A choppy start to The WAVE’s annual Swim the Fish ended with calmer waters, sunshine and smiles all around as nearly 200 swimmers crossed Whitefish Lake on Saturday.  

“It’s a great community builder. It brings through volunteers and special services. The dive team lays the buoys out, and there's police and search and rescue here, not to mention everyone that comes out to compete,” said Carrie Jacobs, one of the event's organizers and The WAVE Aquatic & Fitness Center swim coach. 

This year was The WAVE's seventh year putting on this race, but it has been a staple in the community for many years, hosted by a variety of people and organizations. 

“We had 199 people swim with 18 states and three countries represented. It’s impressive that we had swimmers aged 8 to 88. Looking back to when we first started, we only had 56 people,” Jacobs said.   

For many, this is their first open water swim race and “it’s amazing to witness,” Jacobs said. 

Money raised from the event goes toward WAVE scholarships. 

“We help provide health and wellness for everybody, regardless of ability to pay. That’s also why we do it – to get more people swimming. In the last five years, the swimming community has really exploded. And to have our beautiful lake here, and to be able to put on an event like this, it’s just incredible,” Jacobs said.  

This year, the 5k racers took off from City Beach just after 8 a.m. and took on the loop course three times. They were quickly followed by participants in the 1-mile race, followed by half-mile racers.  

While lake waves were formidable and the course a touch longer than the official race distances, Thomas Winkler of Helena crossed first in the 5k in a still impressive time of 1:21.16.80.  

He was followed by a strong showing of Whitefish swimmers Lincoln Schroeder, Gavin Sibson, Price Richardson and Noah Schroeder. The top three women in the 5k were Sydney Hodges hailing from Houston, followed by Ellen Howe of Cariff By The Sea, California, and Jonnette Sibson of Whitefish.  

15-year-old female Audrey Harper from Stillwater, Minnesota, finished first overall in the mile race in 34:36.39. She was followed by Hunter Daur of Riverside, Connecticut, John Howe of Boerne, Texas, Carolyn Battin of Whitefish, Annie Sullivan of Whitefish, and Nathan Sibson of Whitefish.  

12-year-old female Payson Scribner of Columbia Falls was the first overall finisher in the half mile swim in a time of 15.53.32, followed by Seth Knox of Kalispell, Lilly Dotter of Kalispell, Conrad Braun of Lakeside, and Chase Rands of Whitefish. 

Full results are available at https://competitivetiming.com/swim-the-fish-results/#unique-id-2024.