From the Fringe: The success of Havre High girls basketball remains unmatched

If there is a bigger cliché that gets thrown around in sports, it’s the word dynasty. Often times, it’s not deserved.

That isn’t the case however, when attaching that word to the Havre High girls basketball team. In fact, the word dynasty isn’t really good enough to sum up what the Blue Pony program has going right now.

Of course, many of you reading this already know how great the HHS girls program is. You know because you are Pony fans. You’ve been there, you’ve seen the games. You’ve witnessed the greatness.

But just because you know, and I know, doesn’t mean that it still shouldn’t be pointed out sometimes. In fact, it should be pointed out often, and that’s what I’m doing now.

I’m writing this because, again, it has to be said. The Blue Pony girls basketball program, right now, today, is simply the best program in Montana girls high school basketball. It’s just not even up for debate.

After its amazing run to the 2023 Class A state championship, the Blue Ponies capped off a three-peat for the ages. What’s more amazing is, Havre has now won the last five state titles that were actually contested on the floor. The 2020 state championship games were cancelled due to the start of the coronavirus emergency, and Billings Central and Hardin were awarded co-champions.

Of course, what’s so incredibly special about what the Blue Ponies are doing though is the names change, but the success doesn’t. That of course, has so much to do with head coach Dustin Kraske, but I’ll get to that part in a minute. It is amazing though, great players, all-state players come and go, and yet, here we are, continuing to hang state championship banners inside the Blue Pony Corral. That speaks volumes to just how good, and popular girls basketball is in Havre. It speaks volumes to how much the kids love it, and want to get better at it. You have to just tip your cap to the girls of Havre right now, whether it’s this amazing outgoing senior class of 2023, or the players coming back next season, or girls all the way down in middle school or grade school, right now, in Havre, girls basketball is simply at a fever pitch.

And, it wouldn’t be that way without Kraske. He is certainly the key cog in that Blue Pony basketball wheel. And while knowing Coach Kraske as well as I do, he’d just as soon not talk about that part of it. He’d rather deflect to the talent of his players, and their work ethic, and he’s not wrong, but, it also doesn’t all to come together like it has without a great head coach, and Kraske is a great head coach. That fact is just not debatable.

The success that Coach Kraske has had over his career is something I, like many others, sit back and marvel at. It’s been something I, like so many of you, have just looked at in awe of. It’s amazing, it’s special, and it’s been hell of a lot of fun to watch.

That also sums up this most recent state title. The Havre girls lost some games during the regular season, but, knowing the players, the talent, and knowing who our head coach was, I never, for one second, entertained the thought that, come March, the Blue Ponies wouldn’t be cutting the nets down in Bozeman.

Maybe Havre did take a different path to get there, but ultimately, the destination was the same. A state championship and another championship parade through the cold, snowy streets of Havre.

So, while it might be becoming almost routine to see the Blue Ponies win state championships, I know, it also never gets old. Not for the kids, the fans, the students, the coaches or the community. The kind of run the Havre High girls basketball team is on never gets old, and, just because I’m stating the obvious right now, doesn’t mean I should state it at all.

The Ponies deserve to be applauded for another championship season, as well as for the dynasty that is ongoing. It’s amazing, it’s special, and while I know I’m no Nostradamus, I feel pretty good about saying that, I don’t think that dynasty is gonna be over anytime soon.