Pony runners succeed in Missoula

Facing the toughest completion they have seen all season long, the Havre High Blue Pony cross country teams made another strong appearance.

The Mountain West meet in Missoula comes around every year for the Central A Ponies. It brings in a number of top teams from across Montana, Washington and Idaho, and on Saturday in Missoula, the Ponies got to see that top talent.

The HHS boys finished towards the bottom of the field with 1,904 points. And the HHS girls finished near the top of the field, finishing as the No. 13 team with 409 points.

With the impressive showing by the HHS girls, they may not have been the top team overall, but they were the second best team in the Class A, as well as the top team in the Central A. Lewistown finished four spots behind the Ponies with 463 points, while Livingston and Belgrade both finished near the bottom of the field. Livingston finished with 994 team points, while Belgrade finished with 1,021 team points.

Jess Wiken and Katie Christianson also finished in the top 30 for the Ponies. They were the only Ponies to do so, on either squad. Wiken finished as the No. 24 runner, finishing with a time of 19:05.3, and Christianson finished as the No. 30 runner, finishing with a time of 19:10.7. Both Wiken and Christianson have hovered around the 20 minute marks for most of the season, but improved on their times from last weekend, also running in the low 19 minutes.

"Last year we were No. 14 and this year we were No. 13," Havre High head coach Kyle Fisher said. "They had almost 70 teams there and it was good for our girls and it showed where we were at in the Class A. Jess and Katie ran the best I have ever seen them run, and pack followed right behind. Every girl PR'd this weekend and I couldn't have asked for anymore."

It was also the first time Fisher has had any runner, let alone two runners finish in the top 30 at this meet.

Other HHS runners included Trisha Kinsella, 19:51.7 (64), Larissa Price, 21:04.2 (156), Morgan Mazurkiewicz 21:15.1 (174), Liz Facio 22:51. (262), and Kiana Robertson 23:04.3 (268).

In the boys field, the Ponies ran well, but had a tougher outing.

HHS finished above Class A teams like Anaconda, Butte Central and Columbia Falls, but failed to defeat the Central A competition. Lewistown led with 684 points, while Belgrade finished with 716, and Livingston finished with 956.

The Blue Ponies didn't get any top 30 finishers, but still ran hard. Marc Klimas led the way his best time of the season, finishing as the No. 109 runner and with a time of 16:56.7. Other finishers included Elijah David, 18:17.7 (244), Desmond Fialkosky, 18:19.3 (246), Sundance Lodge, 18:30.3 (257), Dylan Stuart, 19:09.9 (284), Nick Rhines, 19:59.7 (325), and Alec Drew, 20:34.4 (335).

"Marc is our leader on this boys team, and he finally broke that 17 minute mark," Fisher said. "That broke down a mental barrier for him, and obviously when your top boy is able to run like he did, the rest of the team will try to follow. We saw some good things this weekend."

Thursday the Ponies will run in Helena at the preview meet, and on Saturday, the Ponies will run at the Browning Invite in Browning.

BOYS

Team scores: University High 119, Mount Spokane 123, Mead High 174, Missoula Hellgate 201, Billings West 249, Helena High 250, Deer Park 262, Hamilton 298, Bozeman 306, Kalispell Flathead 316, Gonzaga Prep 330, Kalispell Glacier 346, Idaho Falls 356, Missoula Big Sky 424, Missoula Sentinel 425, Whitefish 475, Billings Senior 476, West Valley 571, Billings Skyview 604, Teton 614, Hardin 622, East Valley 628, Sugar-Salem 669, Great Falls Russell 670, Hillcrest 672, Lewistown 684, Belgrade 716, Helena Capital 767, Post Falls 822, Corvallis 827, Soda Springs 859, Laurel 922, Great Falls High 934, Dillon 952, Livingston 956, Billongs Central 1,006, Polson 1,023, Havre 1,094, Manhattan 1,225, Anaconda 1,137, Butte High 1,158, Thompson Falls 1,177, Shelby 1,224, Butte Central 1,225, Columbia Falls 1,236, Townsend 1,259, Ronan 1,287, Cut Bank 1,300, St. Ignatius 1,316, Belt 1,538.

Top 30 individuals – 1, Andrew Gardner, Mead, 14:25.9; 2, Adam Peterman, Hellgate, 14:33.0; 3, Troy Fraley, Glacier, 14:45.3; 4, John Dressel, Mt. Spokane, 14:51.8; 5, Zach Perrin, Flathead, 14:58.2; 6, Daniel Brunner, University, 15:20.7; 7, Daniel Schofield, Mead, 15:24.3; 8, Daniel Amann, Deer Park, 15:28.1; 9, Chris Herrick, Hellgate, 15:39.2; 10, Aidan Reed, Helena, 15:39.5; 11, Kees Von Michalofski, Mt. Spokane, 15:39.9; 12, Jacob Vandenberg, Mt. Spokane, 15:41.2; 13, Scott Kopczynski, East Valley, 15:43.0; 14, Fred Petsch, Billings West, 15:43.1; 15, Anthony Schmalz, Hamilton, 15:44.0; 16, Easton Albert, Hamilton, 15:45.6; 17, Jonathan Eastwood, Belgrade, 15:50.3; 18, Austin Sloan, University, 15:50.5; 19, Caleb Moosman, Teton, 15:50.8; 20, Nolan Woodard, Deer Park, 15:52.4; 21, Jason Holmes, Bozeman, 15:52.6; 22, Jace Kalbfleisch, Whitefish, 15:52.8; 23, Drew Gottman, Hellgate, 15:52.9; 24, Fischer Gangemi, Whitefish, 15:53.2; 25, Ian Andres, Gonzaga Prep, 15:53.3; 26, Aiden THeard, Anaconda, 15:56.5; 27, Colter May, Bozeman, 15:58.5; 28, Kyle Bender University, 15:59.7; 29, Hunter Guthrie, Sentinel, 16:00.1; 30, Michael Martell, Bozeman, 16:03.6.

GIRLS

Team scores: Bozeman 74, Billings Senior 138, Idaho Falls 183, Billings West 216, Soda Springs 224, Corvallis 257, Gonzaga Prep 288, Billings Skyview 301, Mount Spokane 302, Missoula Hellgate 323, University High 337, Hillcrest 359, Havre 409, Helena High 417, Hamilton 426, Sugar-Salem 447, Lewistown 463, Missoula Sentinel 485, Mead High 494, Missoula Big Sky 525, Butte High 569, Deer Park 622, Helena Capital 654, Post Falls 655, Great Falls Russell 674, East Valley 684, Polson 692, Kalispell Glacier 703, Kalispell Flathead 747, Laurel 784, Billings Central 798, Whitefish 878, Belt 906, Hardin 963, Teton 974, Livingston 994, West Valley 1,008, Belgrade 1,021, Manhattan 1,035, Dillon 1,050, Great Falls High 1,056.

Top 30 individuals – 1, Makena Morley, Bigfork, 17:07.4; 2, Paige Gilchrist, Hellgate, 17:31.1; 3, Caroline Hardin, Bozeman, 17:52.1; 4, Christina Aragon, Billings Senior, 17:56.8; 5, Rachel Jones, Billings West, 18:02.7; 6, Brittany Aguino, East Valley, 18:06.4; 7, Sabrina Sterbis, Big Sky, 18:10.3; 8, Cierra Simmons, Soda Springs, 18:13.1; 9, Andie Creel, Bozeman, 18:17.5; 10, Sadi Henderson, Corvallis, 18:19.6; 11, Makenna Edebrock, Mt. Spokane, 18:22.4; 12, Courtney Hutton, Billings Senior, 18:27.5; 13, Keegan Day, Billings Skyview, 18:28.5; 14, Kelsey Yamauchi, Soda Springs, 18:32.0; 15, McCall Skay, West Valley, 18:35.2; 16, Cambria Hassell, CMR, 18:36.0; 17, Bridget Creel, Bozeman, 18:40.5; 18, Niquelle Lewis, Idaho Falls, 18:43.0; 19, Kennedy Robbins, Billings Skyview, 18:43.2; 20, Katie Stephens, Bozeman, 18:52.3; 21, Ashlyn Dyerm Idaho Falls, 18:52.6; 22, Olivia Wood, Anaconda, 18:54.4; 23, Brenna Cockburn, Billings Senior, 18:59.3; 24, Jessica Wiken, Havre, 19:05.3; 25, Kaycie Stewart, Corvallis, 19:06.1; 26, Taylor Weatherby, Idaho Falls, 19:06.4; 27, Lexia Moser, Sugar-Salem, 19:08.0; 28, Keisha Stensby, Billings West, 19:09.2; 29, Sara Powell, Hillcrestm 19:09.6; 30, Katie Christianson, Havre, 19:10.7.

HHS Boys Finishers

109. Marc Klimas, 16:56.7

244. Elijah David, 18:17.7

246. Desmond Fialkosky, 18:19.3

257. Sundance Lodge, 18:30.3

284. Dylan Stuart, 19:09.9

325. Nick Rhines, 19:59.7

335. Alec Drew, 20:34.4

HHS Girls Finishers

24. Jess Wiken, 19:05.3

30. Katie Christianson 19:10.7

64. Trisha Kinsella, 19:51.7

156. Larissa Price, 21:04.2

174. Morgan Mazurkiewicz21:15.1

262. Liz Facio 22:51.

268. Kiana Robertson 23:04.3