Babcock, Friar golden in inaugural meet

The Columbia Falls swim team made its mark in its first-ever meet Dec. 6 in Kalispell. Sophomore Colton Babcock smoked the field in the 200 intermediate medley with a time of 2:12.12 and won the 500 freestyle at 5:07.09.

Zayne Friar nabbed a first-place finish in the 100 butterfly at 1:00.77. Jacob Hohman was second in the 50 freestyle at 26.04.

The boys 200 medley team of Friar, Babcock, Jacob Hohman and Kaleb Bagley also took third at 2:02.96.

Karyssa Nelson had a good day, taking sixth in the 200 intermediate medley at 2:39.99.

Overall, the girls were seventh and the boys were sixth.

The meet, hosted by Flathead High School, was held at The Summit in Kalispell and was dominated by Class AA schools from across Montana. Columbia Falls and Whitefish were the only Class A schools in the meet.

Columbia Falls coach Mike Nelson said it was a great feeling to finally get out and compete.

“All the other teams were so welcoming,” he said. “There were a lot of ‘congratulations’ and we’re ‘glad to see you here.’ We’ve been celebrating since we started practice and even on the bus on the way, but it really hit home when the anthem played and our first race started. The athletes were so pumped. This wasn’t just our first meet of the season, this was our first meet ever.”

The team travels to Butte for a meet this Saturday.

Results for both C-Falls and Whitefish

Boys 200 medley relay

3 Class A Columbia Falls (Zayne Friar, Jacob Hohman, Colton Babcock, Kaleb Bagley), 2:02.96.

Female open 200 free

10 Sonja Ring, WH, 2:28.20Y

16 Hayden Pierce, CF, 2:39.46Y

Male open 200 free

10 Kaleb Bagley, CF, 3:04.32Y

Female open 200 IM

6 Karyssa Nelson, CF, 2:39.99Y

15 Kaylee Hickman, WH, 3:27.69Y

Male open 200 IM

1 Colton Babcock, CF, 2:12.12Y

Female open 50 free

7 Ashley Caffrey, CF, 29.21Y

25 Madison Davis, WH, 33.59Y

29 Alice Wilde, WH, 34.03Y

Male open 50 free

2 Jacob Hohman, CF, 26.04Y

9 Jacob Anderson, WH, 28.70Y

Female open 100 fly

12 Hayden Pierce, CF, 1:26.92Y

Male open 100 fly

1 Zayne Friar, CF, 1:00.77Y

5 Matthew Perez, WH, 1:17.49Y

Female open 100 free

27 Kaylee Hickman, WH, 1:23.74Y.

Male open 100 free

18 Kaleb Bagley, CF, 1:16.65Y

28 Sage Cornelius, WH, 1:42.68Y

Mixed open 500 free

1 Colton Babcock, CF, 5:07.09Y

8 Matthew Perez, WH, 6:20.20Y

Female open 200 free

9 Class A Whitefish (Alice Wilde, Kaylee Hickman, Michaela McDowell, Sonja Ring), 2:14.65.

Female open 100 backstroke

7Karyssa Nelson, CF, 1:08.29Y

24 Alice Wilde, WH, 1:39.50Y

25 Michaela McDowell, WH, 1:41.42Y

Male open 100 backstroke

4 Zayne Friar, CF, 1:04.53Y

Female open 100 breaststroke

16 Sonja Ring, WH, 1:35.78Y

19 Ashley Caffrey, CF, 1:37.23Y

Male open 100 breaststroke

7 Jacob Hohman, CF, 1:21.05Y

8 Jacob Anderson, WH, 1:22.64Y

Male open 400 free relay

2 Class A Columbia Falls (Zayne Friar, Kaleb Bagley, Jacob Hohman, Colton Babcock), 4:00.86.