Piranhas bite down on competition in C. Falls

COLUMBIA FALLS – The Plains Piranhas cranked out laps and shaved seconds off their times as the swim team spent the weekend in Columbia Falls.

The two-day swim meet in Flathead County marked the end of regular season swim meets for the Piranhas.

Swim teams from all across western Montana traveled to Columbia Falls as they geared up for the state divisional meet, which will be held next weekend in Fort Benton.

Kayla Hoar, head coach of the Plains Piranhas, said the whole team did not make the trip up to Columbia Falls, but about 12 swimmers competed during the late season meet.

Hoar was impressed with how well the team performed during the weekend, noting they have continued to progress throughout the summer season.

“We had a great meet. We had swimmers take off lots of time,” Hoar said.

Ending the meet with another standout performance for the Piranhas was Kendra Newman.

Newman has netted a number of top finishes throughout the two-month long season and she continued to impress in Columbia Falls.

Competing in the girls 11 – 12 year old age grouping Newman had a very successful day.

Newman took home the high point trophy for her age group and did so by placing in first in all of the races she competed in over the course of the meet.

Though the regular season is over the Plains Piranhas still have work to do, in order to ensure a strong performance at the end of the year meets.

Members of the Piranhas will compete at both the divisional and state swim meets before the swim season officially comes to a close.

Hoar said she expects to bring a team similar in size to the one the Piranhas fielded at Columbia Falls to the divisional meet in Fort Benton.

The swim coach is fully aware of the tough competition the Piranhas will face at the divisional meet and expects the swimmers to practice accordingly.

“The next week will probably be our hardest week of practice all season,” Hoar said.

The swimmers who progress through divisional competition will move through to the state meet, which will be held the following week.

The coach said the intensity of practices will taper off to allow swimmers to recover from the divisional meet.

For now the Piranhas will focus on the task at hand as they look to follow up on their successes at Columbia Falls and their strong performance at the Plains meet in June during the postseason.

The 2014 Western Divisional State Meet will be held on Saturday, July 26 and Sunday, July 27 in Fort Benton of Chouteau County.

The following week the 2014 Montana State Swim Meet will be held.

The state meet will take place on Saturday, August 2 and Sunday, August 3 and will be held in Pondera County in the town of Conrad.

With many members of the Piranhas swim team consistently knocking time off of their finishes throughout the year the team should be optimistic and look for a strong showing at the divisional meet.