Piranhas take second at state
<p>Plains Piranha Alexis Helterline competed at the Division C state swim meet and brought in third place for her age division in the breaststroke.</p>
CONRAD – Plains swimmers joined competitors as teams from towns of all sizes and from one end of the state to the other packed into Conrad last weekend to take part in the state swim meet.
In the final meet of the year the Plains Piranhas ended their season in style, taking second place among Division C swim teams competing at the weekend meet.
Competition started on Saturday, August 2 and ended with the final events of the summer swimming season on Sunday, August 3.
“It was an awesome meet. The team did really well,” Kayla Hoar, head coach of the Piranhas swim team said.
Not only did the Plains team finish runner-ups within their division, they did so with a relatively small number of swimmers.
With only six individual swimmers competing in the two-day meet, the team used strong performances from their entire lineup to snag second place from the competition.
Anna Pallister, Matthew Woods, Kendra Newman, Danika Whitcomb, Genevieve Deschamps and Alexis Helterline were the representatives of the Plains Piranhas at the Conrad meet.
Hoar noted Newman and Helterline performed strongly over the weekend for Plains.
Competing in the 11 to 12 year old age group, Newman capped off a successful season campaign with yet another first place finish.
Newman won all three of the races she participated in, placing her as the first place swimmer in her age group in the state.
Not only did Newman take home first in her age group, she also improved on her previous time totals.
“She took off a lot of time in her races,” Coach Hoar said.
Helterline competed in the eight and under age group and placed third in the 25-meter breaststroke race.
Hoar added the other four swimmers at the meet also performed very well and all the Piranhas competing advanced to the final heats of the state competition.
“Everyone performed great. It was a really good year,” Hoar said.
Hoar said the state meet was by far the largest competition of the year the Piranhas attended.
Around 560 swimmers and their groups of supporters from across the state of Montana were present for the two days of competition.
The Piranhas impressive performance during the state meet and the regular season of summer swimming is made all the more impressive considering this was their coach’s first year at the helm.
Hoar previously worked as an assistant coach in Butte, but this summer marked her first as the coach of Plains swimming.
Hoar said she had enjoyed coaching the team and hoped to return to her position for a second year as the team’s head coach.
“I had a lot of fun. I plan on coming back next year,” Hoar said.
With the final meet of the year in the rear view mirror the athletes of the Piranhas swim team can enjoy the final weeks of summer after a successful season.
The second place finish at the state meet joins a fifth place finish at the team’s home meet and a number of strong individual performances to combine for quite a year for the team.