Havre High harriers set to race in Helena

The Havre High cross country teams have just two meets left before they run for all the marbles at the Class A state meet. But, both of their remaining meets are important, starting in Helena this week for the preview meet.

The meet will take place on the same course as the Class A state meet, which is set for Oct. 25. The meet this week in Helena will get underway Thursday afternoon.

The preview meet features much of the same competition HHS will see at state and will serve as the final preparation for the Central A Divisional in Lewistown Oct. 18. It also offers a different format than most meets. There will be seven different races for both teams. Each race will feature just one Havre runner and will start with each team’s top runner and go down the line through all seven varsity runners.

“All of our kids ran their best times last week, so I am looking for them to run better times again this week,” HHS head coach Darci Heninger said. “Divisionals is only a week away, so we should be peaking at this time and everyone should be running their best times.”

The Havre girls continue to be paced by their top runner, Rachel David, who is coming off of a third-place finish at last Saturday’s Havre Invitational.

“Rachel had an amazing race (at the Havre Invitational),” Heninger said. “That girl ran her butt off.”

Morgan Mazurkiewicz, one of the Pony girls other top runners was unable to finish the race in Havre and may not be able to compete this week in Helena. If she is unable to go, Brooke LaValley will fill her spot.

The rest of the varsity roster for the HHS girls in Helena will include, Tori Mazurkiewicz, Maya Reed, Marca Herron, Rainey Stoner and Meggie Zook.

The HHS boys will have a steeper climb than the girls to try and place high at divisionals or state simply due to the high level of competition around them. But, Brandon Robertson has been running really well in recent weeks and he will lead the boys into action in Helena.

Robertson comes into the preview meet fresh off his best performance of the season, finishing fifth at the Havre Invitational.

“Brandon did a really good job, He ran really hard,” Heninger said. “It was his day.”

Other runners who will compete for the Pony boys in Helena are Sundance Lodge, Jamie Lieberg, Cameron Knapton, Austin Jones, Ryan Stewart and Dylan Stewart.

Another important part of the preview meet is getting a chance to run the same course that the Havre runners will have to navigate at state. That may be just as important as going head-to-head with the competition.

“It’s a tough course; there are lots of hills,” Heninger said. “We will be back in two weeks. But (this week) I am looking forward to some better times and seeing where we are at teamwise. There will be a lot of good runners competing.”

After competing at the preview meet in Helena, the Ponies will have nine days off before the Central A meet in Lewistown Oct. 18 with the Class A state meet to follow a week later Oct. 25.