Busy Pony track teams heading to Whitefish

It is another short turnaround for the very busy Havre High track and field program, but every opportunity to compete, is a welcomed opportunity by the Blue Ponies.

Coming off of meet in Malta on Tuesday, the Central A Ponies now gear up to compete Saturday in Whitefish. The Ponies are just one of the many teams looking for another successful weekend as the post season meets draw closer and closer. The Ponies will face squads like Glacier, Plains, Charlo, Whitefish, Big Fork, Browning, Columbia Falls, Cut Bank, Libby, Lincoln County, Polson, Troy, Frenchtown, Superior and Thompson Falls.

Havre High's Gunnar Aageson runs the relay during the Lions Havre Invite earlier this month. The Blue Ponies are in Whitefish Saturday for the prestigious A.R.M. Invitational.

Conference rival Browning will be looked at by the Ponies, but the Indians are not the Ponies' biggest concern in the conference this season. So instead, the Ponies will just use this as another opportunity to put up good marks and times, while also getting to see teams they don't typically see throughout the season.

"This is just another chance for all of our kids to compete." Havre high head coach Trevor Vancampen said. "We are going to bring a pretty young team, and we are going to get a lot of junior varsity entries. It will be a good meet for our younger kids, but this is also a great chance for our older guys to see how they match up against the rest of the competition from across the state."

The freshman and sophomores will get the opportunity to compete against strictly freshman and sophomore athletes on Saturday, the perfect meet to just compete and work on getting better. Rachel David has shown a lot of improvement on the junior varsity team, and should look keep improving. But the varsity meet will be as competitive as ever, meaning the usual Pony point getters need to keep producing and keep putting up big marks.

Katie Christianson, Peyton Filius, Lacey Waid and Lexie Olson lead the way for the Blue Pony girls, and have found a way to score consistently each weekend. And for the boys, it has been athletes like Thurman Holdsclaw, Zach Plum, Thomas Gruber, Matt Emge, Marc Klimas and Charlie Christianson who have stepped up and carried the load.

This weekend will be another opportunity for the Ponies to grow as a team, an important goal as HHS continues to strive for a top spot in the Central A. The Ponies will compete in Whitefish on Saturday.