Swim team off to a hot start with three wins

The Columbia Falls summer swim team couldn’t ask for a better start to the season — three meets in it’s taken three first-place trophies, with wins in Shelby, Chester and Cut Bank.

The squad has 94 swimmers signed up, said head coach Harry Bagley — the highest number in years.

Bagley said he suspects the pent-up demand post Covid-19 probably had something to do with the numbers. The success of the program under his leadership has helped, too.

It’s the only summer swim league in the valley, so it draws swimmers from other towns as well, he noted.

Last year the season was shut down due to coronavirus concerns.

The Columbia Falls squad this year has a host of budding athletes, including Annika Peterson, Estelle Muhler, Catherine Opalka, Sadie Cheff, Nolan Rosenthal and a host of others.

Bagley has two daughters on the team, Molly and Norah.

There are several high school swimmers on the team as well, though if they’re on the high school swim team, they can’t compete and earn points in the summer league, they can only swim in exhibition. The summer league is only for swimmers who don’t swim competitively year-round.

Bagley said Big Sandy is the team to beat this year and their main competition in the west. Sidney and Glendive are always tough from the east.

The team will host the the state meet at the end of the July, as it looks to bring a state title home.

Bagley is assisted by Andrew Anderson and a Connor Cheff. Cheff swims for the Columbia Falls High School squad.

The Wildcats travel to Hamilton this weekend. Bagley said they need to work a little more on their technique in the coming weeks.

“We’re such a large group, we have to have three practice sessions,” he said.

Practice starts at 6 a.m. and ends at 10 a.m. at the city pool. This is Bagley’s fifth year coaching the squad.