Age group Monsters have strong debut meet

KALISPELL — The age group swimmers in the newly formed Lake Monsters program trekked to Kalispell on Sunday to compete in a formal meet for the first time.

The 45 swimmers, most of whom were entirely new to the swim-meet format, swam well and were even able to win some events, Lake Monsters head coach Mark Johnston said.

“I was just excited that we had 45 brand new swimmers that all showed up and nobody missed an event,” Johnston said.

They didn’t just show up for their events, either. Lake Monsters swimmers won 14 events and earned more than 70 placing ribbons for their efforts.

“Everybody is just wide-eyed and excited about everything that happened,” Johnston said. “… I didn’t hear one bad thing from anybody who was at the meet at all.”

Johnston and his wife, Dana, who is an assistant coach, have started teams from scratch before but never in a place that had never had a swim team of any kind.

“[Starting teams has] been Dana’s and my forte, [but] it’s never been totally new,” Johnston said. “For the 40 kids that were there [five adults swam as well], nobody had ever been in a meet before and had no idea what to expect. It was impressive how well they did.”

Interest in the team has been growing in just the few days since the meet.

“I think the word of mouth and the excitement is contagious,” Johnston said of the inquiries he’s received this week.

The Lake Monsters hope to encourage that excitement even more after the new year, when they hope to host a meet at the Mission Valley Aquatic Center.

“Tentatively, we’re trying to schedule something for January 25 as our first home meet,” Johnston said.

For now, though, they’ll bask in the satisfaction of a successful first meet.

Lake Monsters Results

KATS Drive and Dive

from Dec. 8

25 Backstroke

Boys 8 & Under

4. Teague McElwee, 30.53. 5. Owen McElwee, 31.52.

Girls 8 & Under

3. Hannah Simpson, 30.69.

25 Freestyle

Boys 8 & Under

4. Owen McElwee, 27.05. 5. Teague McElwee, 29.38.

Girls 8 & Under

4. Hannah Simpson, 26.90. 5. Isabel Seeley, 27.28.

50 Backstroke

Boys 9-10

9. Sean Murphree, 53.40. 10. Christian Birdsbill, 53.43. 12. Jeremiah Coutts, 58.88.

Boys 11-12

4. Davis Smith, 45.76. 5. Isaac Stene, 49.37. 6. Gabriel Shipley, 52.49. 7. Ace Lake, 55.20. 8. Jarrod Shew, 59.18.

Boys 13-14

3. Coby DeBruin, 44.80.

Men 17 & Over

1. Mark Robertson, 32.56.

Girls 9-10

9. Charly Reynolds, 52.49.

Girls 11-12

8. Margaret Todd, 48.00. 9. Molly Sitter, 49.36. 10. Ellie Maddy, 55.75. 11. Halli Tyler, 1:01.91.

Girls 15-16

1. Abigail Lake, 41.00. 2. Rachel Maddy, 41.65.

50 Breaststroke

Men 17 & Over

1. Jay Gillhouse, 40.73.

Girls 9-10

5. Charly Reynolds, 50.61. 13. Sarah Kinzle, 1:17.53.

Girls 11-12

7. Gwen Seeley, 51.29. 8. Mikaela Ducharme, 54.49. 9. Kayleigh Davies, 55.55. 10. Molly Sitter, 56.32.

Girls 13-14

2. Malia Seeley, 44.57.

Women 17 & Over

1. Shawna Simons, 46.90.

50 Butterfly

Boys 13-14

1. Landon Shipley, 44.11.

Men 17 & Over

1. Mark Robertson, 32.17.

50 Freestyle

Boys 8 & Under

6. Owen McElwee, 55.99. 7. Teague McElwee, 1:14.75.

Boys 9-10

7. Christian Birdsbill, 40.22. 11. Sean Murphree, 43.73. 12. Jeremiah Coutts, 47.04. 14. Joshua Peck, 51.09.

Boys 11-12

3. Gabe Mergenthaler, 33.73. 6. Davis Smith, 36.36. 8. Ace Lake, 38.39. 10. Gabriel Shipley, 40.28. 12. Jarrod Shew, 42.30.

Boys 13-14

1. Landon Shipley, 31.70. 3. Coby DeBruin, 33.38. 4. Joshua Kinzle, 35.84. 5. Omar Perez, 52.50. 6. Dothan Stene, 1:39.14.

Men 17 & Over

2. Greg Hobbs, 23.71. 3. George Simpson, 25.77. 4. Mark Robertson, 27.66. 5. Jay Gillhouse, 33.90.

Girls 8 & Under

6. Hannah Simpson, 57.38. 7. Isabel Seeley, 1:00.47.

Girls 9-10

7. Charly Reynolds, 45.27. 10. Sarah Kinzle, 48.81.

Girls 11-12

5. Mikaela Ducharme, 34.26. 6. Nayeli Windauer, 35.59. 7. Margaret Todd, 37.47. 11. Gwen Seeley, 40.33. 12. Elissa Crist, 41.31. 13. Kayleigh Davies, 41.84. 14. Molly Sitter, 45.45. 15. Ellie Maddy, 46.16. 16. Halli Tyler, 54.23. 17. Ajalin Simshaw, 56.34.

Girls 13-14

8. Quinn Motichka, 39.32.

Girls 15-16

1. Abigail Lake, 32.06. 2. Linnea Madsen, 35.08. 3. Rachel Maddy, 35.11.

Women 17 & Over

3. Taryn Dupuis, 35.32. 4. Julia Maddy, 39.13.

100 Backstroke

Men 17 & Over

1. George Simpson, 1:12.17.

Girls 11-12

5. Ajalin Simshaw, 2:00.65.

Girls 15-16

1. Linnea Madsen, 1:32.77.

Women 17 & Over

1. Shawna Simons, 1:32.39.

100 Breaststroke

Girls 13-14

2. Malia Seeley, 1:32.88

100 Freestyle

Boys 9-10

7. Sean Murphree, 1:49.15. 8. Jeremiah Coutts, 1:51.10. 9. Joshua Peck, 2:00.12.

Boys 11-12

3. Gabe Mergenthaler, 1:19.71. 7. Isaac Stene, 1:27.88. 8. Ace Lake, 1:31.49. 9. Gabriel Shipley, 1:39.68. 10. Jarrod Shew, 1:42.11.

Boys 13-14

4. Coby DeBruin, 1:16.39. 5. Joshua Kinzle, 1:26.68. 6. Omar Perez, 2:02.50.

Men 17 & Over

2. Greg Hobbs, 53.81. 3. George Simpson, 57.32.

Girls 9-10

6. Charly Reynolds, 1:43.94. 7. Sarah Kinzle, 1:53.19.

Girls 11-12

4. Mikaela Ducharme, 1:19.52. 6. Nayeli Windauer, 1:22.76. 7. Kayleigh Davies, 1:23.29. 9. Margaret Todd, 1:28.06. 10. Elissa Crist, 1:42.00. 11. Molly Sitter, 1:47.13. 12. Ellie Maddy, 1:52.65. 13. Ajalin Simshaw, 2:17.53.

Girls 13-14

2. Quinn Motichka, 1:26.81. 3. Malia Seeley, 1:32.77.

Girls 15-16

1. Linnea Madsen, 1:23.87. 2. Rachel Maddy, 1:26.67.

Women 17 & Over

3. Taryn Dupuis, 1:19.52. 4. Shawna Simons, 1:21.32. 5. Julia Maddy, 1:27.09.

100 Individual Medley

Boys 11-12

5. Isaac Stene, 1:50.69. 6. Gabriel Shipley, 1:51.65. 7. Ace Lake, 1:59.63.

Boys 13-14

1. Landon Shipley, 1:35.25.

Men 17 & Over

1. Mark Robertson, 1:11.15.

Girls 11-12

4. Gwen Seeley, 1:46.46.

Girls 13-14

4. Malia Seeley, 1:42.31.

Girls 15-16

1. Linnea Madsen, 1:38.39. 2. Abigail Lake, 1:38.46.

Women 17 & Over

2. Shawna Simons, 1:30.79. 3. Taryn Dupuis, 1:41.45.

200 Backstroke

Men 17 & Over

2. Greg Hobbs, 2:22.49.

200 Freestyle

Boys 11-12

2. Gabe Mergenthaler, 2:55.41. 4. Isaac Stene, 3:15.10. 5. Davis Smith, 3:17.77.

Boys 13-14

2. Joshua Kinzle, 3:26.88.

Girls 11-12

5. Mikaela Ducharme, 2:59.26. 6. Kayleigh Davies, 3:08.42. 7. Nayeli Windauer, 3:11.76.

Girls 13-14

1. Quinn Motichka, 3:22.27.

Girls 15-16

1. Abigail Lake, 3:10.47. 2. Rachel Maddy, 3:21.82.

Women 17 & Over

2. Taryn Dupuis, 3:10.49. 3. Julia Maddy, 3:34.24.