Pirates' Sloan claims two state swimming titles

The maiden voyage for the Polson Pirates new swim team ended with a pair of state titles for senior standout Mason Sloan.

Sloan cruised to wins in the 200 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke Saturday at the Mission Valley Aquatics and Fitness pool on his home turf in Polson. The event also featured West teams Whitefish, Columbia Falls and Bigfork, and Billings Central, East Helena, Hardin and Havre from the East.

Participants were limited to two individual events. After taking two gold medals, Sloan took some time to soak in the fact that he was a state champion.

“I worked hard for it,” he said. “There were a lot of ups and downs over the season, and I feel like I earned it.”

Sloan said his favorite event is the 200 freestyle, and it showed Saturday when he finished 23 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Christian Ross of Billings Central.

That event came early in the meet. Near the end he bested Connor Cheff of Columbia Falls by 5 seconds to win the 100 breaststroke gold.

Sloan, a multisport athlete, is still considering his options for competing at the next level.

“Now I move onto track. I go swimming in the summer and winter, and then to running cross country and track the rest of it.”

He’s garnered attention for both endeavors, but says he has a clear favorite.

“The goal is to swim in college,” he said.

Polson junior Trey Wyman also captured a pair of medals after finishing sixth in the 50 freestyle and fifth in the 100-yard backstroke.

The new Polson squad was launched this season under the tutelage of veteran club coach Shayna Swanson, who has been coaching local club team Polson Lake Monsters since 2018.

“I had a great group of kids, and I was lucky to have known them (through club season) for a while going in.”

She said she was delighted, though not surprised, by Sloan’s big day.

“He’s an extraordinary swimmer and he has a great future in any direction he wants to take it.”

Swanson said she’ll take a few weeks off and then get back at it with the summer club season.

Among the meet’s most electric moments was its final event, the boys 400-yard relay. The team from Columbia Falls edged out the Billings Central team for a dramatic victory. However, it was later announced that the Wildkats team had been disqualified, possibly for an early departure, though the reason was not announced.

The disqualification gave Billings Central the event win and enough points to top Whitefish for the boys team title. The Columbia Falls boys finished third in the team standings.

The Billings Central girls also won a team title, while Bigfork finished second and Whitefish finished third.

Class A/B State swim meet

Saturday, March 6 at Polson

Team scores

Girls: 1. Billings Central 102; 2. Bigfork 52; 3. Whitefish 42; 4. Hardin 34; 5. Havre 30.5; 6. Columbia Falls 11.5.

Boys: 1. Billings Central 74; 2. Whitefish 71; 3. Columbia Falls 43; 4. Havre 35; 5. Hardin 20; 6. Polson, 17.

Individual

Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay: 1, Billings Central High School 'A' 2:01.10. 2, Bigfork High School 'A' 2:03.26. 3, Hardin High School 'A' 2:04.79. 4, Columbia Falls High 'A' 2:12.40. 5, Havre High School 'A' 2:16.14. 6, Whitefish High School 'A' 2:17.18.

Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay: 1, Whitefish High School 'A' 1:50.53. 2, Havre High School 'A' 2:06.82. 3, Billings Central High School 'A' 2:07.49.

Girls 200 Yard Freestyle: 1, Early, Alyson, Central, 2:01.85. 2, Anderson, Katelyn, Central, 2:09.18. 3, Hanson, Nia, Whitefish High, 2:09.60. 4, Kills Night, Kiauna, Hardin, 2:17.60. 5, McKeon, Eloise, Cfalls High, 2:19.09. 6, Ralston-Gust, Mia, Central, 2:24.02.

Boys 200 Yard Freestyle: 1, Sloan, Mason, Polson, 1:52.97. 2, Ross, Christian, Central, 2:16.39. 3, Walks Over Ice, Wynn, Central, 2:17.27. 4, McKay, Conner, Havre, 2:19.35. 5, McGovern, Brendan, Central, 2:29.35. 6, Molloy, Aidan, Central, 2:44.06.

Girls 200 Yard IM: 1, Qunell, Ada, Whitefish High, 2:09.12. 2, Beers, Megan, Central, 2:22.20. 3, Burchard, Kobi, Havre, 2:34.67. 4, Burchard, Kyla, Havre, 2:34.95. 5, Templin, Emerald, Cfalls High, 2:35.24. 6, Pallone, Carmen, Hardin, 2:44.86.

Boys 200 Yard IM: 1, Cheff, Connor, Cfalls High, 2:19.32. 2, Hraban, Aedan, Central, 2:27.03. 3, Borgen, Thane, Cfalls High, 2:30.93. 4, Cammon, Hiram, Havre, 2:35.79. 5, Kay, Christian, Central, 2:37.93. 6, Hagstrom, Wyatt, Havre, 2:38.85. 7, Walks Over Ice, Buren, Hardin, 2:45.17. 8, Poling, Joseph, Central, 2:53.87. 9, Niles, Nathan, Whitefish High, 3:02.51.

Girls 50 Yard Freestyle: 1, Thompson, Shelby, Bigfork, 26.05. 2, Kogolshak, Rylee, Hardin, 26.35. 3, Slawter, Sydney, Bigfork, 27.14. 4, Weaver, Kay, Whitefish High, 27.29. 5, Fink, Ava, Central, 28.13. 6, King, Kaylee, Cfalls High, 28.56. 6, Flammond, Morgan, Havre, 28.56.

Boys 50 Yard Freestyle: 1, Mark, Caleb, Hardin, 23.35. 2, McDaniel, Jack, Whitefish High, 23.82. 3, Dalen, Ben, Whitefish High, 24.76. 4, Malmberg, Peyton, Cfalls High, 24.97. 5, Blackwell, Brigham, Havre, 26.41. 6, Wyman, Trey, Polson, 27.99.

Girls 100 Yard Butterfly: 1, Logue, Sophi, Bigfork, 1:05.77. 2, Hanson, Nia, Whitefish High, 1:07.81. 3, Bodine, Lauren, Central, 1:09.13. 4, Pallone, Carmen, Hardin, 1:12.57. 5, Bagley, Norah, Cfalls High, 1:15.63. 6, Miller, Megan, Havre, 1:16.33.

Boys 100 Yard Butterfly: 1, Botner, Logan, Whitefish High, 54.59. 2, Dalen, Ben, Whitefish High, 1:02.99. 3, Richert, Ethan, Central, 1:06.38. 4, Blackwell, Brigham, Havre, 1:09.62.

Girls 100 Yard Freestyle: 1, Early, Alyson, Central, 55.85. 2, Thompson, Shelby, Bigfork, 56.08. 3, Kunz, Myah, Central, 58.14. 4, Burchard, Kobi, Havre, 1:01.47. 5, Flammond, Morgan, Havre, 1:03.16. 6, King, Kaylee, Cfalls High, 1:03.22.

Boys 100 Yard Freestyle: 1, McDaniel, Jack, Whitefish High, 52.87. 2, Snyder, Philip, Central, 54.32. 3, Ross, Christian, Central, 58.87. 4, Bartholomew, Jordan, Central, 1:04.09. 5, Walks Over Ice, Buren, Hardin, 1:04.25. 6, Laman, Grant, East Helena, 1:04.94.

Girls 500 Yard Freestyle: 1, Qunell, Ada, Whitefish High, 5:14.27. 2, Beers, Megan, Central, 5:37.24. 3, Templin, Emerald, Cfalls High, 6:04.48. 4, Kills Night, Kiauna, Hardin, 6:14.86. 5, Lines, Blakelee, Havre, 6:36.62. 6, Uffelman, Abby, Hardin, 6:36.81.

Boys 500 Yard Freestyle: 1, Botner, Logan, Whitefish High, 5:15.43. 2, Schrader, Adam, Cfalls High, 5:38.86. 3, Mark, Toby, Hardin, 6:06.09. 4, Walks Over Ice, Wynn, Central, 6:07.64. 5, McGovern, Brendan, Central, 7:01.04. 6, Blankenship, Johnathan, Cfalls High, 7:10.26.

Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1, Billings Central High School 'A' 1:46.93. 2, Bigfork High School 'A' 1:48.97. 3, Whitefish High School 'A' 1:51.87. 4, Havre High School 'A' 1:52.87. 5, Hardin High School 'A' 1:53.51. 6, Columbia Falls High 'A' 2:00.17. 7, East Helena High School 'A' 2:30.21.

Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1, Whitefish High School 'A' 1:37.60. 2, Columbia Falls High 'A' 1:38.25. 3, Billings Central High School 'A' 1:42.51. 4, Havre High School 'A' 1:47.97.

Girls 100 Yard Backstroke: 1, Kunz, Myah, Central, 1:02.71. 2, Logue, Sophi, Bigfork, 1:04.91. 3, Slawter, Sydney, Bigfork, 1:08.07. 4, Anderson, Katelyn, Central, 1:08.38. 5, Kunz, Riley, Central, 1:10.23. 6, Miller, Megan, Havre, 1:11.16.

Boys 100 Yard Backstroke: 1, Mark, Caleb, Hardin, 59.24. 2, Dicks, Aaron, Whitefish High, 1:05.33. 3, Borgen, Thane, Cfalls High, 1:07.15. 4, Hagstrom, Wyatt, Havre, 1:08.09. 5, Wyman, Trey, Polson, 1:08.51. 6, Richert, Ethan, Central, 1:10.94.

Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke: 1, Kogolshak, Rylee, Hardin, 1:10.89. 2, Bodine, Lauren, Central, 1:15.67. 3, Pratt, Aliviah, Havre, 1:20.55. 4, Nedens, Aubrey, Hardin, 1:22.43. 5, Hadley, Hannah, Central, 1:24.12. 6, Fink, Ava, Central, 1:24.28.

Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke: 1, Sloan, Mason, Polson, 1:05.18. 2, Cheff, Connor, Cfalls High, 1:10.04. 3, Malmberg, Peyton, Cfalls High, 1:10.67. 4, Dicks, Aaron, Whitefish High, 1:11.07. 5, Kay, Christian, Central, 1:12.76. 6, Hraban, Aedan, Central, 1:12.86.

Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1, Billings Central High School 'A' 4:01.71. 2, Havre High School 'A' 4:11.15. 3, Whitefish High School 'A' 4:12.82. 4, Hardin High School 'A' 4:27.88. 5, Columbia Falls High 'A' 4:55.96. 6, Bigfork High School 'A' 5:07.97.

Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1, Billings Central High School 'A' 3:50.95. 2, Havre High School 'A' 4:37.88.