Pony tracksters wrap up the regular season in Sidney

After last week's cancellation of the Havre Invite, the Havre High track and field teams now only have one more regular season meet - the Sidney Twilight tonight. With the postseason beginning next week, HHS head coach Ryan Gatch believes this meet will give his athletes one more chance to get ready.

"Gives us a great opportunity to compete at a high level and it's a dress rehearsal for our divisional meet the next weekend," Gatch said. "Really looking forward to getting back at it."

At the meet, Havre will compete against many of their Eastern A opponents such as Miles City, Glendive and Sidney. Hardin will also compete in the meet. While this is not an official postseason meet, Gatch views it as such and believes the winner of this meet will be the de facto conference champion.

"They're all good when we compete against them," Gatch said. "We just want to get out there and compete and give our shot at winning a conference championship."

If the Ponies are going to win the meet, their best athletes will need to continue their strong seasons. One such athlete is Nolan Lotton who has dominated in the sprints this season. He has won the 100-meter sprint six straight times and has won the 200 all seven times he has competed in the event this season. He also has a couple wins in the 400 this season.

"Arguably one of the top sprinters in the state," Gatch said about Lotton.

Dylan Young will also compete in the sprints for the Ponies this weekend. He has had his biggest success in the 1,600 this season as he has finished in the top three of the event at each meet, including two first-place finishes.

The Ponies should have a strong showing in the girls hurdles as they have all season. Kyanna Jarvis will compete for her second win in the 100-meter hurdles this season while Emma Gillen will search for her first win in the same event.

Sadie Filius hopefully returns to the 300-meter hurdles after missing Havre's last meet. She has won the event three times and finished second the other three times she competed in it. Gillen and Jarvis will also race in the 300 hurdle where Gatch believes all three of them can have success come postseason time.

"Arguably three of the best 300 hurdlers in the division and probably we got three of those kids that can probably run for the state championship," Gatch said.

The girls team will have strong competitors in the sprints. Loy Waid looks to continue her success in the 100 and 200, both events that she has a first-place finish in this season. Kennedy Hampton will also search for her second win in the 100 this season.

The girls relay teams also look to continue their dominant seasons this weekend. The 400 relay team has won their event four times this season and finished second the other four times they competed in the event. Their 1,600 relay team has also finished first in their event three times this season.

With last week's cancellation, this will be the first time the whole Havre team has competed in a meet since the Cal Wearley Memorial last month. With that extra time, the Ponies rested and got healthier to get prepared for this meet.

"It gave everybody time to have a short break," Gatch said. "They weren't tired or worn out, they were actually real excited and energetic about going to our meet on Friday."

With this meet ending the regular season, Havre will begin the postseason next week at the divisionals in Glendive. Gatch hopes that his athletes will use this one last meet to learn how to be mentally prepared for the grind of the postseason.

"How to prepare. That's one of the things we keep working on," Gatch said.

The HHS track team will compete in the Sidney Twilight Friday beginning at 2:30 p.m. The Eastern A Divisional is set for next weekend in Glendive.