Pony harriers excited to run on their home course

In a sport where you get just one opportunity to compete at home each season, the Havre High cross country teams are looking to take full advantage of hosting the annual Havre Invite.

Saturday, the Blue Ponies won’t be on the road, and they won’t be worrying about executing on a strange course. Instead, the Ponies will host the Havre Invite on the campus of Montana State University-Northern in Havre.

The race begins and ends on the lawn in front of Cowan Hall. And the middle school girls will get the day started at 10 a.m., followed by the middle school boys at 10:30. The junior varsity girls will also run at 11 a.m., followed by the junior high boys at 11:40, and finally, the varsity boys will run at 12:20 p.m., followed by the varsity girls at 1 p.m.

Last year, the Central A Blue Ponies had a great showing of support from local fans, and head coach Darci Heninger and the rest of the Ponies are hoping for the same turnout.

“The kids are excited and I think the kids are always more comfortable running at home,” Heninger said. “Their times should be pretty good, and we should run relaxed because we know our course and we have our home fans cheering us on. We should do fine this weekend and everybody is excited to be running at home.”

And October is a great time for the Ponies to be hosting a race.

By this point, each Pony runner should be in his or her best shape of the season, or close to it. They have ran very well this season, and have had somebody earn a personal record each and every week out. Every single runner, varsity and junior varsity, earned a personal record last week. But the Havre course is also one of the tougher courses prep harriers will run, and with their familiarity of the course, as well as coming off of a intense week of practice, the Ponies should be able to continue their steady growth and improvement.

“This week has been our hardest workout week and I knew it would be,” Heninger said. “This should be the time to be in our best shape, and it should help us running at home on a lot of hills. And our course is so tough because we have a lot of gradual hills. And I think it is going to take both pace and working the hills to run well. A lot of people will go out too hard and by the time they hit the hills they are dead. I want the kids to still have a good pace and be smart, but also use those hills to their advantage.”

But the Ponies will be facing a lot of very good runners from the Class AA ranks all the way down to Class C. With nearly 20 teams expected to attend, including Browning, Lewistown, Glasgow and Great Falls, it is going to take a strong showing to earn top individual and team finishes by the Ponies.

Havre High will look to lean on their top runners, but Heninger will also lean on some new and young runners, as both the boys and girls lineups are less than 100 percent this week.

Peyton Filius and Kiana Robertson are both out this week. Haley Ohm, Morgan Mazurkiewicz, Rachel David, McKenna Barkus and Meggie Zook will remin in the varsity lineup, while Tori Mazurkiewicz will get another go in the varsity race alongside Darlena Bradley in her first varsity meet of the season. The boys will also lean on Sundance Lodge, Brock Ross, Elijah David, Brandon Robertson, Ethan Smith and Dylan Stewart. Cameron Knapton will not run on Saturday, so filling in will be newcomer Thomas Perrone. Perrone is eligible to run for the first time this season, as he was a late participant and didn’t have enough practices.

“There are going to be a lot of schools here this weekend and there is going to be a lot of talent,” Heninger said. “I think we will all be ok. The Bottom three runners all run about the same pace, and my top four kids run really close together as well. And one thing I don’t want them to feel is pressure at home in front of their fans. I just want them to treat this like every other race and just run smart and give it all they got.”

New faces and all, the Ponies expect to run well at home on Saturday. Running action begins at 10 a.m., with the varsity boys running at 12:20 p.m. and the varsity girls running at 1 p.m. The race will be in front of Cowan Hall on the campus of Montana State University-Northern in Havre.

Home Races

2013 Havre Cross Country Invite

Saturday

JV Girls: 11 a.m.; JV Boys 11:40 a.m.; Varsity Boys: 12:20 a.m.; Varsity Girls: 1 p.m.