Blue Ponies excelled in fall sporting events

With winter just around the corner, fall has flown by already, and so have the fall sports seasons at Havre High. Now with boys and girls

Havre High's Ashlynn Van Voast races in the Havre Invitational cross country meet last month.

basketball, wrestling and swimming gearing up to start their seasons, they too are hoping for the same success already found by the Blue Pony athletics this season.

The Havre High Blue Pony volleyball, cross country and golf programs all found good success this season.

Both the boys and girls cross country teams took huge strides. The girls squad had their best season to date, earning a Central A title and finishing third at the state meet. They were led by Jess Wiken, Trisha Kinsella, Katie Christianson, Larissa price, Ashlyn Van Voast , Chanal Standing Rock and Mikell Kinsella all season long and they really produced for the Ponies. Wiken wound up being named all state when she turned in a time of 19:35.10.

The girls team put in a lot of work in the post season and worked even harder once the season got started. They ran hard in every meet and even found a way to beat Glasgow for the first time during the regular season before the No. 3 finish at state.

"Everything they have done throughout the summer and throughout the season was them coming together as a team," Havre High head coach Kyle Fisher said. "They did a nice job and ran as a pack and helped each other through the race (at state)."

On the boys team, the Ponies also saw a lot of good running, as they ended up finishing as the No. 11 team in the Class A. They came out of a very tough field in the Central A as a No. 4 seed and saw steady improvement all season long. The boys squad was led by Garrett Aguillard and Marc Klimas all season long, but Derek VanDessel, Dolan Tuss, Desmond Fialkosky and Dillon Seely filed in nicely to follow. Aguillard also earned All State honors this season.

The Havre High golf team also found good success this season, from both their girls and boys golfers.

Entering the season the Ponies had hopes of sending two full teams to the state tournament. That didn't happen, but with the talent they brought in this season, it was a good goal to reach for.

SamLippy, Ramsey Drew, David Denny, Simon McCann and Spencer Morkrid made up the Blue Pony team that competed in the divisional tournament. And Katie Beck, Nikki Gabrielson, Boston Swensen, Dani Murphy and Lauren Scolfield made up the girls team that competed at divisionals. Seniors Lippy and McCann led the boys all season long, and McCann made the state tournament as a junior. Beck was the only returning girl who had previous state tournament experience, and has led the girls, while Gabrielson and Swensen battled back and forth all season long to also help lead the girls team.

Gabrielson ended up earning her way into the state tournament after placing seventh at divisionals for the girls. And for the boys, HHS placed Lippy and McCann to the state tourney this season.

The young and inexperienced Blue Pony volleyball team also found some success this season. They didn't make the state tournament, but from beginning to end, they saw steady improvement and solid play.

Sammy Evans and Juletta Don were the most experienced Ponies, but Peyton Filius, Brandy Lambourne, Sarah Armstrong, Lei Olson and Sadie Seidel gave the team a well-balanced style season.

The Ponies finished the regular season with 4-4 conference record and in a three way tie with Livingston and Belgrade for the No. 3 seed in the conference. That was huge for the Ponies, who at one time couldn't find the win column for a very long stretch. HHS won the first match of the season, but didn't win again until Oct. 1 when they beat Conrad.

But the Ponies played their best volleyball when it counted, the end of the season. They earned a solid seed into the post season and found a way to find two wins in the Central A tourney. And while they didn't make the state tournament, the Ponies have plenty to build off of next year.

"We finished the season well and it was a good finish with some young girls coming in and taking on some lead roles on our team." Havre High head coach Melanie Skoyen said. "And after such a slow start, I really do feel like we improved every week."