Newman finishes in first at Cut Bank

CUT BANK – Only one swimmer represented the Plains Piranhas at an away swim meet, bringing home gold for the team.

Kendra Newman continued her early season success, winning three events at this weekend’s swim meet in Cut Bank.

The swimmer, who competes in the 11 to 12 year old group, took first place in her division at the swim meet in Plains last weekend.

Newman was able to replicate this feat during the Cut Bank meet, once again using her impressive performance to take home the first place trophy, scoring the highest point total in her age group.

With around four hours of travel separating the town of Plains from Cut Bank in the heart of Glacier County, Newman was the only member of the Plains Piranhas swim team to make the journey for the last swim meet of June.

The lengthy trip up to the top of Montana was certainly worth it for Newman, who continues to shine for the Piranhas as the swim season moves into its second full month of team competition.

“She did really well and won the high point trophy,” Head Coach Kayla Hoar said.

Over the weekend Newman finished first in the 50-meter freestyle event, the 100-meter freestyle event and the 50-meter butterfly race.

Newman’s standout performance was made all the more impressive by the ability to cut seconds from her times in previous races earlier in the summer swim season.

The Piranhas will not attend a swim meet next weekend due to the Fourth of July holiday.

The following week the team will get back together and gear up for their next meets at the end of July.

The team will continue to practice before heading up to their next meet.

The Western Division swim meet competition will continue for Plains at the meet in Columbia Falls, which will take place over the weekend of July 19.

Preliminary competitions will be featured on Saturday with individual finals occurring on Sunday, July 20.

The Piranhas started their Montana Federation of Swimmers season off on the right foot with an impressive performance at their home meet earlier in June.

At the home meet, hosted at the EL Johnson Memorial Pool Park in Plains, the Piranhas took fifth place in the team competition, while fielding several individual event winners.

The meet in Columbia Falls will provide the Piranhas with an excellent opportunity to prepare for the divisional and state meets.

The divisional meet will take place at Fort Benton in Choteau County on the weekend of July 26.

The state meet is tentatively schedule to take place on August 2-3.

The meet is to be held in Conrad, and will mark the end of the competitive summer swim season.

The Piranhas have plenty of time to practice before the end of the season and swimmers will look to build on their impressive times in the first portion of the season.