Ponies head to Mountain West Invite

It's getting down to crunch time for the Havre High cross country team. And this weekend's visit to the Mountain West Cross Country Invitational in Missoula is just the kind of meet head coach Kim Ray's team needs.

"This is a great meet to participate in for a number of reasons," Ray said. "We will see some great teams and some great individual runners. The competition is going to be pretty stiff."

The meet will take place on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and will be held at the University of Montana Golf Course. The meet will feature over 200 runners in the varsity boys and girls races. The race will be a three-mile event.

"This is the type of meet that is good preparation for state," Ray said. "We will see a lot of AA schools and some phenomenal runners. There is a girl from Kalispell that is just an outstanding runner and I am looking forward to seeing her in person."

There will be some of the top class A runners there. Ray knows it will be good for her girls to go up against strong competition, just three weeks before the state meet.

"Having this tough competition will allow our girls to get a good idea of where they are as they get closer to the state meet," Ray said. "For some of them, it will let them know where they need to improve."

The Ponies go into the meet with six of the seven varsity runners that have competed all season.

However, Kelsey Malsam will be making the trip to Missoula instead of Katie Siebrasse. Joining Malsam will be Alicia Rundquist, Shannon Newth, Andi Peterson, Emily Kostelecky, Rebecca Hilliard, and Mackayla Patterson.

While the Ponies are in Missoula, the remainder of the Havre squad will participate in the Wolf Point Invitational at Borge Park in Wolf Point.