Divisionals are in the books, and while the Havre High girls team finished right where it wanted to, the Blue Pony boys found out just how tough running in the Central A can be.
Saturday in Browning the Ponies ran in the Central A divisional cross country meet. The HHS boys grabbed the No. 5 spot with 95 points and the girls finished as the No. 2 team with 63, earning a divisional trophy.
The Ponies set out to bring home a trophy, and did so by beating out Browning with 71 points, Belgrade with 93 and Livingston with 97. Lewistown was the only team to defeat the Ponies, taking first place with 23 points.
“We ran great,” Havre High head coach Kyle Fisher said. “All of our girls really stepped up. They ran hard and I was very proud of all of our girls, one through seven. It was a good weekend for them, definitely a positive one. They met their goal, our girls wanted a trophy this weekend and they did that.”
All season long the HHS girls have been successful because of an outstanding pack time. And on Saturday, that was a factor once again.
Katie Christianson led the Ponies with a No. 6 finish overall, finishing with a time of 21:44. And following close behind was No. 11 Trisha Kinsella (21:59), No. 13 Brittanee Korb (22:16), No. 15 Shelby O’Neil (22:29) and No. 18 Ashlynn Van Voast (22:46). The top five runners finished with a pack time of 1:02.
Mikell Kinsella and Larissa Price also turned in very good times for the Ponies. Mikell Kinsella finished as the No. 25 runner with a time of 23:23 and Price finished as the No. 28 runner with a time of 24:19 all earning all-conference honors.
“Our top five girls were within 1:02 of each other and that was huge,” Fisher said. “They really stepped up as a team. That’s the best we have had all year, and if they can improve next weekend we will just climb that ladder. Their goal is to be a top five team at state this year and they are right on track.”
On the boys side, the competition proved to be a little bit harder for the Ponies. HHS ran well, but finished behind Belgrade (34), Browning (68), Lewistown (77) and Livingston with 86.
“We have a tough division,” Fisher said. “Any of those five teams including us should be a top 10 team this year.”
Kendal Murie led the way with a No. 3 finish, finishing in 16:55. And Marc Klimas landed a No. 13 finish with a time of 17:57. But with the pack time boosting the girls, it may have hindered the boys on Saturday.
No. 24 Greg Rhines finished in 19:11, while No. 27 Chazley Hulett finished in 19:27, No. 28 Dolan Tuss finished in 19:43, No. 29 Dillon Seely finished in 19:45 and No. 32 Desmond Filakosky finished with a time of 19:53.
There was one minute separating Murie and Klimas, and over another minute separating Klimas and Rhines.
“We are still looking for that consistency and we didn’t have that this weekend,” Fisher said. “Hopefully we get that at state. It’s just a matter of getting those middle boys to step up for us. Between our one and two we had about a minute difference, and after that it just trickled down. We need everybody to step up and run hard.”
Overall the Ponies as a whole ran well over the weekend. The girls achieved their goal and are now primed for a solid state performance. And Daniel Hanson stepped up in the boys’ junior varsity race and may have sealed his spot on varsity for state. And now headed into state, Fisher just wants his runners to perform and have no regrets after the season’s end.
“Our girls are on a roll right now and they are really excited for this weekend,” Fisher said. “And our boys, some of them had a good divisional meet and we are going to roll with that. It’s just a matter of everybody stepping up and competing.”
The Ponies will run in the Class A state meet Saturday in Helena.
Central A
at Browning
BOYS
Team scores
Belgrade 34, Browning 68, Lewistown 77, Livingston 86, Havre 95, Butte Central (no score)
Top 30
1 Cole, Monte 16:42 Livingston; 2 Alaers, Teran 16:49 Lewistown; 3 Murie, Kendall 16:55 Havre; 4 Vaughn, Joseph 17:08 Belgrade; 5 Allen, Chris 17:32 Belgrade; 6 Denty, Tim 17:36 Livingston; 7 Hegdal, Colton 17:43 Belgrade; 8 Elliott, Trevor 17:47 Belgrade; 9 Murray, Myles 17:48 Browning; 10 Imberi, Lyle 17:50 Belgrade; 11 Poss, Gage 17:52 Lewistown; 12 Connelly, Emerson 17:52.7 Browning; 13 Klimas, Marc 17:57 Havre; 14 Sharp, Billy Dee 18:02 Browning; 15 Hall, Douglas 18:03 Browning; 16 Fuller, Paul 18:04 Belgrade; 17 Pederson, Hans 18:26 Lewistown; 18 Whitegrass, Tyson 18:32 Browning; 19 DeRoche, Guy 18:42 Browning; 20 Trombley, Brandon 18:44 Browning; 21 Vosler, Christian 18:59 Belgrade; 22 Bulluck, Trei 19:04 Lewistown; 23 Barlow, John 19:07 Livingston; 24 Rhines, Greg 19:11 Havre; 25 Stansberry, Aiden 19:12 Lewistown; 26 Sukut, Chris 19:18 Livingston; 27 Hulett, Chazley 19:27 Havre; 28 Tuss, Dolan 19:43 Havre; 29 Seely, Dillon 19:45 Havre; 30 Whiting, Pter 19:50 Livingston.
GIRLS
Team scores
Lewistown 23, Havre 63, Browning 71, Belgrade 93, Livingston 97.
Top 30
1 Rodgers, Brook 20:26 Lewistown; 2 Battrick, Esperanza 20:55 Lewistown; 3 Tedesco, Dalainy 20:56 Lewistown; 4 Standberry, Ingrid 21:14 Lewistown; 5 Keena, Miranda 21:30 Livingston; 6 Christianson, Katie 21:44 Havre; 7 Neville, Jamie 21:46 Livingston; 8 Running Crane, Mercedes 21:48 Browning; 9 Daniel, Tatiana 21:52 Belgrade; 10 Tatsey, Shay 21:54 Browning; 11 Kinsella, Patricia 21:59 Havre; 12 Seifert, Lyndsey 22:09 Belgrade; 13 Wood-Korb, Brittance 22:16 Havre; 14 Fradley, McKenzie 22:26 Lewistown; 15 O'Neil, Shelby 22:29 Havre; 16 Mad Plume, Wendy 22:37 Browning; 17 Wall, Ralonda 22:40 Browning; 18 Van Voast, Ashlynn 22:46 Havre; 19 Walters, Josei 22:56 Lewistown; 20 Hall, Kayla 22:58 Browning; 21 Scott, Makayla 22:59 Lewistown; 22 Imberl, Becky 23:01 Belgrade; 23 Koenig, Lindsay 23:06 Belgrade; 24 Running Crane, Rebecca 23:07 Browning; 25 Kinsella, Mikell 23:23 Havre; 26 Westenskow, Marissa 23:34 Livingston; 27 Prester, Hannah 24:14 Belgrade; 28 Price, Lorissa 24:19 Havre; 29 Peterson, Aundrea 25:27 Livingston; 30 Barrett, Tyler 30:23 Livingston.
Havre Individual Results
Junior Varsity Boys
Daniel Hanson-19:30; Derek Van Dessel-20:10; Matt Cole-21:19; William Milligan-21:21; Desmond Parker-22:18; Matt Hanley-23:04; Nick Rhines-24:22; Dustin Seely-25:05; Kelly Albright-25:12.
Junior Varsity Girls
Courtney Bricker-23:47; Paige Sedahl-24:49; Brooke Jappe- 25:04; Michelle Winchell- 25:36; Darlena Bradley-26:01; Dylann Williams- 26:06; Maddie Hanson- 26:08; Lauren Scofield- 26:52; Neya Bischoff- 27:07.
Varsity Boys
Kendall Murie- 16:55; Marc Klimas- 17:57; Greg Rhines- 19:11; Chazley Hulett- 19:27; Dolan Tuss-19:43; Dillon Seely- 19:50; Desmond Filakosky- 19:53.
Varsity Girls
Katie Christianson- 21:44; Trisha Kinsella- 21:59; Brittany Korb- 22:16; Shelby O'Neil- 22:29; Ashlynn Van Voast- 22:46; Mikell Kinsella- 23:23 ; Larissa Price- 24:19.
