Thunder Booms in Hamilton!

From one corner of the state to the another, the Glasgow Kiwanis Thunder traveled nearly 500 miles to Hamilton for the state swim meet July 30 and 31. When they left the Bitterroot, they had a state championship trophy, two state champion relays, two individual state champions, and a whole lot of proud supporters.

"Every swimmer showed up with something to prove after divisionals, making it an exciting state meet," said head coach Nicole Arnold. "Nearly all swimmers received their best times and moved up places."

The Thunder started early both days of the meet, with their warm-up time set for 7:30 a.m. Temperatures reached the upper 90s on Saturday and cooled off somewhat on Sunday with temperatures in the mid-80s.

Saturday morning began with the freestyle relays. The senior girls absolutely dominated their relay events. For the fifth year in a row, they easily won the freestyle relay, breaking both the pool and federation records from 2007 with their first-place-finish time of 1:47.99. Swimming in the relay for the senior girls were Katie Kaiser, Khloe Krumwiede, Jordan Kulczyk, and DJ Rasmusan.

On Sunday, the same relay team achieved gold in the medley relay, which consists of each swimmer swimming a different stroke. Kaiser started the race with the backstroke, followed by Krumwiede, who swam the breaststroke and Kulczyk, who swam the fly. Tasked with anchoring the race with the freestyle was Rasmusan. Breaking another pool record, the girls finished the event with a time of 2:08.27.

The Thunder also boasts two individual champions with Kaiser and Krumwiede dominating their events. Kaiser finished the meet with two gold medals and one silver, while Krumwiede swept her events and claimed high point in her age group.

Kaiser made the trip home with a new pool record under her cap for her performance in the 400 yard freestyle. She shattered the previous record by more than a minute.

Krumwiede's cap was overflowing, with three pool records and a federation record to her name by the end of the weekend.

First-year swimmers Damian Cable, Shalynn Pedersen, Grace Reyes, Abigail Kulczyk and Torrance Braaten all showed dedication to the team, as they traveled to Hamilton to swim in a single event.

Despite the roadblocks some of the swimmers found themselves up against, they put their very best into their races and earned the title of best in the state of all division B swimmers. All in all, 168 pool records and 24 federations records were shattered at the two-day meet.

Every single swimmer that placed in their events either maintained their best time or cut time. Notably, for the boys, Jordan Billingsley shaved 3.17 seconds off in his backstroke, Tony Kaiser cut an amazing 27.33 seconds in his 100 yard freestyle, Trevor Johnson shaved 4.34 seconds off his time in the butterfly, and Ben Miller cut 24.34 seconds in his 100 yard freestyle race.

Although he did not qualify for finals on Sunday, Bergen Miller cut 12.27 in his breaststroke and 14.25 seconds in his 100 yard freestyle on Saturday.

The senior girls dropped time in nearly every race, as Rachel Billingsley cut 13.04 seconds in her individual medley race, Jazmine Foster-Shaw dropped 7.06 seconds in her backstroke, Khloe Krumwiede dropped 9.83 seconds in her individual medley, 2.78 seconds in her 50 yard freestyle, and 4.91 seconds in her 100 yard freestlyle, Katie Kaiser dropped 11.18 seconds in her final race of the 50 freestyle, DJ Rasmusan shaved 2.48 seconds in her 50 yard freestyle and 4.31 seconds in her 100 yard freestyle, while Jordan Kulczyk dropped a phenomenal 59.01 seconds in her 400 yard freestyle race as well as 2.20 from her 100 yard freestyle and 5.50 seconds from her 100 yard backstroke.

Other girls making waves by cutting time were: Klaire Krumwiede who shaved 1.16 seconds from her 50 yard freestyle, 3.87 seconds from her 100 yard freestyle, and 4.24 seconds from her 50 yard backstroke race, while Ava Reyes dropped an incredible 47.40 seconds in her individual medley.

Although they did not qualify for finals on Sunday, Kimber Dulaney cut 6.24 seconds in her backstroke, and Tori Pehlke cut time in both of her preliminary races with 2.90 seconds off her breaststroke and 1.54 seconds off her backstroke.

Reflecting on the season, Arnold thought the season went very well from start to finish. "It was a battle throughout to place at the meets each weekend with our small roster," she said. "However, at state, we demonstrated that quality surpasses quantity."

Relay results:

Girls 8 & Under: 100 yard freestyle, 7th, 1:25.89 (Myli Swindler, Kimber Dulaney, Sophia Larson, Kaitlyn Hiltunen); 100 yard medley, 8th, 1:43.69 (Kimber Dulaney, Sophia Larson, Kaitlyn Hiltunen, Myli Swindler).

Girls 9-10: 100 yard freestyle, 11th, 1:35.99 (Shalynn Pedersen, Grace Reyes, Torrance Braaten, Abigail Kulczyk).

Girls 11-12: 200 yard freestyle, 6th, 2:11.07 (Tori Pehlke, Ava Reyes, Raelee Dowden, Klaire Krumwiede); 200 yard medley, 6th, 2:34.97 (Klaire Krumwiede, Iris McKean, Raelee Dowden, Tori Pehlke).

Girls 15-19: 200 yard freestyle, 1st, 1:47.99 (Katie Kaiser, DJ Rasmusan, Jordan Kulczyk, Khloe Krumwiede); 200 yard medley, 1st, 2:08.27 (Katie Kaiser, Khloe Krumwiede, Jordan Kulczyk, DJ Rasmusan).

Boys 11-12: 200 yard medley, 9th, 3:03.41 (Zavier Urbin, Bergen Miller, Dalton Sand, Damian Cable)

Boys 15-19: 200 yard freestyle, 6th, 1:48.29 (Tony Kaiser, Jordan Billingsley, Trevor Johnson, Ben Miller); Boys 15-19 200 yard medley, 6th, 2:05.93 (Jordan Billingsley, Ben Miller, Tony Kaiser, Trevor Johnson).

Individual results:

Jordan Billingsley, boys 15-19, 100 yard backstroke, 7th, 1:13.72.

Rachel Billingsley, girls 15-19, 200 yard individual medley, 11th, 3:12.68; 100 yard butterfly, 11th, 1:30.11.

Raelee Dowden, girls 11-12, 200 yard individual medley, 10th, 3:10.48.

Jazmine Foster-Shaw, girls 15-19, 100 yard butterfly, 13th, 1:46.42.

Kaitlyn Hiltunen, girls 8 & under, 25 yard freestyle, 9th, 18.34; 25 yard butterfly, 6th, 21.64.

Trevor Johnson, boys 13-14, 200 yard individual medley, 4th, 2:37.74; 50 yard butterfly, 3rd, 28.68; 100 yard butterfly, 2nd, 1:05.76.

Katie Kaiser, girls 15-19, 50 yard freestyle, 2nd, 25.53; 100 yard backstroke, 1st, 1:07.37; 400 yard freestyle, 1st, 4:43.43.

TonyKaiser, boys 15-19, 400 yard freestyle, 6th, 4:49.85.

Khloe Krumwiede, girls 15-19, 200 yard individual medley, 1st, 2:33.55; 50 yard freestyle , 1st, 25.29; 100 yard freestyle, 1st, 58.29.

Klaire Krumwiede, girls 11-12, 50 yard freestyle, 4th, 28.96; 100 yard freestyle, 4th, 1:06.38; 50 yard backstroke, 9th, 38.07.

Jordan Kulczyk, girls 15-19, 100 yard freestyle, 2nd, 1:01.15; 100 yard backstroke, 8th, 1:18.37; 400 yard freestyle, 3rd, 5:15.37.

Sophia Larson, girls 8 & under, 100 yard individual medley, 11th, 2:11.73; 25 yard backstroke, 10th, 23.06.

Ben Miller, boys 15-19, 100 yard breaststroke, 10th, 1:19.34; 100 yard freestyle, 12th, 59.06; 400 yard freestyle, 10th, 5:06.68.

Tori Pehlke, girls 11-12, 200 yard individual medley, 13th, 3:17.78.

DJ Rasmusan, girls 15-19, 50 yard freestyle, 11th, 28.90; 100 yard freestyle, 10th, 1:07.88; 400 yard freestyle, 7th, 5:26.55.

Ava Reyes, girls 11-12, 200 yard individual medley, 16th, 3:23.87.

Dalton Sand, boys 11-12, 200 yard individual medley, 2nd, 2:40.56; 50 yard freestyle, 5th, 28.19; 50 yard butterfly, 5th, 33.26.

Natosha Sand, girls 13-14, 100 yard freestyle, 10th, 1:08.53.

Competing on Saturday, but unable to qualify for finals were: Zavier Urbin, Myli Swindler, Bergen Miller, Iris McKean, and Kimber Dulaney.