Blue Ponies star on their home track

Entering the second week of competition, the Havre High boys and girls track teams were looking to perform well at home. And while the Blue Ponies were up against a tough field, they still put up solid times and marks across the board.

Wednesday the Ponies were at home, but attended the Cal Wearley meet at the Havre Middle School track.

Havre High senior Katie Christianson races in the 1,600 meters at Wednesday's Cal Wearley Invite in Havre. Christianson had a strong day for the Ponies in the distance races.

And in a strong team showing, the HHS girls finished in second place with 74 points, while the HHS boys finished in third place with 49.25 team points. In girls action the Ponies finished just behind first place North Star with 80.5 points and just ahead of Chinook with 55. And the HHS boys finished behind first place Chinook with 62 points and behind second place Malta with 52.

Havre's Lacey Waid wins the pole vault at Wednesday's Cal Wearley meet in Havre.

"This was a big learning experience for us," Havre High head coach Trevor VanCampen said. "And we were able to come out here and compete against a good group of teams and athletes. We figured out who is going to be in our relays, and we figured out what events we are going to be able to enter our kids in , and how they are going to be able to compete. We have a good idea of our team strengths now."

The Pony girls held steady in first place for most of the afternoon. But with a narrow lead over the defending meet champion North Star Knights, the No. 1 finish came down to the very last race of the day, the 1,600-meter relay where the Knights overtook the Ponies.

But the second-place finish doesn't take away what the Ponies were able to do on Wednesday. Peyton Filius had a huge day in just her second meet of the season. She won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:30.9, but also placed second in the 400 with a time of 1:06.6. Adding to the point total, Filius finished the 200-meter dash with a time of 30.1 for a fifth-place finish.

Havre High freshman Charlie Christianson goes over the bar during the boys high jump at Wednesday Cal Wearley meet at the HMS track.

Skylar Vukasin, Katie Christianson, and Lacey Waid also had great outings. Vukasin finished the 100 in sixth place (14.0) and finished the high jump in second place with a cleared height of 4-08. Christianson finished the 1,600 in second place (5:53.1) and the 3,200 in first place with a time of 12:29.0. Waid also finished the high jump in fourth place with a height of 4-6, but took the No. 1 spot in the pole vault, clearing 9-03.

Megan Erickson also placed sixth in the 400 (1:12.4), while Haley Ohm placed fifth in the 3,200 (13:20.0), and Martha Stocker placed fifth in the shot put (28-9). The short relay team placed second with a time of 56.2 seconds.

The Havre High boys have a growing reputation in their pole vaulting abilities, and that was on display again at the Cal Wearley. Thurman Holdsclaw cleared 12-6 and captured the No. 1 spot for the Ponies. But Matt Emge cleared 12-0 and finished third, while Zach Plum also cleared 12-0 and finished in fourth place. Thomas Gruber cleared 10-6 for a fifth-place finish.

Havre High's Alec Dew runs in the 400 meters at Wednesday Cal Wearley meet in Havre.

Marc Klimas also stood out. Klimas finished second in the 3,200 with a time of 10:49.2 and fifth in the 1,600 with a time of 5:08.6. But not to be outdone, Plum and Holdsclaw also placed in a second event. Plum placed sixth in the long jump with a distance of 18-8.5, and Holdsclaw placed fifth in the triple jump with a jump of 38-2. Kade Rismon also had a decent day with his arm. Rismon finished fourth in the discus with a throw of 122-5, fifth in the shot with a throw of 39-11, and sixth in the javelin with a throw of 145-0.

Charlie Christianson placed second in the high jump after clearing 5-8. John Faber cleared 5-4 for a sixth-place finish in the high jump as well. The HHS long relay team also placed fifth (4:10.7).

HHS's Haley Ohm places in the girls 1,600 at Wednesday's Cal Wearley meet in Havre.

"We saw a lot great times and marks today," VanCampen said. "We are still seeing improvement. Filius improved her 800-meter time by nine seconds and Holdsclaw improved to 13-0 in the pole vault. We also had three girls in the 100-meter finals, and I was pleasantly surprised with that. But our young and new kids are still shaking off the nerves I think, and figuring out where they are at the high school level. Charlie Christianson is doing nice things in the jumps, and Faber is really improving also. Our throwers are also coming along, and Martha Stocker is going to be good one if she puts a couple more techniques together."

Saturday the Ponies will be back in action in Lewistown.