Pony harriers embark on a new journey

With every other sport already getting underway this summer, the Havre High cross country program is a late arrival, but despite being a week behind most programs, the Blue Ponies are still excited to get a chance to run.

Kyle Fisher has vacated the role of head coach, but former Pony harrier Darci Heninger is more than happy to take over the Pony program. The Ponies house a lot of talent and should be strong once again. Last year, the HHS girls earned their second consecutive Central A title, following up with a No. 7 finish at state. The boys were the No. 4 team in the conference and finished as the No. 13 team at state.

“We are excited to get started,” first year head coach Heninger said. “And everybody has been doing really well in practice. And I have been having a lot of fun getting to know all of the runners, and all of the incoming freshmen as we continue to work.”

This year the Ponies get started at the Cut Bank Time Trials, competing Friday in Cut Bank. And besides practice, this will be the first real look coach Heninger gets of her team, finally getting to see if all of the off-season hard work is going to pay off.

“We have been going on long runs,” Heninger added. “And we have been doing hills, and we are just trying to work on our endurance and our kick at the end of a race. We are just trying to get back to state and get ready for the beginning of the season.”

Running for the girls will be Adrianne Miller, Alara Vogel, Brooke LaValley, Haley Ohm, Julie Mckinney, Lindsey Kugrna, McKenna Barkus, Meggie Zook, Morgan Mazurkiewicz, Tori Mazurkiewicz, Peyton Filius, Rachel Majeres, Talina Hernandez and Taryrn Winchell. Key returners include Ohm, Barkus, Tori and Morgan Mazurkiewicz and Majeres, while Filius is a much welcomed addition.

Running for the boys will be Brandon Robertson, Elijah David, Brock Ross, Cameron Knapton, Dylan Stewart, Ethan Smith and Sundance Lodge.

The varsity lineup has not been set this season, but the Ponies have a lot of runners on both squads who can make an impact.

“That first race in Cut Bank will show me who my varsity runners are,” Heninger said. “But we pretty much have everybody back from last year that wasn’t a senior. We have a lot of kids that run together, so once the season starts and we get those races in, I think they will run as well as they do at practice, in a nice pack. Once they get into their comfort zone their times will be stronger, and we will be competitive. But since I am new this year, I haven’t gotten to see a lot of runners going into the state race. Until I see a lot of those runners, it is hard to guess where we should be right now. But I will get a better idea team-wise, when I learn more about other runners out there.”

The Ponies open up in the Cut Bank, but the schedule is as tough as ever in 2013, and the Ponies will also run at Malta, Lewistown and Helena. Havre will go to the Mountain West meet in Missoula Sept. 28, as well as host the Havre Invite Oct. 5. Divisionals are in Belgrade Oct. 19, and state is Oct. 26 in Missoula.

“Every single race that we will run in will be competitive.” Heninger said. “Our favorite one is Missoula, the Mountain West. It is one of the biggest races, and everybody in the state runs there, so I am really looking forward to that one. That should be an exciting race. We are also looking forward to running at home, and hopefully running well at home.”

The Ponies will run Friday at the Cut Bank Time Trials.