A busy week ahead for Pony harriers

The Havre High cross country teams are currently in the midst of the most challenging part of their schedule and Thursday in Helena, at the annual Preview Meet, things won’t get any easier for the Blue Ponies.

That’s because both Havre teams will face strong opposition in Helena, as the Preview Meet features top runners from across the state, as well as teams from all of the classifications, Class AA, Class A, Class B and Class C. The meet will be held this afternoon at the Bill Roberts Golf Course in Helena.

“It’s a win for us to get that kind of competition for the kids,” HHS head coach Josh Holt said. “They need to see what it’s like to compete against the best runners in the state. I think that gives us more self-confidence to keep getting better and doing better. So the fact that we have these two big races back-to-back is fantastic.”

While both Pony teams will run against every team from Class AA, they will also get to test their skills against some of the top teams in Class A such as Lewistown, Dillon, Belgrade, Billings Central, Butte Central, Columbia Falls, Corvallis, Frenchtown, Hamilton, Laurel, Livingston and Polson, which is a majority of teams that will compete at the Class A state meet later this month in Missoula.

“It’s a little different since we are going to be running state in Missoula,” Holt said. “But the kids really get up for this meet. They all get a chance to run together and that’s really exciting for them, so I expect to get their absolute best effort.”

The Pony girls will be paced once again by No.1 runner Kadia Miller, who will take on the No. 1 runners from the other schools in attendance. The meet will feature seven different races total, one race for each of the seven spots on the varsity roster. Last season, Miller finished 18th among the other top runners and she will be counted on again to lead the way for HHS. Joining her in Helena will be Tamera O’Leary, Hannah Haslem, Emma Gillen, Aliviah Pratt, Grace Loftus and Lilly Taly.

The boys team for Havre will be led by Jakob Keller, who will be running at the preview meet for the fourth time, however, this time around will be his first as the top runner for the Ponies. Running right behind him in the No. 2 spot will be Dylan Young, while the other varsity runners for HHS on the boys side will be Cameron Pleninger, Noah Azure, Sidney Moffitt, Sergio Tamayo and Kendall Pleninger.

After both Havre teams take part in the Preview Meet Thursday in Helena, each squad will recover Friday and head to Browning Saturday to take part in the varsity meet there. In the past, Havre has just sent their JV runners to this meet, but this year, Holt decided to send his varsity squads, too.

After Browning, the Ponies will return home for the Fall Classic Oct. 13, before heading to Missoula to run at the All-Class state meet Oct. 20.

“We are in that final stretch,” Holt said. “We have kind of hit that plateau and so we want to push through that and start trying to peak towards the end of the season with state coming up in a few weeks.”