Chinook girls win Lions Havre Invite

While the Lions Havre Invitational track meet was a great chance for Havre athletes to showcase their skills in front of their hometown fans, it also gave athletes from along the Hi-Line the chance to show what they can do in track and field.

While Chinook, North Star, Turner, Big Sandy, Box Elder Rocky Boy and Harlem all competed in the Havre Invite Saturday at the Havre Middle School track, no team had a better outing than the Chinook girls, who took home first place in the girls competition with 98 points.

A big reason for that impressive showing was the performance of Hannah Weber, who won both the 1,600-meter run and the 3,200 for the Sugarbeeters. Kailey Kleinjan also had a big day for the Beeters as she took home the top prize in the 100. And Britney Nelson also had a banner day for the Beeters winning both the shot put and discus, while also taking home second-place in the javelin.

Others who did well for the Chinook girls included Kaitlyn Neibauer, who finished third in the 300 hurdles and fourth in the 100 hurdles, Abigail Ellison, who was second in the triple jump and third in the long jump. The Beeters also finished first in the 400 relay and third in the 1,600 relay.

Even though the North Star girls did not score quite as many team points as Chinook did, the Knights still finished sixth in the girls competition thanks in large part to the performance of track standout Tylynn Rettig.

Graysen Spicher also performed well for the Knights with a fourth-place finish in the 100 hurdles and fourth in the 300 hurdles. Ella Billmayer of Turner also had a solid showing for the Tornadoes as she posted a second-place finish in the 3,200 and was fifth in the 1,600.

Rettig did well in the sprints, capturing first in the 200 and second in the 100, but also did well in field events, too, finishing second in the long jump and fourth in the pole vault.

On the boys side of things, outside of Havre, which took home first place, Harlem performed the best out of all the Hi-Line teams with a fifth-place finish after racking up a total of 47 points. Chinook finished seventh in the meet with 36 points and North Star was eighth with 32.

Kyler Johnson was one of the top performers for the Chinook boys as he came in second in both the 1,600 and 3,200. Travis Roth placed third in the 3,200, which capped off a strong day for the Beeter distance runners. In the hurdles, Cody McCracken scored points for Chinook by finishing third in the 110 hurdles and fourth in the 300 hurdles.

Harlem got points in both of the relays with a fourth-place finish in the 400 relay and a sixth in the 1,600 relay. On an individual level, Tristian Gone was Harlem's biggest point getter, winning the triple jump, while finishing third in the long jump and fourth in the 1,600.

Jaxon Simonson was another Hi-Line athlete who performed well Saturday, and he did his damage in the throwing events. The senior from North Star won the discus but also took second in the shot put. Simonson's North Star teammate, Matthew Helmbrecht also did well as a thrower and placed third in both the javelin and shot put.

Box Elder may have finished in 10th place with just 21 points but that does nothing to downplay the day Shane Ketchum had for the Bears as he won the 3,200, finished third in the 1,600 and was also sixth in the discus. Tristian Bernard also placed for the Bears as he came in fifth in the long jump.

Big Sandy finished 12th in the meet but did have two individuals place as Geno Menard earned a third-place finish in the 300 hurdles as well as a fourth-place finish in the 400. Kyle Strutz also placed for the Pioneers, finishing fourth in the 400.

And while Turner only managed to score nine points, the majority of them were scored by Brett VanValkenburg, who was one of the few bright spots on the day for the Tornadoes as finished second in the 400.ght spots on the day for the Tornadoes as finished second in the 400.