Twice is nice at lake swim

The water may have been choppy and chilly, but that didn't deter two local swimmers going for repeat wins on Sunday at the Whitefish Lake Swim.

Phil Rempe make it back-to-back overall wins in the swim, while Jonnette Sibson took the top female spot for the second time in her career.

Rempe, 18, was neck-and-neck with Chris Horn for the first 18 minutes of the one-mile race, the two trading strokes around each buoy marker.

With 400 yards to the finish, it looked like the duo would be making a sprint for the beach. Then, with 200 yards left, Horn hit the wall and pulled up into the breaststroke. Rempe kept his head down and quickly distanced himself from Horn before making a short sprint up the beach and across the finish line.

Horn finished the swim 17 seconds later.

Rempe graduated from Glacier High School this past spring and will be swimming in the fall for Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash.

He says his specialty in the pool is the 100 meter fly but he is accustomed to longer open water swims, too.

Sibson, of Whitefish, was easily the first female out of the water in a time of 22:59. This was her second win at Whitefish's annual open water swim.

Sibson, who was also a collegiate swimmer, said the race was harder than she thought it was going to be.

"The start is always tough," she said. "You are bumping into people trying to get position. Then mid-way through you're asking yourself, 'Why am I doing this?'"

Sibson says she enjoys swimming open water races as opposed to being in the pool.

"It's really nice swimming in this lake," she said. "It is beautiful and I love the fresh water. It's harder than the pool, but more enjoyable."

Debbie Mallams and Tara Trotter battled it out for the second-place female slot, sprinting across the line together in a time of 26:21. Official results showed Trotter edging Mallams by 0.1 second.

The course took swimmers from City Beach toward Bay Point, looped them back to the west shore and then looped the racers back to finish at City Beach.

About 40 racers participated in the event.