HHS harriers pass the test against the best

If the Havre High cross country teams were looking for a meet to prepare them for the difficulty of the Class A state meet, they couldn't find one much better than the Mountain West Classic.

Both Blue Pony teams were in Missoula Saturday to take part in the prestigous event and each team had some solid performances in a competition that featured around 800 varisty runners. The Havre boys finished 33rd at the meet among 52 teams, while the Pony girls finished 39th among 43. Lewis and Clark High School won the boys meet with 52 points, followed by Bozeman with 69 and Joel Ferris with 197. In the girls meet, Bozeman took home first place with 32 points. Missoula Hellgate was second with 103 and Billings Senior was third with 110.

While the Havre girls didn't perform as well as they have in recent meets, one reason was that two of their top runners did not compete. Kaylee Nystrom, who has been the No. 2 all season long and Tamera O'Leary, the No. 3, also did not take part. However, Kadia Miller, who has been the top runner on the team all season long, had another solid showing as she finished 52nd at the meet with a time of 20:16.

The next best finisher for Havre was Amelia Miller, who finished 204th with atime of 23:24, followed by Lilly Taly, who ran the course in 25:45 to finish 266th. Madison Shennum finshed 271st after running a 26:19 and Melanie Jones was No. 274 aftera time of 26:32.

"It was tough for the girls without Kaylee Nystrom and Tamera O'Leary, who were both out for personal reasons, but I thought the girls ran well," HHS head coach Josh Holt said. "I thought all five of the girls that I brought competed well, especially Kadia."

The Havre boys also featured one runner who finished in the top 100 as Austin Jones, the top runner for the Ponies finished 81st with a time of 17:29. Jakob Keller also had a solid race for HHS, as he wound up in 133rd place after posting a time of 18:03. The next finisher for Havre was Trevor Williams, who was No. 196 (18:37). Rounding out the varsity runners for the Havre boys in Missoula were Quinn Reno, who finished 206th with a time of 18:40, followed by Carmeron Pleninger, who was 243rd after running a 19:07. Noah Azure was next and finished No. 246 after a time of 19:10 and Barrett Kilgore also finished 289th after a time of 19:35.

"I thought that the boys also did really well," Holt said. "It was a little soggy there, but we had some decent times. We want to try and get everyone down into the 17s and the 18s, but I think we are getting there. I was happy with all of the boys. Austin did well, so did Jakob and Quinn and Cameron, Noaz, Trevor and Barrett."

The Havre junior varsity teams will run in Browning today, if the weather is good. The boys and girls varsity teams will run Thursday in Helena at the annual Preview Meet.

Havre girls - 52. Kadia Miller, 20:16; 204. Amelia Miller, 23:24; 266. Lilly Taly, 25:45; 271. Madison Shennum, 26:19; 274. Melanie Jones, 26:92.

Havre boys - 81. Austin Jones, 17:29; 133. Jakob Keller, 18:03; 196. Trevor Williams, 18:37. 206. Quinn Reno, 18:40; 243. Cameron Pleninger, 19:07; 246. Noah Azure, 19:10. 289. Barrett Kilgore, 19:35.