GREAT FALLS — Butte High and Butte Central’s swimmers had a nice day Friday at the 57th Annual Montana High School State Swimming Meet at Great Falls High School.

Butte High is competing in the Class AA competition, while the Maroons are in the Class AB meet.

Butte High will have 14 swimmers in the finals on Saturday, with a strong contingent of girls leading the way. Those who make the top-six finals have already secured All-State honors. Those who make the finals for seventh through 12th place are all-conference.

Six girls for the Bulldogs have already secured All-State recognition.  

Freshman Adalie Grochowski dropped tine off her personal best in the 50-yard freestyle and is seeded third. She also dropped 3 seconds in the 100 backstroke to sit in fifth place.

Senior Tatum Trefts finished secured the fourth seed in the 100 breaststroke, shaving 4 seconds off her best time.

Bulldog coach Lynn Shrader said the most exciting moment of the day was when junior Alaina Grocowsky cut more than 3 seconds off to tie for sixth place in the 100 butterfly. She had to do a swim-off to break the tie and earn All-State, dropping another tenth of a second to win.

She also is sitting seventh in the 100 breaststroke.

Senior Olivia Thurmond had best times in the 50 and 100 free.  She is sitting in eighth in the 50 free and 12th in the 100 free. 

The 200 medley relay team of Adalie Grochowski, Trefts, Alaina Grochowski, and Thurmond dropped 4 seconds to claim the fifth seed in the finals. In doing so, they broke a 15-year-old school record in this event. 

The 200 freestyle relay team made up of Alaina Grochowski, Bella Corrales, Thurmond, and Adalie Grochowski dropped time to be sitting in fifth place. In the 400 freestyle relay, Bryher Fitzpatrick, Trefts, Elly Rumler, and Corrales are sitting in eighth place.

For the Butte High boys, senior Nathon Stone is sitting in 12th place in the 100 butterfly, and freshman Alex Sonnemann sits in 12th in the 100 backstroke.

Butte High’s 200 freestyle relay team of Gunnar Benson, Tucker Kissell, Sonneman Stone are sitting in ninth place. In the 200 medley relay, Gage Plum, Stone, Benson and Sonneman are seeded 10th.

“We had almost all best times today, with swimmers moving up places and some just missing out into the top 12,” Shrader said. “I am proud of how everyone swam and how hard they worked throughout the season. This has been the most swims that Butte High has had in finals for a long time. I am looking forward to seeing how they do in the finals.”

For the Maroon girls, Tessa Ganzenmueller had a great day. She is seeded first in the 100 breaststroke and in the top six of the 200 freestyle.

Morgan Hardy also qualified for the finals in the 200 freestyle, while Tia Thompson, Hardy and Alex Morey also made the 200 freestyle finals.

Hardy, Thompson, Ganzenmueller and Arwen Register qualified in the 200 medley relay.

BC’s boys saw a handful of swimmers just miss the top six. Shamus Peck took seventh in the 200 individual medley and eighth in the 100 butterfly.

Connor Hardy placed ninth in the 100 backstroke and 10th in the 100 breaststroke, and Joe Bradshaw finished 10th in the 500 freestyle.

Bradshaw, Conan Holmes, Hardy and Peck placed seventh in the 200 individual medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay.

Results will not be available until the meet after the meet concludes on Saturday.