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Earlier this month, nine students from Big Sandy High School, along with their advisor Melanie Schwarbach traveled to Costa Rica for an unforgettable research experience. They were joined by eight students from North Toole County High School (Sunburst) and their teacher, Amanda Nix. For most of our students, this was the first time they'd traveled out of the country. This was an opportunity for them to experience a new climate, a new culture and food that was much different than they were...
The Big Sandy Volunteer EMTs are riding in style nowadays. After months of delays, the new ambulance is finally in use. The fire department originally submitted a grant application in June of 2020 to the Montana Department of Transportation, which operates a grant program that pays for up to 90% of the cost of a new ambulance. The price of a new ambulance at the time was $220,000. The grant was awarded later that fall, but delays due to supply chain issues pushed back manufacturing and kept the...
The Big Sandy Swim Team found themselves competing in their last regular season meet of the year, just down the road this weekend in Fort Benton. They placed fourth in team points behind powerhouse Lewistown, who crossed over from the eastern division to give our swimmers a taste of the competition they'll face in two weeks at the state meet. Placing second was Columbia Falls and third was the Bitterroot Swim team. Leading the scoring for the Barracudas was MacKenzie Werk, who scored 42 points a...
The Big Sandy Swim Team placed 3rd at the Cut Bank invitational swim meet. The team finished with 387 points. Second place Conrad scored 468.5 points and Columbia Falls took top honors, scoring 843.5 points. Henry Merrill and Daisy Labuda each scored 42 points for the team and finished at the top of their respective divisions. Both swimmers won the 50 free, 100 free and 50 fly. Jai Baumann added 38 individual points, winning the 100 breast and taking second in the 200 IM and 100 back. Harley Lab...
The Big Sandy Barracudas are back in the pool this season, swimming their first meet this weekend in Harlem. Under the direction of coaches Travis Baumann and Cam Schwarzbach, 19 Barracudas competed this weekend, with Henry Merrill and D'Aree Sunchild winning high point swimmer awards. Merrill swept his events, winning the 50 yard free, the 100 yard free, and the 50 yard butterfly. Sunchild won the 25 year free, placed 3rd in the 50 yard free and second in the 25 yard backstroke. Daisy LaBuda...
It may seem peculiar to be reading an article about track in September when athletic awards are handed out in May. However, with the track season in full swing at the time of the athletic awards ceremony near the end of the school year, the track team has yet to compete in their biggest meets of the year. It's often difficult to predict which athletes will shine when it comes to the most important meets. As a result, the track coaches decided to wait until the Booster Club Kickoff to recognize...
The Big Sandy Swim Team knew they'd have their work cut out for them when they were placed in the AA division for the state meet. Despite the stiff competition, the team scored 277 points. Sidney was this years big winner, scoring 828 points. Leading the scoring for the Barracudas was Cam Schwarzbach, who scored 42 points to earn the first place high point award in the senior boys division. He won all three freestyle races and set a new pool record in the 400 meters. Daisy Labuda grabbed a...
The Big Sandy swimmers placed second at the Western Divisional Swim Meet held in Conrad this weekend. The team scored 559 points, which qualified 26 of the 27 Barracudas to swim in the AA division at the state meet next weekend in Columbia Falls. Unlike school sports, divisions in the Montana Swimming Federation are determined by the number of points scored at the two divisional meets. The top 5 points scoring teams are classified in AA, with the next 5 point scorers in A, following by the...
Governor Greg Gianforte signed SB 157 into law, which provides the opportunity for homeschool students to participate in public school extracurricular activities. “The new law will allow non-public and home school students to participate under the same standards as a public school student, though not requiring physical attendance in the public school. SB157 includes language related to academic eligibility for both nonpublic and home schools.” (mtche.org) BSHS Athletic Director Melanie Schwarzbach will be hosting an informational meeting for...
The Big Sandy Swim Team placed 3rd at the Choteau Lions swim meet this weekend. This meet was the last regular season meet of the summer, with the western divisional meet slated for Conrad next weekend. Overall, the team scored 511 individual points. Daisy LaBuda set a new pool record in the 50 m free, Astrid Ketchum set a new pool record in the 50 m free, and Cam Schwarzbach set a new pool record in the 400 m free. Earning high point honors this week were: T’Gan Ketchum (3rd - 8U boys), Astrid Ketchum (3rd - 9/10 girls), Dillin Geyer (3rd - 1...
The Big Sandy swimmers competed in Fort Benton this weekend. As a team, they scored 391 individual points, but found that they were outmatched by the larger teams of Lewistown, Columbia Falls and Bitterroot. They were edged out of 4th place by Conrad, who scored 392 in-dividual points. Astrid Ketchum and Cam Schwarzbach led the scoring for the Barracudas, each scoring 40 points. Schwarzbach also set two new pool records in the 100 m free and the 400 m free. Earning high point honors this week...
The Big Sandy Swim Team placed second at the Cut Bank Swim Meet. This weekend marked the final time the senior boys relay team swam and won together. This phenomenal foursome has been a dominant force in the swim federation. They hold several individual and relay pool and federation records and their relay team has been almost undefeated over the last six years. Backstroker Brady Pleninger will be leaving soon for military training, while breastroker Kade Strutz, who drove hundreds of miles...
The Big Sandy Swim Team competed in Chester this weekend. As a team, they scored 491 points to place second behind Columbia Falls. Earning high point honors this week were second place finishers Daisy LaBuda and Cam Schwarzbach, who both scored 40 points and Astrid Ketchum, who scored 38 points. Jaihven Baumann and Henry Merrill both placed 3rd in their age categories. Malaysia Baumann and Caydence Pleninger tied for 4th place. Mackenzie Werk and T'Gann Ketchum placed 5th and D'Aree Sunchild...
The Big Sandy Swim Team took 1st place at the Harlem swim meet this weekend. The team was led by a phenomenal performance from senior swimmer Brady Pleninger, who set three new federation records this weekend. Pleninger broke the 50 yard free record with a time of 22.81 seconds. The previous record was held by Keane Fink, set in 2010 with a time of 25.07. He next broke the 100 yard free record with a time of 52.51 seconds. The previous record was set in 1997 by B. Fjeldhim with a time of 56.44...
The Big Sandy High School senior class experienced an amazing educational opportunity, thanks to a generous donation from the Big Sandy Education Foundation. As part of their senior sneak trip, they visited Kennedy Space Center, home of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). They toured the Apollo Saturn 5 Rocket Complex and toured the space shuttle Atlantis, which found its home at KSC in 2013 after the shuttle missions ended in 2011. They also experienced a launch...
The Big Sandy track team will be sending seven athletes to the Cascade North Central B/C Top 10 Meet, hosted by Choteau High School on May 4th. This invitation-only meet showcases the top track athletes in the Northern Division in both classes B and C. Three throwers will be competing for the Pioneers: Kade Strutz, who is currently ranked 3rd in the northern division in both the shot and discus, Parker Proulx, a late addition to the Pioneers roster, is ranked 2nd in the javelin, while freshman Wylee Snapp is ranked 4th. Proulx returns to the...
Mother Nature finally cooperated and gave the Pioneers a perfect day for a spring track meet in Choteau. The Big Sandy girls placed 6th with 40 points and the boys placed 11th with 17. Eva Wagoner had a big day on the girls' side, scoring 19 teampoints. She placed 2nd in both the 100m hurdles and 300m hurdles, 5th in the 200m and 6th in the 100m. Jaycee Worrall added 4 points by placing 4th in the 400m and Amy Gasvoda placed 4th in the 800m. The 4x100 relay team (Wagoner, Worrall, Lainey Terry...
The Big Sandy Pioneers are ready to take to the court, and after an almost month-long delay, they are eager to host the Fort Benton Longhorns at home on January 2nd. The Montana High School Association postponed the start of the basketball season in hopes of a reduction of Covid-19 cases before the season began. While it does not appear that case numbers are trending downward, the season is still slated to begin. With almost four weeks carved out of the typical regular season, the Pioneers will be playing a 14-game conference-only schedule in...
Basketball and wrestling seasons are just around the corner, though they were originally slated to begin this week. The Montana High School Association (MHSA) pushed back the start of winter sports until December 7th, in an effort to allow the state to get a handle on the increasing number of Covid-19 cases across the state. While it does not appear that case numbers will be decreasing any time soon, plans are still being made for the start of winter sports seasons. The first competition for winter sports will be held on January 2nd. The MHSA h...
This week begins the junior high basketball season. Returning as the Pioneers girls coach is Travis Baumann and new to our boys program this year is Katie Nicholson. This season will prove to look differently than those of years past. There will be no district tournament and many of the games will be played as double-headers to reduce the amount of travel by the teams. Scheduling junior high basketball games around varsity volleyball and football always proves to be challenging, so check the Big Sandy High School web site often for scheduling...
The Big Sandy Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Department is pleased to announce that it is the recipient of the Montana Department of Transportation EMS Grant Program Award. The department has been awarded $196,200, which is 90% of the cost of a new Type 1 Ambulance equipped with a Stryker Power Load and Power Cot system. The department will be responsible for the remaining 10%, valued at $21,800. This new ambulance will serve as a replacement for one of the older ambulances. The oldest ambulance was purchased in 1998 and the newest in 2003. Both...
This week, the Pioneer Volleyball team hits the road, playing Hays-Lodgepole on Thursday evening (date change from the original schedule) and CJI on Saturday. As of press time, no spectators are allowed at Hays, though you can watch the volleyball action on the NFHS network. Your only opportunity to watch the Pioneers in person this week is in Chester. CJI is welcoming spectators, but asks that you sign up prior to the game. Please check the Big Sandy High School web site or the Big Sandy Schools Facebook page for a link to sign up. You can...
The Pioneers hit the road this week, traveling to Fort Benton on Thursday for volleyball and then onto Stanford on Friday to play DGS. The football team is also on the road, playing North Star in Rudyard. As I mentioned in last week’s article, the Northern Division struggled to come to any consensus on Covid-19 guidelines, with each community having different views on how best to manage spectators during a pandemic. Here are the Covid-19 expectations for each school we are visiting this week. If you are planning to support our Pioneers, p...
The majority of athletic directors in the Northern Division met this last week to attempt to establish a consistent set of “ground rules” for allowing spectators at athletic events. After extended discussions, the consensus of the group was that this was impossible, due to wide variances in health department regulations across the counties in the state. While Chouteau County is enjoying a period of zero active cases of Covid-19, Cascade County has reported 30 new cases in the last two weeks. Thanks to the Governor’s mask mandate and rules for g...
The Covid-19 pandemic continues to create chaos in the world of sports. Despite the recent cancellations or postponements of most college seasons, most high schools across the state remain committed to pressing forward with a fall season. Three of the Montana schools in hardest-hit regions of the state canceled their football seasons: St. Labre, Lodge Grass, and Northern Cheyenne (6-man southern division). The Montana 6-Man football league recently voted by an overwhelming margin to change their traditional 9-week regular-season schedule to a...
