Ponies run in Lewistown

After one of the best overall weekends the Havre High boys and girls cross country teams have had collaboratively in a while, the Blue Ponies are poised for another successful weekend.

Just last weekend the Central A Blue Pony boys and girls teams finished in the No. 1 spots in the Malta Invite. That included a defeat over the Glasgow Scotties, a year in and year out Class B powerhouse.

Havre High runner Ashlynn Van Voast races in the 2010 Havre Invitational. The Blue Pony cross country teams are off to a strong start this season.

And moving forward, the Ponies are now ready to compete in Lewistown. Friday the Ponies will be in Lewistown where they will face the entire Central A conference, Browning, Lewistown, Belgrade and Livingston. HHS will also get the chance to run against the majority of the Eastern A teams, teams the Ponies will see again down the road as well.

The Ponies did well a week ago, but now it is even more important to have a good weekend.

"We just have to keep moving forward," Havre High head coach Kyle Fisher said. "It is going to be a great weekend for us again, because all of the Central A will be there as well as a lot of the Eastern A schools. It is a pretty good size meet and we just have to keep competing and continue to work hard and good things will come."

Garrette Aguillard and Marc Klimas will look to lead the boys again. Fisher is looking for his No. 3 and No. 4 runners to step up as well. Dolan Tuss and Desmond Fialkosky followed close behind the Ponies frontrunners, but will give the team a huge boost if they can continue to close the gap. And freshman Dylan Stewart and Alec Drew are quickly gaining varsity headlines, as they continue to shave seconds off their times and settle in as the Ponies' No. 5 and No. 6 runners.

And for the girls, they look especially strong for how early in the season it is.

And moving forward, Fisher is just looking for his top five girls to continue to cut time off of their already impressive pack time. Last weekend in their first team win in Fishers' four years as head coach, they had a pack time of just 1:18. The HHS girls are also looking for the No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8 runners to step as well, making the team that much stronger. Shelby O'Neil, Larissa Price and Darlena Bradlery finished just outside the top five Pony girls last weekend, but still continue to improve as well as impress.

"Our girl's pack time is looking pretty good," Fisher said. "But we still want to see that number getting smaller and smaller. And on the boys side, we are definitely looking for them to bring down their pack times as well."

The Ponies in are in the hunt for a couple more team wins, but the improved times the Ponies look for with every race may not show this weekend. The Lewistown course is one of the toughest courses the Ponies will run on this year. Every runner will be pushed today, and if the times don't show the progress, what place each HHS team takes will.

"This weekend will set the precedent for the rest of our season," Fisher said. "Getting to compete against our conference and the other Class A teams is huge. Cutting down on times will be tough this weekend, but we need to just get out and compete against those other teams."

Browning and Lewistown will give the Pony girls the toughest competition. And Lewistown and Livingston will challenge the boys, just as Browning will. But for the Ponies to beat any team in attendance, they have to do what they have done all season long, run hard, compete and let all of their off season training and practice push them through to another top finish.

Friday morning the Ponies will be in Lewistown where they will face a solid pool of talent, including the entire Central A conference.