Blue Pony runners race hard at Mountain West Classic

The Havre High cross country teams may not have placed highly at last Saturday's Mountain West Classic in Missoula, but that doesn't change the fact that they got better. After all, they faced the most difficult competition they will face all season and they will only be better in the long run because of it.

The meet, which welcomes schools from across the Northwest, is arguably the most prestigious meet in the state of Montana and it did not disappoint Saturday at its usual location at the University of Montana Golf Course.

When the race was over on the boys side of things, it was the Bozeman Hawks that came away with first-place, followed by a couple of Idaho schools. The Blue Pony boys finished a distant 48th place.

In the girls competition, Bozeman made sure to make it a clean sweep as the Hawks again came away with the team title, which capped off an impressive performance. Billings Senior took home a second-place finish in the meet, followed by Missoula Hellgate, which finished third. The HHS girls ended up finishing 48th.

Yet, even though the Ponies didn't place highly as a team, there were some solid individual performances, highlighted by Rachel David. The senior who finished just outside the top 100 in the meet a season ago, broke that barrier this time around, finishing 97th after posting a time of 21:16. Nicole Parsons was the next best runner for the Havre girls, coming in 268th with a time of 24:24. Rainey Stoner came in 271st with a time of 24:28 and rounding things out for the Pony girls were Hanna Lunak, who was 296th with a time of 25:22, Meggie Zook, who was 302nd with a time of 25:34, Amelia Miller, who finished 303rd with a time of 25:36 and Marca Herron, who was 314th with a time of 26:22.

The Havre boys did not have any runners finish as highly as the girls team did, but Austin Jones still put together a solid performance to lead the way for Havre as he finished 199th overall with a time of 18:18. Freshman Jakob Keller had a good day considering his youth and posted a time of 18:46. Fellow first-year cross country runner Lane Paulson, who is also a freshman, also performed admirably for HHS as he finished 283rd with a time of 19:14.

The next best finisher for Havre was Brock Ross, who ended up in 303rd place with a time of 19:30. Bobby O'Leary was 314th with a time of 19:40, Cameron Knapton was 334th with a time of 20:11 and Barrett Kilgore was 360th with a time of 20:52.

The Ponies will not have much time to rest after competing in Missoula over the weekend, as both teams will head to Browning tonight to compete in another meet, which will start at 4:30.

Mountain West Classic

University of Montana Golf Course, Missoula

Saturday

Boys

Top Team results: 1, Bozeman 99; 2, Ferris 142; Lewis & Clark 149; 4, Billings Senior 170; 5, University 203; 6, Mead 216; 7, Hellgate 243; 8, Gonzaga Prep 251; 9, Flathead 294; 10, Glacier Peak 319; 11, Hillcrest 411; 12, Idaho Falls 431; 13, Corvallis 433; 14, Cody 483; 15, CMR 485; 16, Manhattan 518; 17, Sentinel 532; 18, Billings West 585; 19, Billings Skyview 587; 20, Glacier 589.

Havre Boys

199. Austin Jones, 18:18; 243. Jakob Keller, 18:46; 283. Lane Paulson, 19:14; 303. Brock Ross, 19:30; Bobby O'leary, 19:40; 334. Cameron Knapton, 20:11; 350. Barrett Kilgore, 20:52.

Girls

Top Team results: 1, Bozeman 84; 2, Billings Senior 91; 3, Hellgate 104; Lewis & Clark 192; 5, Flathead 197; 6, Mead 231; 7, Sentinel 269; 8, Idaho Falls 288; 9, Glacier 317; 10, Glacier Peak 356; 11, Helena 425; 12, Hillcrest 426; 13, Cody 443; 14, Billings West 502; 15, University 524; 16, Corvallis 536; 17, Ferris 538; 18, Moscow 606; 19, Helena Capital 623; 20, Great Falls 627.

Havre Girls

97. Rachel David, 21:16; 268. Nicole Parsons, 24:24; 271. Rainey Stoner, 24:28; 296. Hannah Lunak 25:22; 302. Meggie Zook, 25:34; 303. Amelia Miller, 25:36; 314. Marca Herron, 26:22.