Records fall as Glacier sweeps Kalispell swim meet

Ten schools showed up for the season-opening Kalispell Invitational swim meet held Saturday, and Glacier High outkicked them all.

The Wolfpack teams swept the meet, and a couple records fell on the girls’ side. The 200 medley relay team of Maddie Taylor, Hanna Vornbock, Madelaine McGaughy and Olivia Gibbons finished in 1 minute, 55.94 seconds.

“No one on this relay team is graduating this year,” Kalispell swim coach Karen Bouda noted. “We've got a junior and three sophomores and they beat the record from last year by 2 seconds."

Gibbons, a sophomore, broke the school backstroke record by 2 seconds as well, clocking 1:10.60.

“Olivia swam a 1:13 at the State meet last year, so no one was expecting this performance at the first meet of the season,” Bouda said.She just crushed it."

Glacier’s girls piled up 315 points to edge Great Falls High (308); Great Falls CMR was third at 203. Columbia Falls was the best among the Class A schools, taking fifth with 88 points.

Gibbons also won the 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke for the Pack, while Taylor won the 200 freestyle and McGaughy took the 50 freestyle.

McGaughy also finished second in the 100 butterfly, and teammate Hanna Vornbrock was second in the 200 individual medley with teammate Karys Camp in third. The Pack girls also won the 200 freestyle relay.

The Wolfpack boys scored 247 points to 206 for Great Falls High and 159 for Class A Polson. Columbia Falls was a close fourth, at 157.

The sprint relays were good for the Glacier boys as well: They swept the 200 freestyle and 200 medley. Those races bring in double the points for team totals.

“Glacier has depth, and it's paying off in the relay events,” Bouda said.

Isaac Keim (50 free, 100 back) won two races for the boys, while Ed McNeil (100 back) and Xander Stout (100 fly) were second and Jack Melnick (100 back) supplied a third-place finish.

Flathead’s girls scored 74 points, while the boys scored five.

“Flathead is in a rebuilding year with so many new swimmers,” Bouda said. “Glacier is in a good position with many returning veteran swimmers. Many of the GHS team members have club swimming experience and so they are ready to swim high school.”

Area individual winners include Jack McDaniel of Whitefish in the boys 100 fly and 200 IM; Gus Hertz of Polson in the 200 free; and Columbia Falls’ Connor Keith in the 100 breaststroke.

Glacier won the combined team score with 562 points. Great Falls was next at 514 and Columbia Falls was third at 245. Polson had 243 combined points.