyle; 6th place 25-meter breaststroke; 1st place 25-meter butterfly; DuBois, Cole; 11th place 25-meter backstroke; DuBois, Jacelynn; 5th place 200-meter IM; 8th place 50-meter breaststroke; 5th place 50-meter butterfly; DuBois, Makiya; 4th place 100-meter IM; 2nd place 100-meter freestyle; 3rd place 50-meter butterfly; Ehret, Abigail; 6th place 50-meter freestyle; 3rd place 100-meter breaststroke; 6th place 50-meter butterfly; Helterline, Alexis; 10th place 25-meter freestyle; 4th place 25-meter breaststroke; Horton, Grace; 1st place 100-meter IM; 9th place 25-meter freestyle; 2nd place 25-meter breaststroke; Horton, Wyatt; 12th place 50-meter backstroke; Madden, Rebecca; 9th place 100-meter IM; Morteson, Emma; 7th place 50-meter backstroke; Newman, Kendra; 1st place 50-meter freestyle; 2nd place 50-meter breaststroke; Pallister, Anna; 11th place 25-meter freestyle; 3rd 25-meter backstroke; Pallister, Gabriella; 9th place 50-meter freestyle; Pomije, Elijah; 6th place 50-meter breaststroke; 11th place 50-meter backstroke; Stewart, Haley; 12th place 50-meter freestyle; 11th place 100-meter freestyle; Szafryk, Cooper; 12th place 50-meter freestyle; 8th place 100-meter freestyle; Whitcomb, Danika; 3rd place 50-meter freestyle; 3rd place 100-meter freestyle; 2nd place 100-meter backstroke; relays; 2nd place girls 8 and under 100-meter freestyle; 7th place boys 9-10 100-meter freestyle; 2nd place girls A 9-10 100-meter freestyle; 5th place girls B 9-10 100-meter freestyle; 3rd place boys 11-12 200-meter freestyle; 3rd place girls 11-12 200-meter freestyle; 4th place boys 13-14 200-meter freestyle; 3rd place girls 13-14 200-meter freestyle; 3rd place girls A 9-10 100-meter medley; 4th place girls B 100-meter medley; 3rd place girls 11-12 200-meter medley; 3rd place boys 13-14 200-meter medley; 2nd place girls 13-14 200-meter medley