Ponies strive for track gold in Laurel

It’s been an exciting and rewarding track season for both the Havre High boys and girls track teams. But as fun as it’s been, it’s not over yet as both Blue Pony track teams will get one last chance to shine at the Class A state meet.

This year, all the teams that qualified athletes from Class A and Class C will converge on Laurel, which will host the Class A and C state meets this year. The action gets underway today and continue through Saturday.

“It’s going to be tough for a lot of our kids to try and go down there and place,” HHS head coach John Ita said. “If you look at things, you can see there are a lot of great teams and athletes that will be competing. But, you can never rule anything out and we have some kids that are really competitive so you never know. But, the experience you get by competing at state is huge and that is something that will be huge for a lot of these freshman boys and girls.”

As far as the boys team is concerned, Nate Rismon has the best chance of scoring points for Havre and finding himself on the podium as he will compete in the 200-meter dash, the 400, the pole vault and both the 400- and 1,600-meter relays. The junior has been the most consistent athlete for the Havre boys all season long and has routinely placed in both the 200 and the 400.

“I think that Nate will have a good chance to score some points for us,” Ita said. “Especially in the 200. In the 400, there are some very good runners, so it will be more difficult but he is capable of doing it.”

The lone senior making the trip to Laurel for the Pony boys is Gunnar Aageson, who will compete in the pole vault and the 400-meter relay. He also has a chance to place, as does his younger brother Ivar Aageson, who will also participate in the pole vault and high jump, as well as the 1,600 relay.

“Both Ivar and Gunnar will have a chance in the pole vault,” Ita said. “They are going to have to get to 12-6, which Gunnar has only done once this year. But, they are both competitive kids, so I wouldn’t count them out.”

The other Havre boys who qualified for state include Richard Belcourt, who will be in the high jump, the long jump and the short relay, Nick Keller, who will compete in the high jump, Jacob LaBrie, who will run the 400 and the long relay, as well as Zac Hunt, who qualified in the triple jump.

On the girls side, no Pony athlete will be busier at state than freshman Logan Huebsch, who has had a stellar season and qualified for state in the 100 hurdles, the 300 hurdles, the triple jump, long jump and both relay teams.

“I think the 300 hurdles will be the best chance for Logan to place,” Ita said. “But we have some other freshman girls that will get a chance to compete and even if they don’t place, it’s still a great experience for them. I have had so much fun coaching them this year and they have been so competitive that I am already looking forward to next season.”

In addition to Huebsch, another freshman who has stood out this season for the Pony girls has been Jordan Keith, who will throw in the javelin, shot put and discus. Kristen Nash will represent the Ponies in the discus and the javelin and senior Carleigh Rennick will also compete in the javelin.

Rachael David will also be busy as she will run in the 400 and the 800, as well as the 1,600 relay. Megan Erickson will join her on the long relay team as will Naomi Terry, who will run both relays and compete in the 300 hurdles.

Others who will be in action at state for the HHS girls will be Amelia Beard in the triple jump, Ireland Coyne in the 100 hurdles, Laiken Harris in the 400 relay, Kaylee Nystrom, who will be in the 400 relay as well as the pole vault and Loni Waid, who also qualified in the pole vault.

“It’s going to be tough to score a lot of points, just because we will be facing so many good athletes and good teams,” Ita said. “But it’s been a really fun year and competing at state is only going to help all of our young athletes continue to get better and better. Then we can just look to build on that in the future.”

The Havre High track teams will compete at the state meet in Laurel starting today and continuing on Saturday.

For full results from the Class A and C state meet's, see Tuesday's Havre Daily News sports pages.