The Missoula Hellgate teams steamrolled their opponents at Montana High School State Swimming Championships this weekend at Great Falls High School, winning every single relay and eight individual events between the boys and girls competitions. Jadyn Stroh, Mari Aoki, and siblings Cale Berkoff and Katharine Berkoff all proved major players for the team, each scoring double event championships. Missoula Big Sky’s Adam Zimmer had the biggest performances of the meet however, taking down his own state records and winning each of his individual events.
Zimmer, a Speedo Junior Nationals championship finalist, started off his individual performances by taking down his own 1:52.93 200 IM mark from 2014 with a 1:52.55. His other record came in the 100 breast, where he beat his mark from last year, a 56.42, by nearly .4 seconds with 56.05.
Aoki scored her victories in the 200 IM and the 500 free, setting a new state record in the IM. She swam the event in 2:06.09, taking down the 11-year-old 2:06.09 set by Hannah Chura of Bozeman back in 2005. Her 500 victory came in 5:10.23.
Stroh won back-to-back events with a 24.19 in the 50 free and a 58.26 in the 100 fly.
Katharine Berkoff won the 100 free by nearly two seconds, finishing in 51.73. Her second victory came by a huge margin of 5.2 seconds when she finished the 100 backstroke in 55.26.
Cale Berkoff dominated the boys’ 100 fly, finishing in 52.65, ahead of second place by over three seconds. His other win came by the closest of margins; in the 100 back, he barely outtouched Billings Senior’s Ethan Harder. The pair finished in 50.72 and 50.73.
Colton Babcock of Columbia Falls also had a pair of wins, taking the sprint freestyle titles in 21.95 (50 free), and 46.91 (100 free).
Other individual gold-medalists included Hailey Hamlin of Bozeman with 1:55.49 in the 200 free, Harder with 1:43.04 in the 200 free, and Jake Bentley of Butte High School with 4:55.44 in the 500 free.
Each of the Hellgate relays won their events by a big margin, and the boys grabbed two state records along the way. The girls’ 200 medley finished in 1:47.36, with Bozeman finishing second in 1:53.46. The boys’ 200 medley won in a new state record 1:36.55 to C.M. Russell’s 1:45.03. Their girls’ 200 free relay took the closest win, clocking 1:40.62 to Bozeman’s 1:41.36. The boys’ 200 free relay finished in 1:32.16 to Bozeman’s 1:33.77. To round off the meet, the Hellgate girls won the 400 free relay in 3:35.68 to Bozeman’s 3:42.03, and the boys won the 400 free relay in a new record 3:14.85 to Bozeman’s 3:29.02.
Class AA girls team scores:
1. Missoula Hellgate 338; 2. Bozeman 214; 3. Great Falls CMR 107; 4. Helena 106.5; 5. Kalispell Glacier 90.5; 6 Missoula Sentinel 89; 7. Billings Senior 53; 8. Missoula Big Sky/Loyola 47; 9. Helena Capital 33; 10. Billings West 27; 11. Billings Skyview 13; 12. Great Falls 8; 13. Butte. 4.
Class A-B girls team scores:
1. Havre 67; 2. Billings Central 43; 3. Columbia Falls 19; 4. Whitefish 12.
Class AA boys team scores:
1. Missoula Hellgate 289; 2. Bozeman 149; 3. Great Falls CMR 116; 4. Billings Senior 84; 5. Missoula Big Sky/Loyola 78; 6. Butte 76; 7. Billings West 71; 8. Kalispell Glacier 62; 9. Great Falls 53; 10. Missoula Sentinel 44; 11. Helena 20; 12. Billings Skyview 9; 13. Helena Capital 5; 14. Kalispell Flathead 4.
Class A-B boys team scores:
1. Columbia Falls 96; 2. Billings Central 73; 3. Whitefish 13; 4. Hardin 9.
To easy