HHS thinclads fast in Malta

It has been a busy few days for the Havre High track teams, but despite just competing last Friday in Belgrade, both Blue Pony teams put together solid showings down in Malta Tuesday night.

While both of the team titles in the Malta Invitational went to the home team, Havre finished as the runner-up in both competitions. It was the fourth top-two finish of the season so far for the Pony girls and the first top-three showing all season for the boys.

The Malta girls scored a total of 114.5 points to win the team title going away, besting Havre by 36.5 points as HHS finished with 78. Chinook also put together a solid meet, finishing third with 62 points. Turner and Harlem, two other local teams, tied for seventh with 24.

On the boys side of things, Malta ran away with the meet, racking up 160 points, which was nearly double that of Havre, the second-place finisher with 88. Turner rounded out a solid day for both Tornado teams as the boys took third with 41 points, followed by Chinook in fifth 31.5, North Star in sixth with 26 and Harlem in ninth with 21.

As far as the Havre girls were concerned, the best news of the day was the healthy return of freshman Sadie Filius, who ran the 100-meter dash for the first time this season and finished second (13.83) to Chinook’s Megan Molyneaux, who won the race after posting a time of 13.33. Filius also finished fifth in the 100 hurdles but didn’t participate in the 300 hurdles, an event she was on in three different meets this season.

“We made some decisions to rest some kids and the idea behind that is that we want to try to have fresh legs and peak for the Glasgow Top 10 meet next week,” HHS head coach John Ita said. “It’s nothing against Malta. But we just had a meet last Friday and go to Great Falls this weekend before the Top 10 on Tuesday and we just want to give our kids the chance to do as well as there as possible.”

As they have all season, both relay teams cruised to first-place finishes for the Pony girls as they won both relays, the 400 (52.37) and 1,600 (4:35). The only Havre individual to climb to the top of the podium was Jessa Chvilicek (5-00) who edged out her teammate, Sarah Faber for the top spot in the high jump. Faber also placed fourth in the long jump (14-03), finishing two spots behind fellow Blue Pony Grace Loftus (15-02). Kadia Miller also continued a strong run of late, finishing second in the 1,600 (5:55) and third in the 3,200 (15:07). Loy Waid also rounded things out for Havre with a sixth in the pole vault.

Beating Miller for the top spot in the girls 1,600 was L’Tia Lawerence of Harlem, who swept the 1,600 (5:35) and the 3,200 (12:01). Kourtney Hanson of Chinook was a big point-getter for Chinook, winning the 800 (2:43) in addition to being second in the 400 (1:04). Raynee Hasler also finished second in the 3,200 for the Beeters (14:20), while Rachel Gunderson was second in the javelin and fourth in the discus. Also standing out in the throwing events was Rochelle Pease of Rocky Boy, who won the discus with a toss of 107-08.

In the boys meet, Havre got points in a number of different events and got big contributions from both relay teams. HHS won the 1,600 relay (3:59) and got second in the 400 relay (48.65). Another big moment for Havre was when Brock Nystrom broke through and won the pole vault (11-06), giving the Ponies their only individual champion of the meet.

Nolan Lotton didn’t finish first in the 200 but he did manage a second-place showing with a time of 26.11. Havre also racked up points in the distance events as Jakob Keller was sixth in the 400, as well as third in the 800 (2:22). Cameron Pleninger was fourth in the same event (2:24). Trajan Hannum of Chinook won the 800 (2:14) and was followed in second by Jaden Sargent of North Star (2:19). Brad Cichosz of Harlem wrapped up both long distance races taking the 1,600 (4:49) and the 3,200 (10:53). Dylan Young of Havre was second in the 1,600 (5:05). Noah Azure came in second for HHS in the 3,200 (11:39).

The Ponies also had a positive showing from Preston Glock, who continued a strong run of late in the hurdles, placing second in the 110 (18.12) and third in the 300 (48.74). Mason Rismon added points in throwing events for Havre getting third in the shot put (40-03) and fourth in the javelin (140-00). Dylan Chvilicek also threw 134-06 to finish fifth (javelin). Another individual who placed was freshman Orion Thivierge who triple jumped 38-02 for Havre to finish fifth and find the podium for the first time this season.

Both Havre teams will head to Great Falls Saturday for their third track meet in eight days before going to Glasgow for the Top 10 Meet next Tuesday.