Pony boys shine in Central A meet

With the powerhouse Belgrade Panthers in the mix, it wasn’t a tight race for the Central A divisional title this year. But the Havre High boys track team did find out that the race for third place would come down to the wire.

Friday and Saturday the Havre High Blue Ponies hosted the annual Central A track meet at the Havre Middle School Track. And after the long two days, the Panthers captured the No. 1 team finish with an impressive 204 points. The Lewistown Golden Eagles finished in a distant second place with 135, while the Ponies came in third place with 70. The Livingston Rangers finished fourth with 63 and the Browning Indians finished fifth with 53.

In the hunt for a top team finish, the Ponies started Saturday’s action with a bang. Sitting in third place with 36 points after Friday’s events, the Ponies came out and shocked the field with a No. 1 finish in the 4x100 relay Saturday morning. HHS was not the favored team in the short relay, but it was performances like that that kept the Ponies out in front of Livingston and Browning at the end of the first post-season meet.

“We had to get personal records all over the place,” Havre High head coach John Ita said. “And that is what we did. But it really helped us to get first in that 4x100 relay. We practiced hard all week and those kids put in a lot of time. Our handoffs were good, we were fast, and our kids had to get a personal record to win that, and they did. The boys just really stepped up all over, including getting two kids in the finals of the 200. I didn’t think we had that kind of speed, but we do, and we made some good moves this weekend.”

Both Nate Rismon and Mike Loftus placed in the 200 meters; just another example of picking up much-needed and key points in what might have been an unlikely event. Loftus ran a 23.50 and finished the 200 finals in third place for the Ponies. Rismon also stepped up and ran a 23.75 for a fourth-place finish. John Faber and Nick Keller were also a pleasant surprise with their efforts in the high jump. Both Keller and Faber finished in a tie for fourth place after clearing 5-8, their best height this season.

Loftus also finished the 100 in fifth place, running an 11.1, while Rismon placed in his four other events. Rismon took sixth in the 400 (53.79), fifth in the pole vault (10-6), and fourth in the long jump (18-11) and triple jump (38-6). But the pole vault was also a highlight for the Ponies over the weekend, as both Thomas Gruber and Gunnar Aageson gave HHS two more top finishes in the event. Aageson cleared 12-6 for second place, while Gruber, for the first time in his career, cleared 13-6 to finish first place. The long relay ran a 3:52.68 for a fifth place finish.

The throwing events were jam-packed in the boys field over the weekend, but two Blue Ponies found a way to finish near the top of the pack.

“Our throwers were up against a lot of talent this weekend,” Ita said. “They really had to compete hard to finish in the spots they did.”

Athletes like Chris Emter of Livingston made the throwing events very tough on the HHS competitors. Emter won the discus and the shot put for the Rangers, and made it look easy, especially with a new Central A record throw of 59-3 in the shot put. But Ryne Antley stepped up and placed fourth in the javelin, earning a personal best of 159-11. Kade Rismon also didn’t disappoint, placing sixth in the javelin (138-7) and the discus (121-2), while also placing third in the shot put with a throw of 43-10.

The top five in each event advance to the Class A state track meet Friday and Saturday in Butte.

BOYS

Team scores - Belgrade 204, Lewistown 135, Havre 70, Livingston 63, Browning 53.

400 - Brock Butcher, Lew, 50.95; Trysten Bousquet, Bel, 52.25; Emmitte DustyBull, Bro, 52.65; Jaden Bryant, Bel, 52.89; Ryan McKinney, Lew, 53.03; Nate Rismon, Hav, 53.79.

1,600 - Jonathan Eastwood, Bel, 4:31.29; Ryan McKinney, Lew, 4:42.35; Emmitte DustyBull, Bro, 4:45.75; Brady Stone, Bro, 4:49.87; Jonathan Fuller, Bel, 4:54.45; Kale Kelsey, Lew, 4:55.48.

110 hurdles - James Derheim, Lew, 16.35; Jacob Grinwis, Bel, 16.53; Joseph Bremmer, Bro, 16.73; Haiden Collins, Lew, 16.89; Daniel Tanascu, Bel, 16.94; David Otto, Bel, 17.42.

Shot put - Chris Emter, Liv, 59-3; Derek Marks, Bel, 44-3; Kade Rismon, Hav, 43-10; Avery Whelan, Bel, 42-8; Jace Conway, Bro, 41-9; Collin Hartford, Lew, 41-8.

Javelin - Derek Marks, Bel, 182-8; Collin Hartford, Lew, 169-1; Travis Ross, Bel, 166-11; Ryne Antley, Hav, 159-11; Scott Olson, Lew, 139-4; Kade Rismon, Hav, 138-7.

Long jump - Brock Butcher, Lew, 21-13/4; Brandon Stubbs, Bel, 20-91/4; Morgan Eitel, Bel, 19-1/4; Nate Rismon, Hav, 18-111/2; Kaden Richards, Bel, 18-11; Erick Pakas, Bro, 18-6.

Pole vault - Thomas Gruber, Hav, 13-6; Gunnar Aageson, Hav, 12-6; Cade Mcomber, Liv, 11-6; Dalton Farra, Lew, 11-6; Nate Rismon, Hav, 10-6; Eric Knox, Lew, 9-6.

100 - Brock Butcher, Lew, 11.32; Wylie Demin, Liv, 11.52; Morgan Eitel, Bel, 11.87; Ryan Marks, Liv, 11.87; Mike Loftus, Hav, 11.91; Dalton Farra, Lew, 11.99.

200 - Brock Butcher, Lew, 22.70; Wylie Demin, Liv, 23.38; Mike Loftus, Hav, 23.50; Nate Rismon, Hav, 23.75; Trysten Bousquet, bel, 23.88; Ethan Blythe, Lew, 24.05.

800 - Emmitte Dusty Bull, Bro, 1:57.24; Jonathan Eastwood, Bel, 1:57.64; Ryan McKinney, Lew, 2:00.04; Trysten Bousquet, Bel, 2:03.66; Ty Parsons, Lew, 2:04.95; Dallas Shaw, Bel, 2:11.27.

3,200 - Jonathan Eastwood, Bel, 10:20.69; Brady Stone, Bro, 10:29.85; Devin Nelson, Liv, 10:50.15; Kyle McLaughlin, Bel, 10:55.37; Jonathan Fuller, Bel, 10:56.21; Kale Kelsey, Lew, 10:57.17.

300 hurdles - Jacob Grinwis, Bel, 42.14; Haiden Collins, Lew, 42.39; David Otto, Bel, 43.19; James Derheim, Lew, 43.24; Joseph Bremner, Bro, 44.55; Daniel Tanasco, Bel, 45.39.

400 relay - Havre (Thomas Gruber, Kade Rismon, Johnathon Faber, Mike Loftus) 45.62; Lewistown 45.76; Livingston 46.15; Belgrade 47.56; Browning 49.56.

1,600 relay - Belgrade (Trysten Bousquet, Jaden Bryant, Jonathan Eastwood, Brandon Stubbs) 3:37.68; Lewistown 3:42.19; Browning 3:47.93; Livingston 3:50.03; Havre 3:52.68.

High jump - Morgan Eitel, Bel, 5-10; Chase Waddell, Bel, 5-10; Aiden Stansburry, Lew, 5-8; Nick Keller, Hav, 5-8; Brandon Stubbs, Bel, 5-8; Johnathon Faber, Hav, 5-8

Triple jump - Brandon Stubbs, Bel, 40-1; Brayden Konkol, Bel, 39-2 3/4; Morgan Eitel, Bel, 39-1 1/2; Nate Rismon, Hav, 38-6 1/2; Eric Knox, Lew, 38-5 1/2; Dylan Sipe, Lew, 37-4.

Discus - Chris Emter, Liv, 152-0; Derek Marks, Bel, 143-10; Tyson Bristol, Lew, 132-2; Avery Whelan, Bel, 131-11; Jakob Plagenz, Lew, 127-11; Kade Rismon, Hav, 121-2.