Blue Ponies run their best at the end

The Havre High cross country teams came into the All-Class state meet with goals of finishing in the Top 10. And even though neither Blue Pony team was able to meet that mark, there was still plenty of positives for each team to takeaway.

The All-Class state meet, which was held at Eagle Falls Golf Course in Great Falls Saturday, saw a number of talented runners in both the Class A boys and girls competitions. The Havre boys, managed a 12th-place showing and the Pony girls, came away finishing 16th.

Corvallis took home the state title in the boys competition, followed by Lewistown, which came in second and Hardin which was third. On the girls side of things, Corvallis also took home the team title, beating out Whitefish for the top spot. Hardin finished third.

"In one word, outstanding," HHS head coach Josh Holt said when asked to sum up his team's performance at state. "All the kids ran really well and unless I am mistaken, I think almost all of them set personal records. I told the kids to go out and have fun and run as hard as they can and I think they did that. I can't ask anything more than that."

Yet, even though the Ponies struggled in the team competition, they did make their presence felt at the meet, especially thanks to the individual performance of Rachel David. David, who is a senior, had one of her best races as Pony and was the top overall finisher from either Havre team as she notched a seventh-place finish thanks to a time of 19:42. The finish earned David prestigious All-State honors.

"Back in May I asked Rachel what her goal was her this season and she said top 10," Holt said when asked to sum up his team's performance at state. "So I told her this is what we need to do to get there and she really bought into that. She put in all the hard work all season long and Saturday was just a culmination of all that hard work. But I was just happy to be a part of that."

Nicole Parsons was the next best finisher for the HHS girls as she notched a 56th-place showing with a time of 21:41. Rainey Stoner finished 92nd for the Pony girls with a time of 24:03. The rest of the Havre girls included Amelia Miller, who was 101st with a time of 23:39, Hannah Lunak, who was 114th with a time of 24:40, Meggie Zook, who was 117th with a time of 24:56 and Marca Herron, who was 124th with a time of 25:39.

On the boys side of things, Austin Jones capped off an impressive season for Havre with a solid showing at state that earned him 19th with a time of 16:43. Freshman Jakob Keller also had a good day, finishing 65th with a time of 17:43. Senior Brock Ross also finished his career with a solid outing, finishing 72nd thanks to a time of 17:59.

"Before the season started I looked at what Austin did last year and I watched him in track, and I knew he could run better," Holt said. "All year he worked really hard in all of the workouts and his goal was to get into the 17s. He did that in Helena and before Saturday's race I told him to have a good 16:50 day and he goes out there and runs a 16:43. That was phenomenal to see."

Rounding out the rest of the runners for the Havre boys includes Luke Karnauskas, who posted a time of 18:01 to finish 74th, Lane Paulson, who was 89th thanks to a time of 18:25, Bobby O'Leary, who was 94th with a time of 18:36 and Barrett Kilgore, who was 98th with a time of 18:42.

Even though the season has come to an end for the Ponies, both teams made a lot of progress in Holt's first year as head coach and now that both teams have gained some experience, Holt is expecting even more out of his teams next season.

"I think this was a great experience for our younger kids," Holt said. "Some of them had never competed in anything like this, so it was great for them to get that under their belt. I think the biggest thing for us going into next year is that we need to train really hard in the offseason. We need to get our base set by the time the season starts instead of taking the first four weeks of the season doing that. If we can do that it will help us tremendously."

Class A State Cross Country

at Eagle Falls in Great Falls

BOYS

Team scores: 1. Corvallis 70; 2. Lewistown 104; 3. Hardin 104; 4. Glendive 145; 5. Hamilton 161; 6. Frenchtown 186; 7. Laurel 209; 8. Dillon 266; 9. Browning 283; 10. Livingston 304; 11. Whitefish 312; 12. Havre 319; 13. Belgrade 330; 14. Columbia Falls 334; 15. Polson 375; 16. Sidney 424; 17. Stevensville 444; 18. Butte Central 472; 19. Miles City 510; 20. Billings Central 526.

Top Individual results: 1, Cameron Miekle, HAM, 15:26.31; 2, Ronald Venema, CRV, 15:37.53; 3, Ashton Jones, GLN, 15:48.26; 4, Jalen Two Leggins, HDN, 15:51.43; 5, Anton Rides, Horse, HDN, 15:51.63; 6, Kyle McLaughlin, BEL, 16:00.46; 7, Matt Wilson, HAM, 16:00.79; 8, Sage Wanner, CFL, 16:05.89; 9, Josh Jessop, CRV, 16:10.01; 10, Noah Majerus, LEW, 16:13.43; 11, Hunter Casey, STV, 16:18.69; 12, Carson Jessop, CRV, 16:22.02; 13, Ty Parsons, LEW, 16:22.11; 14, Devin Nelson, LIV, 16:24.30; 15, Holman Real Bird, HDN, 16:27.44; 16, Jaiden Rowe, FRE, 16:36.15; 17, Ben Longbottom, LAU, 16:39.27; 18, AJ Lingenfelter, BEL, 16:40.21; 19, Austin Jones, HAV, 16:43.57; 20, Isaiah Girard, DLN, 16:44.91; 21, Andrew Jessop, CRV, 16:45.29; 22, Sam Telling, DLN, 16:45.56; 23, Brian McGeehan, BUC, 16:51.57; 24, Drake Henson, LEW, 16:52.60; 25, Dylan Sipe, LEW, 16:53.81.

GIRLS

Team scores: 1. Corvallis 103; 2. Whitefish 114; 3. Hardin 152; 4. Polson 156; 5. Hamilton 164; 6. Miles City 191; 7. Dillon 207; 8. Browning 211; 9. Lewistown 232; 10. Glendive 255; 11. Columbia Falls 258; 12. Belgrade 299; 13. Livingston 346; 14. Sidney 354; 15. Frenchtown 360; 16. Havre 70; 17. Laurel 380; 18. Stevensville 421; 19. Billings Central 430; 20. Butte Central NS.

Top Individual scores: 1, Jaycie Schmalz, HAM, 18:26.22; 2, Barrett Gray, WFH, 19:15.97; 3, Morgan Vosler, MCY, 19:32.43; 4, Courtney Hallock, LAU, 19:33.54; 5, Albany Jessop, CRV, 19:35.61; 6, Ryan Harrop, POL, 19:36.01; 7, Rachel David, HAV, 19:42.71; 8, Emily Regan, MCY, 19:45.72; 9, Larissa Saarel, LIV, 19:52.15; 10, Malia Seeley, POL, 19:55.19; 11, Mei Li Stevens, HDN, 19:56.51; 12, Sara Perez, WFH, 19:56.87; 13, Madisan Chavez, HDN, 19:58.74; 14, Emily Kuehn, GLN, 19:59.20; 15, Lynn Reynoso, CRV, 20:00.56; 16, Molly Sitter, POL, 20:02.60; 17, Kendyl Pierson, LIV, 20:18.31; 18, Heidi Nisly, CRV, 20:21.93; 19, Braya Hobson, WFH, 20:22.35; 20, Chaslin Kipp, BRW, 20:26.20; 21, Laurel Davidson, WFH, 20:26.42; 22, Ti'El Lochridge, DLN, 20:37.06; 23, Genevieve Delorme, CFL, 20:37.87; 24, Keelie O'Brien, HAM, 20:43.85; 25, Janelle Brien, SID, 20:49.16.