Blue Pony harriers race in Malta on Saturday

After taking on the Cut Bank Time Trials last week, both Havre High cross country teams will see their first team competition as they will each take part in the Malta Invitational.

In Malta, Blue Ponies will compete against a number of other teams from different classifications. Last season, HHS competed against teams from Malta, Glasgow, Poplar, Rocky Boy, Culbertson-Bainville, Brockton, Winnett and Circle. The meet will get started Saturday at 10 a.m. in Malta.

While both Havre teams should be competitive this weekend, the Pony boys may be in a better position to place highly thanks to a slew of talented runners. Junior Austin Jones, who finished 30th at the time trials, will be the Ponies top runner, with sophomore Jakob Keller, right behind him after finishing 31st in Cut Bank.

Yet, the Pony boys have a number of other solid runners such as Trevor Williams, Quinn Reno, Aylon Pratt and Barrett Kilgore, who will be part of the varsity squad in Malta.

“I think for our first week, we had some high expectations,” HHS head coach Josh Holt said. “And I think almost every kid met their goal. Austin Jones and Jakob Keller, I expect both of them to do better this week and get down in the 17s. I also expect Trevor Williams to get into the 18s. Hopefully, our whole team will do better than we did last week.”

The Pony girls don’t have quite the same amount of depth that the boys team does, but it may have the best individual runner on the team in Kadia Miller, who as a freshman, took 14th at the time trials last week. Miller leads a team that also includes a mix of veterans and newcomers.

“Kadia, I think came out and surprised herself even a little bit,” Holt said. “But I think she can be better. She did very well for her first time in a 3-mile race, but know that she knows what it takes, I think she can get down in the 19s. I know she can do it and she knows what it is. She working really hard in training and she’s very competitive. She could have a fantastic season ahead of her.”

Sophomore Nicole Parsons, who will be the No. 2 runner, is back from last year’s team. She finished 68th in Cut Bank. Amelia Miller is another returner from last season. She ran varsity all of last year and will be again to start this season. The rest of the varsity team features Melanie Jones, Meggie Zook, Rhoda Peterson and Hannah Pratt.

“I expect our girls to do well too,” Holt said. “Nicole Parsons, she was fighting off a cold or some sinus stuff, so she should do better and I expect the girls as a whole to keep getting better as the season goes along.”

After competing in Malta Saturday, the Ponies will compete in the Lewistown Invitational next, which will take place next Friday in Lewistown. The week after that, Havre will take part in the prestigious Mountain West Classic in Missoula.