Hellgate Boys Win 6th-Straight Montana High School State Championship

2019 Montana High School State Championship Meet Girls

• February 8th-9th, 2019
• Bozeman Swim Center, Bozeman, Montana
• 25y, prelims/finals; A/B finals for Class AA | A finals only for Class A-B; 6-per final scoring
• Meet Results
• Team Scores – Boys

In lock-step with the Hellgate High girls’ team, the Hellgate boys wo their 6th-straight Montana Class AA (big schools) State Championship meet on Saturday in Bozeman (112 points vs. 161 points), it was still a runaway victory. While the margin over runners-up Bozeman High wasn’t as big as last year. Meanwhile, in the Class A-B meet, there was a rare tie for the title between Billings Central Catholic and Havre High School.

This was the first year where separate finals were swum for Class A/B schools. In previous years, all finals were raced together, and Class A/B points were split out for a separate team standings (based on overall points, not points isolated within the class).

Class AA

The Hellgate boys swept the day’s relays, going largely unchallenged. The closest race came in the opening 200 medley, where the team of Simon McMahon, Finn Westenfelder, Lyndon Amon, and Tanner Baldry combined for a 1:37.85, with Helena High taking 2nd in 1:39.71. Helena actually had nearly a half-second lead going into the freestyle leg, but a 21.3 anchor from Baldry left Hellgate ultimately with a comfortable win.

All 4 members of that relay were seniors, and that was the story of the day for Hellgate. A class that’s never lost the state title came through in a big way one more time. Their 200 free relay of Westenfelder, Mark Herzog, Amon, and Sawyer Keys combined for a 1:28.52, winning by over 5 seconds. Westenfelder led off that relay with a 21.96.

Hellgate finished the day with one more win, again from four seniors, Baldry, McMahon, Herzog, and Keyes combined for a 3:16.39. None of those 4 swimmers were on the relay 2 years ago when they set the state record, showing the depth that this program has built over the last decade.

While the overall team title was sealed by the time the 400 free relay rolled around, the result was still significant: Helena, who were in the A final and probably would’ve placed 2nd, were disqualified. That cost them a 2nd-place team finish at the meet, and dropped them to 4th.

All of Hellgate’s individual wins came from seniors as well. Sawyer Keyes won the 200 free in 1:44.53 and the 500 free in 4:44.50. Both of those times are far from his lifetime bests (1:41/4:35), but both were more-than-enough to win titles.

Tanner Baldry picked up a win in the boys’ 200 IM in 1:58.26, and also placed 2nd in the 100 free behind fellow senior Finn Westenfelder (48.01). Westenfelder picked up a double of his own by topping the boys’ 50 free in 21.97.

The Hellgate boys will go into major rebuilding mode next season: they return a handful of state qualifiers, but only two state scorers: junior Dane Becker, who won the B final of the boys’ 50 free in 23.11 and placed 5th in the 100 fly in 54.88; and sophomore Hunter Harrington, who was 9th in the 100 fly (58.17).

Other Class AA Winners:

• Helena’s Rob Wagner was one of the rare non-Hellgate winners at the meet, topping the boys’ 100 fly in 52.89. He turned at the 50 with a 4-tenths of a second lead, though by the finish Flathead senior Jace Reed closed that to just .05, finishing 2nd in 52.94.
• Reed finished his day with a win in the 100 backstroke in 53.23. That was his best time by 8-tenths of a second.
• Helena’s Parker Keller won the last individual event of the day, the boys’ 100 breaststroke, in 58.60.

Top 5 Team Scores:

1. Missoula Helgate – 262
T-2. Bozeman High – 150
T-2. CM Russell High – 150
4. Helena High – 144
5. Great Falls High – 118

Class A-B

A prelims DQ in what was Billings Central Catholic’s meet, and 400 free relay, to lose opened the door for an upset among the state’s smallest schools. Havre took advantage, and with Billings Central Catholic able to do nothing but watch, won the final 400 free relay in 3:43.25 to tie the meet.

For Havre, that marks a 15th state championship after not scoring at all at last year’s meet (including a few won as part of a co-op program). This is not actually even the first time that the two schools have tied: in 2010, Billings Central Catholic and a Havre/Chinook co-op team tied for the A-B title with 10 points each.

Other Event Winners:

• Havre won the boys’ 200 medley relay in 1:52.65 (as the only team in the final) with a team of Christian Mathis, Jacob Miller, Sergio Tamayo, and Ammon Lines.
• Jack Leuthold, a senior from Central Catholic, won the boys’ 200 free in 1:53.84. Last year, where all classifications were swum together before being scored separately, Leuthold was 2nd overall in the state in 1:42.81. This year, racing only against swimmers in his class, he was 11 seconds slower and still won by more than 7 seconds.
• Central Catholic picked up back-to-back wins with a 2:14.26 from junior Bennett Apostol. His teammate Jake Molloy placed 3rd in 2:28.72, helping Central make up some much-needed ground on Havre, who had junior Jacob Miller place 2nd (2:16.54).
• Whitefish High’s Preston Ring won the boys’ 50 free in 21.96. The Whitefish High girls were the Class A-B State Champions, and while the men’s team was just 4th, they showed plenty of quality as well. Ring doubled up with a win in the boys’ 100 free in 48.65.
• Hardin junior Dominic Stevens picked up a win in the 100 fly in 56.25, beating out another Whitefish swimmer, freshman Logan Botner, who was 2nd in 57.20. Stevens would win again in the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.75: an unusual 100 fly/100 breast combo.
• Central won their only relay of the day, the boys’ 200 free relay, in 1:38.87. That group included Apostol, Jacob Honcoop, Michael Horrell, and Leuthold anchoring in 22.86.
• Hardin senior Caven Herrera won the boys’ 100 back in 1:00.82.

Top 5 Team Scores:

T-1. Billings Central Catholic HS – 63
T-1. Havre High School – 63
3. Hardin High School – 52
4. Columbia Falls High School – 38
5. Whitefish High School – 29