By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

 

DESTREHAN — Hill Heights rode a strong start to victory Thursday night as it defeated Belle Terre, 358-170, in a home swim meet.

Colby Watkins led the Piranhas with three first place finishes.

Alexandra Rutledge and Tyra Watkins each won two events.

Camyrn Loving, Dalton Duhon, Logan Loving, Payton Jacob, Jobe Kelly, Blaine Tatje and Cari Jane Roussel rounded out the winners for Belle Terre (0-2).

Hill Heights put up its best score in the opening event of the night, outscoring Belle Terre 76-36 in the freestyle, then 67-37 in the backstroke to take a 138-73 lead. The Hurricanes never gave ground from there.

Piranhas coach Hailey Montz said that she is pleased with the steady improvement of her swimmers, many of which joined the team with no experience or very little at all prior to the season.

“Everyone put forth their best effort,” said Montz. “We had some really good individual times tonight. They’re improving by leaps and bounds, and you can see it at every practice and every meet.”

The meet was delayed at the start due to weather issues.

“We had a big rain delay, and I think the kids were getting antsy,” said Montz. “But once they got out there, they did a good job.”

Montz said that with such a young team, the prime objective at the moment is to break down each event into smaller parts, focusing on each individually.

“We’re isolating different parts of the race and fine tuning things,” she said. “We want to do that, then bring it all together.”