High winds blow track meet off course

The Havre High School track team ended its invitational meet early because of high winds Saturday.

Throughout the morning and afternoon, heavy winds had a strong impact on every event. By the time the meet was canceled, gusts reached nearly 60 mph.

Havre head coach John Ita said the weather conditions were making it too dangerous to continue.

"It was getting pretty miserable out there," he said. Some of the participants didn't want to continue for fear of getting hurt.

Ita and the other coaches met shortly before 3 p.m. and decided to end the meet. When the hurdles wouldn't stay up straight, he said, they knew it was time to cancel.

"We basically canceled the meet because the starter put down the bag with the shells for the gun in it and it blew away and we couldn't find it," he said, laughing.

The boys finished 12 events, the girls 11. The Havre boys led the team scores through the 12 events, with Fort Benton in second and Malta in third. Powerhouse KG was in fourth. For the girls, Cut Bank was in the lead after 11 events, with Havre in second and Glasgow in third.

Due to the wind, records that were broken do not count.

Despite hosting the event and trying to make sure things were running smoothly, Ita had the chance to see some of his athletes in action. And now, after a few days outside and a few meets under his team's belt, Ita said he knows what the Ponies need to work on.

"It helps us to see where we're getting points and where we're not getting points," he said. "We learn more every meet."

One thing especially evident to Ita is the lack of consistency in all 17 events for both the boys and girls teams. He said the boys team is short in the hurdles events and is hurting some in the throwing events. For the girls, Ita said, his team gives up a lot of points in the long jump and triple jump by not having a consistent placer.

"We just need a nice week where we can work on things," Ita said.

Steve Heberly flew to the finish line in the 100-meter dash, finishing in a time of 10.70. Heberly also raced on the 400-meter relay team, also placing first in 45.96 seconds. Distance runner Jeff Sprinkle worked his way through the wind, winning the 1600-meter run in 4 minutes and 51.9 seconds.

KG's Casey Crites added a first-place finish in the high jump, clearing 6 feet 4 inches for the win. Crites' teammate Thomas Marshall won the 110-meter hurdles in 15.50 seconds. Roger Larson, also from KG, took the win in the 400-meter dash with a time of 55.0 seconds.

In the shot put, Havre senior Josh Klobofksi placed second with Chinook's Jordon Nissen third and KG's Robbie Gomke in fourth.

Chester's Michele VanDyke continued her dominance in the high jump, clearing 5 feet 6 inches. Havre's Brooke Schwan finished third and Whitney Lybeck from Chinook placed fourth.

Alicia Rundquist wrapped up two top three finishes for the Ponies, taking first in the 300-meter hurdles and third in the 1600-meter run.

Jayla McPherson placed second in the shot put for Havre, and Rylee O'Connell added a second-place finish in the 100-meter dash to lead the Ponies.

The Havre boys track team is in Butte Friday and Saturday, The girls team will be in Great Falls. Havre's junior varsity team will be in Havre for the Rocky Boy Invitational Saturday at Havre Middle School.

The following are the results of the Havre track meet Saturday at Havre Middle School.

Boys:

Team scores through 12 events 1. Havre, 62; 2. Fort Benton, 60; 3. Malta, 59; 4. KG, 46; 5. Cascade, 33; 6. Geraldine, 31; 7. Glasgow, 14; 8. Poplar, 14; 9. Shelby, 14; 10. Chester, 12; 11. Conrad, 9; 12. Sunburst, 7; 13. Chinook, 6; 14. Lewistown, 2; 15. Blue Sky, 1; 16. Browning, 1; 17. Cut Bank, 1.

100-meter dash 1. Steve Heberly, Havre, 10.70 seconds; 2. Loren Utterback, Fort Benton, 10.80; 3. Brandon Utterback, Fort Benton, 11.30; 4. Kris Simanton, Malta, 11.30; 5. Casey Crites, KG, 11.40; 6. Travis Wade, Conrad, 11.60.

Shot put 1. Tom Sparks, Shelby, 46 feet 9 inches; 2. Josh Klobofski, Havre, 44-6 1/2; 3. Jordon Nissen, Chinook, 44-5; 4. Robbie Gomke, KG, 44-2; 5. Shane Voss, Cascade, 43-3 1/2; 6. Marcus Green, Malta, 42-0 1/2.

Pole vault 1. Lee Posey, Cascade, 13-3; 2. Joey Howland, Havre, 11-6; 3. John Etchart, Glasgow, 11-6; 4. Sean Mattick, Geraldine, 10-6; 5. Alex Hilyard, Conrad, 10-0; 6. John Reynolds, Cut Bank, 10-0.

High jump 1. Casey Crites, KG, 6-4; 2. Matt McGowan, Poplar, 6-4; 3. T.J. Lehman, Fort Benton, 6-0; 4. West Neville, Malta, 5-10; 5. Steven Green, Malta, 5-10; 6. Andrew Castle, Cascade, 5-10.

400-meter relay 1. Havre, (Jared Gabriel, Steve Heberly, Tony Ricci, Steven Harman), 45.96; 2. Fort Benton (T.J. Lehman, Brandon Utterback, John Hazen, Khalin Anderson), 47.14; 3. Cascade (Zach Stevens, Adam Cotton, Jesse Guenther, Shane Voss), 47.18; 4. Malta (Lance Haser, Kris Simanton, Ty Salsbery, Josh Roberts), 48.21; 5. KG (Matt Aageson, Roger Larson, Casey Crites, Kyle Reynolds), 48.21; 6. Geraldine (Robert Ebeling, Glen Reid, Greg Reid, Mike Clark), 48.77.

1600-meter run 1. Jeff Sprinkle, Havre, 4:51.90; 2. West Neville, Malta, 4:55.70; 3. Mike Sveum, Sunburst, 4:59.10; 4. Kasey Barsotti, Havre, 5:07.60; 5. Brad Leary, Shelby, 5:08.80; 6. Crossguns, Browning, 5:09.30.

110 hurdles 1. Thomas Marshall, KG, 15.50; 2. Robert Ebeling, Geraldine, 15.60; 3. McFarland, Conrad, 15.70; 4. Doug Anderson, Chester, 16.0; 5. Chase Mc Allister, Fort Benton, 16.70; 6. Ben Ricki, Lewistown, 17.10.

400-meter dash 1. Roger Larson, KG, 55.0; 2. Loren Utterback, Fort Benton, 55.51; 3, Matt McGowan, Poplar; 4. Shane Johnson, Glasgow, 56.40; 5. Zach Vowell, Shelby, 56.83; 6. Mitchell McKinley, Blue Sky, 57.05.

Javelin 1. Kris Simanton, Malta, 144-9; 2. Cory Eklund, Geraldine, 143-0; 3. Shane Voss, Cascade, 142-6; 4. Rocky Galloway, Fort Benton, 140-6; 5. Mitch Violett, Chester, 136-4; 6. Jason Tomsheck, Sunburst, 135-3.

Girls:

Team scores through 11 events 1. Cut Bank, 54; 2. Havre, 48; 3. Glasgow, 36; 4. Conrad, 35; 5. Fort Benton, 28.5; 6. Browning, 27; 7. Chester, 20.5; 8. Shelby, 20; 9. Cascade, 18.5; 10. Lewistown, 17.5; 11. Malta, 12; 12. KG, 10; 13. Chinook, 4.5; 14. Geraldine, 4; 15. Sunburst, 4; 16. Big Sandy, 1; 17. Poplar, .5.

Triple jump 1. Amber Aikins, Cut Bank, 37 feet 7 1/2 inches; 2. Dani Augare, Browning, 32-3 1/2; 3. Colleen Iverson, Shelby, 30-9 1/2; 4. Kaylee Shaw, Fort Benton, 30-2 1/2; 5. Heidi Cicon, Chester, 29-11 3/4; 6. Sherry Winchell, Havre, 29-2.

High jump 1. Michele VanDyke, Chester, 5-6; 2. Loni Perkins, Conrad, 5-2; 3. Brooke Schwan, Havre, 5-0; 4. Whitney Lybeck, Chinook, 4-8; 5. Lauren Tognetti, Lewistown, 4-6; 6. (tie) Amber Crowley, Poplar, and Kayla Erskine, Chinook, 4-6.

400-meter dash 1. Loni Perkins, Conrad, 66.57 seconds; 2. April Molstad, Glasgow, 66.81; 3. Angie Young, Fort Benton, 68.74; 4. Jillien Johnson, Chester, 69.86; 5. Megan Leishman, Cut Bank, 72.18; 6. (tie) Katy Engstrom, Chester, and Jonna Streit, Fort Benton, 72.75.

1600-meter run 1. Wasewi Shawl, Browning, 5:48.00; 2. Kenzie Sherburne, Browning, 6:01.70; 3. Alicia Rundquist, Havre, 6:04.40; 4. Jolene Fuzssy, Malta, 6:07.40; 5. Darcy Rindal, Shelby, 6:08.80; 6. Kathy Bitz, Big Sandy, 6:16.30.

400-meter relay 1. Cut Bank (Kari Rude, Megan Leishman, Lindsay Wall, Jessica Meuchel), 54.67; 2. Lewistown (Tasha Cecrle, Laura Anderson, Lauren Tognetti, Tay Anderson), 55.15; 3. Fort Benton (Kaylee Shaw, Kyle Callison, Angie Young, Veronica Fultz), 55.16; 4. Havre (Rylee O'Connell, Alicia Overcast, Brooke Schwan, Kelsey Smith), 56.22; 5. Shelby (Lindsay Alvestad, Colleen Iverson, Beth Horgus, Kristen O'Brien), 56.44; 6. Conrad (Kelli Irvin, Brandi Ellefson, Dianna Zempel, Loni Perkins), 56.55.

Shot put 1. Christine Greveling, Cascade, 40-9; 2. Jayla McPherson, Havre, 34-10; 3. Andrea Havelange, Glasgow, 32-4; 4. Mallory Furr, Sunburst, 32-1 1/2; 5. Billi Jo Andrews, Conrad, 31-10; 6. Kayla Rettig, Lewistown, 31-10.

100-meter dash 1. Kari Rude, Cut Bank, 12.70; 2. Rylee O'Connell, Havre, 12.90; 3. Mandy Nemitz, Cascade, 12.90; 4. Megan Leishman, Cut Bank, 13.50; 5. Toni Qunell, Geraldine, 13.50; 6. (tie) Devin Nelson, Lewistown, and Molly Moe, Cascade, 13.60.

300-meter hurdles 1. Alicia Rundquist, Havre, 52.01; 2. Kelli Irvin, Conrad, 53.69; 3. April Molstad, Glasgow, 55.19; 4. Jamie Graham, Chester, 56.21; 5. Kalyn Fairbanks, Geraldine, 56.70; 6. Mandy Nemitz, Cascade, 56.76.

Javelin 1. Kim Berg, KG, 127-2; 2. Katie Weber, Malta, 114-10; 3. Jen Buyske, Shelby, 109-0; 4. Tarri Furhuan, Glasgow, 107-7; 5. Jen Hayes, Shelby, 99-10; 6. Katie Malsam, Havre, 96-3.

Long jump 1. Amber Aikins, Cut Bank, 17-5; 2. Kaylee Shaw, Fort Benton, 16-5; 3. Laura Anderson, Lewistown, 15-10 1/2; 4. Kyle Callison, Fort Benton, 15-3; 5. Colleen Iverson, Shelby, 15-1 3/4; 6. Dani Augare, Browning, 15-1.

100-meter hurdles 1. April Molstad, Glasgow, 16.0; 2. Amber Aikins, Cut Bank, 16.90; 3. Kelli Irvin, Conrad, 16.90; 4. Brooke Schwan, Havre, 17.20; 5. Jess Svingen, Glasgow, 17.20; 6. Mandy Nemitz, Cascade, 17.30.