Piranhas attack, win 5th in Plains meet

Plains Piranha Jack Couch captured first place in each of the three events at the Plains swim meet at E.L. Johnson Memorial Pool Sunday and when he wasn't zipping through the water, Coach Couch was giving his team members last minute guidance before each event.

"I was happy with every one of them. They've improved a lot over the last couple weeks," said Couch, the Piranha's new coach and the team's top competitor. He took first place in the 50-meter butterfly, finishing at 29:08 seconds. His first place finish in the 50-meter freestyle was 26.17 seconds and he swam the 100-meter freestyle in 59.54 seconds.

Couch said that this week he'll be concentrating on his swimmers' starts and turns, which could shave off a substantial amount of time during competition.

Tents and trailers packed the community pool park last weekend, when 10 teams and 160 swimmers from across Montana gathered for the two-day meet. The events consisted of preliminary races on Saturday. Only the top 12 finishers qualified for the Sunday finals. Nearly all of the Piranhas raced on Sunday. The point system ranged from 14 points for first place to one point for 12th.

The Bitterroot Swim Team of Hamilton, the River Rats, had the largest team with 70 swimmers at the meet, grabbed first place with 1,632.50 points, followed by the Columbia Falls Wildcats, the second largest team, finishing with 785 points. Third place went to Cut Bank Sharks with 350 points. The Conrad Swim Team finished fourth with 278 points.

The Piranhas collected 266 points and fifth place, its highest placement so far this season. The Plains girls finished overall in fourth place with 170 points. The boys took fifth place with 96 points, half of which were accumulated by Couch.

"He's such a standout; we're so lucky to have him," said Kristen Cole. "We hope we can get him to come back next year," said Cole, whose daughter, Kaylee, competed in three events and took 10th place in the individual rankings of all girls in the 15-19-year-old bracket with 25 points. Couch tied a Conrad swimmer for first in the individual rankings with 42 points.

Cole took third in the 50-meter freestyle at 47.9 seconds and sixth in the 100-meter freestyle. In her six years on the team, this was the first time she'd competed in the 400-meter freestyle – swimming the length of the pool 16 times – finishing in fifth place with a time of 6 minutes and 50.55 seconds.

Alexis Helterline collected 34 points for third place in the individual rankings of the 11-12-year-olds. She grabbed first place in the 50-meter breaststroke with a time of 45.71, just over one second faster than her Saturday time. She finished third in the 50-meter freestyle at 38.41 and third in the 200-meter freestyle in 3:27.60.

Competing in the 11-12-year-olds 50-meter backstroke, Hallie Corbin took third in 1:05.54. She finished sixth in the 200-meter freestyle and 10th in the 50-meter breast stroke. Grace Horton, competing in the 13-14-year-olds, took third in the 100-meter breast stroke at 1:48.29. She finished ninth in the 100 freestyle and seventh in the 50-meter freestyle. Ireland Corbin, competing in the 9-10-year-olds, captured third in the 50 free in 48.43 seconds.

One of three Piranha boys on the team, Gabe Worrall, swimming in the 13-14-year-old bracket, took third place in the 50-meter freestyle at 34.05, third in the 100-meter freestyle at 1:21.51, and sixth place in the 50-meter butterfly. He finished the meet with 27 points and eighth place in the rankings. Pepper Lulack, competing in the 9-10-year-olds, finished third in the 50-meter freestyle at 55.8 seconds. Lulack also took fourth in the 100-meter freestyle and fifth in the 50-meter backstroke. He totaled 27 points in the individual rankings for sixth place in his age group.

His sister, Cree, competing in the 15-19-year-olds, took third in the 100-meter freestyle at 1:19.72 and fourth in the 50-meter freestyle. With a time of 52.23, Lillian MacDonald took third in the 50-meter fly, her second time to compete in the butterfly event. She took fourth in the 50-meter freestyle and sixth in the 100-meter freestyle. MacDonald collected 26 points for a seventh spot individual ranking. RuBea Privett, competing in the 11-12-year-olds, took eighth in the 50-meter breast stroke and 10th in the 50-meter freestyle. The Piranha girls took third in the 200-meter relay races, finishing with a time of 2:19.49.

"They did a great job and they're improving their times and that's good," said Kirk Frye, the Piranha's assistant coach. Frye competed on the Plains team for eight years and has served as a coach or assistant coach in Plains and Hamilton for the last 16 years. The team will be competing at Columbia Falls this weekend. Marie Helterline for the first time volunteered to serve as announcer of the meet.