Three Saturday meets keep track teams busy

The Havre High track team is preparing for three different meets in three different towns this weekend meets that will put the boys team in Butte, the girls team in Great Falls and the junior varsity team in Havre.

Saturday, the boys will compete in the Swede Dahlberg meet, the girls at the Optimist meet and the JVs at the Rocky Boy Invitational.

Like other area teams, the track team will be without some key athletes due to the district music festival. But, as head coach John Ita said, that is not the teams' only concern. Some of Ita's athletes are out with injuries.

Even though Ita is missing some of his key athletes due to other activites, he said, it's part of coaching a spring sport.

"The kind of nice thing about this weekend is everybody's off doing something," he said.

The meets this weekend for both the boys and girls teams are mainly filled with Class AA competition. Ita said his teams usually compete well with the AA schools, and that he notices a visible difference in the level of energy his athletes have when they return to practice.

"When they come back you notice just a little surge in their workout," he said.

As the season begins to wind down, Ita said, the meets continue to grow with importance.

"This weekend's really important," he said. "We have that and then Cut Bank before the Top 10. This gives those varsity kids a real test before divisionals."

The Top 10 meet is slated for April 30 in Glasgow. To participate in the meet, athletes have to qualify with certain times, throws and jumps.

Missing kids due to the music festival and having kids out with injuries, Ita said, he hopes his athletes "give it their all."

"My main expectation in both accounts is for the kids to just go down and compete hard," he said.