HHS harriers improve in Lewistown

It was another solid dayof running for the Havre High boys and girls cross country teams, but there is still plenty of room for improvement before the postseason races.

Thursday, the Central A Ponies faced some good talent in Lewistown.

Tturning in some very good performances, the HHS boys finished as the No. 7 team overall with 181 points. The Havre girls also had some very nice individual performances, but did not record a team score as just six runners finished the race.

But the boys looked very good on a tough course in Lewistown.

Elijah David finished first for HHS and No. 24 overall and Sundance Lodge finished second for HHS and No. 25 overall, both finishing in 18:31. Brock Ross ran an 18:48, No. 32 overall, while Brandon Robertson ran a 19:06, good enough for No. 39 overall. The top four boys ran very close, but the bottom three HHS runners were not far behind. But if Dylan Stewart, Ethan Smith, and Cameron Knapton can keep improving, it will only make this boys team stronger moving forward.

Stewart finished in 21:00, Smith finished in 21:26, and Knapton finished in 22:09.

“The boys run great together,” Havre High head coach Darci Heninger said. “My top four boys are right behind each other and I finally got to see Elijah David run. That was exciting, and to finally see him run and compete was awesome. But all of the boys ran well, and some of them weren’t’ happy about their scores, but I thought they all ran great.”

Smith shaved another minute off of his best form this season.

In the girl’s race, Peyton Filius started out strong, but was unable to finish. Her first mile was impressive, but coach Heninger did not want Filius to further injure her foot. Filius will miss this week of practice, and could miss anywhere from one week to five weeks.

In her absence, Haley Ohm had a very impressive day and led all Pony runners with a time of 21:08. Ohm was also the only HHS runner to crack the top 10 and was the No. 10 runner.

“That is a big loss to the team,” Heninger said. “It was sad to see Peyton hurt. She is just so competitive and she didn’t want to quit, but I didn’t want her to keep running and hurt herself anymore than she already was.

“But she (Ohm) ran so awesome,” Heninger added. “She was comfortable, ran very relaxed, and said that she actually liked the course. She also earned a personal record by over a minute, and she was very excited about how well she ran. I was just as happy as she was to see how well she ran.”

Morgan Mazurkiewicz and Rachel David also ran very well to help lead the way. Mazurkiewicz finished in 22:16 (No. 17) and David finished in 22:30 (No. 20). McKenna Barkus followed with a 23:49 (No. 43), while Kiana Robertson finished in 24:04 (No. 45) and Meggie Zook finished in 26:58 (No. 74).

The HHS girls continue to show improvement, but still need to tighten up the pack time.

“A lot of the girls were not happy with their times,” Heninger said. “I know they can do better, and I know some of the girls were nervous before the race because of how tough the course is. But I think we still have some work to do, and with time we will be much stronger.”

The competition only continues to get tougher for the Ponies. Saturday HHS will compete in Missoula at the Mountain West Invitational.

Lewistown Invite

Girls

Team Scores – Billings Central 77, Skyview 80, Laurel 121, Hardin 160, Lewistown 190, Belgrade 190, Winnett-Melstone 196, Glendive 204, Malta 213, Roundup 229.

Top 10 – Amanda Nelson, Skyview, 19:55; Baylee Green, Roundup, 20:12; Keegan Day, Skyview, 20:25; Alexa Horrell, BC, 20:26; Morgan McDonnel, 20:31; Dalainy Teldesco, Lewistown, 20:37; Lexi Gradwohl, Laurel, 20:43; Alex Chase, BC, 20:58; Mophie Stiles, Malta, 21:05; Haley Ohm, Havre, 21:08.

Havre Individuals – Haley Ohm 21:08; Morgan Mazurkiewicz 22:16; Rachel David 22:33; McKenna Barkus 23:49; Kiana Robertson 24:04; Meggie Zook 26:58.

Boys

Team Scores – Hardin 39, Laurel 80, Skyview 91, Lewistown 107, Glendive 169, Belgrade 171, Havre181, Billings Central, 241, Livingston 242, Winnett-Melstone 266, Roundup 369.

Top 10 – Jonathon Eastwood, Belgrade, 16:25; Tyler Mogan, Laurel, 16:26; Delvin Walks, Hardin, 17:20; Caleb Ware, Hardin, 17:23; Daniel O'Laughin, Skyview, 17:27; Clarence Little Wolf, Hardin, 17:34; Brandon Kanta, Laurel, 17:37; Eric Hanson, Skyview, 17:45; Kale Kelsey, Lewistown, 17:46, Brayden Wacker, Winnett-Melstone, 17:50.

Havre Individuals – Elijah David 18:31; Sundance Lodge 18:31; Brock Ross 18:48; Brandon Robertson 19:06; Dylan Stewart 21:00; Ethan Smith 21:26; Cameron Knapton 22:09.