HHS harriers get early state preview

The Havre High cross country teams are a little less than a month away from running at the Class A state meet. But last Friday, both Blue Pony teams got a preview of the course they will eventually run at state next month.

The Ponies, who competed at the Great Falls Invitational at the Eagle Falls Golf Course in Great Falls, saw both teams finish well back in the team competition despite some impressive performances from HHS runners on both the boys and girls teams.

Rachel David, who is a senior this year for Havre, continued her solid 2015 campaign by finishing 64th in a meet that featured not only a number of Class A schools, but a number of Class AA schools as well.

"All the kids ran very well," HHS head coach Josh Holt said. "The course was warm, the temps were in the mid-90s. It was really good for the kids to get the chance to run on the same course that state will be run on. It gives the kids a good idea of what they need to work on in the coming weeks leading to state."

David, who finished in the Top-100 a week ago at the Mountain West Classic, had another strong showing as she ran the course in 22:20 to wind up finishing 64th, which was by far the best finish by any Havre runner.

After David, the Ponies had Rainey Stoner, who finished 114th with a time of 24:50 and Nicole Parsons, who was 116th with a time of 25:00. Freshmen Hannah Lunak continued her solid start to her first season on the team by finishing in 123rd place with a time of 25:52. Meggie Zook also performed admirably with a time of 26:14, which was good enough to finish 124th. Marca Herron finished 126th with a time of 26:59 and Amelia Miller was 127th with a time of 27:31.

On the boys side of things, Havre had three runners finish among the Top-100 runners at the meet, including Austin Jones, who has been the Ponies' best runner all season long. Jones ended up finishing 90th thanks to a time of 18:48. Jakob Keller, a freshmen, has made some waves in the program with his above-average performance. And Friday in Great Falls, it was more of the same as he notched a 97th-place finish thanks to a time of 19:04. Bobby O'Leary also had a solid day with a time of 19:04, which put him in 98th place.

Lane Paulson, another strong freshman, who has had a great start to the 2015 season, also ran well Friday, winding up in 112th. He ended the meet with a time of 19:29. Rounding things out for Havre, was Brock Ross, who finished 125th with a time of 20:24, Barrett Kilgore, who was 129th with a time of 20:58 and Cameron Knapton with a time of 21:08.

"Rachel David, Austin Jones and Jakob Keller had great performances," Holt said. "On the JV team, Luke Karnauskas had an outstanding performance. I was really surprised with his run. We are looking forward to competing at home next weekend. It will be nice to have a weekend without traveling."

Both Havre teams will finally have a chance to run in front of their hometown fans this Saturday, when they host the Havre Invitational. The meet will start at 10 a.m., and will be held on the campus at Montana State University-Northern.

Great Falls Invitational

Large-school Boys

Team scores: 1. Missoula Hellgate 57, 2. Billings Senior 60, 3. Kalispell Flathead 119, 4. Helena 157, 5. Missoula Sentinel 172, 6. Great Falls CMR 186, 7. Kalispell Glacier 194, 8. Billings West 233, 8. Corvallis 233, 10. Billings Skyview 245, 11. Hardin 263, 12. Great Falls 275, 13. Lewistown 344, 14. Belgrade 376, 15. Helena Capital 413, 16. Butte 432, 17. Browning 436, 18. Dillon 470, 19. Missoula Big Sky 519, 20. Havre, 522;

Top 15 individuals: Marshall Beatty, Sentinel, 15:18.84; Aidan Reed, Helena, 15:36.14; Jake Perrin, Flathead, 16:02.2; Peder Rickbeil, Billings Senior, 16:06.42; Carter Gall, Billings Senior, 16:13.11; Ronald Venema, Corv, 16:25.39; Peter Kirgis, Hellgate, 16:26.63; Preston Novak, Hellgate, 16:27.87; Isaac Schmidt, Hellgate, 16:28.09; Collin Buck, CMR, 16:29.38; Tevyn Stetson, Glacier, 16:29.55; Morris Wecker, Hellgate, 16:33.61; Kyle McLaughlin, Belg, 16:36.58; Cooper West, CMR, 16:37.69; Dawson Larance, Billings Senior, 16:44.42.

Large-school Girls

Team scores: 1. Billings Senior 45, 2. Hellgate 70, 3, Flathead 88, 4. Glacier 131, 5. Sentinel 132, 6. Billings West 184, 7. Helena 195, 8. Corvallis 225, 9. CMR 255, 10. Helena Capital 288, 11. Big Sky 313, 12. Great Falls 339, 13. Hardin 365, 14. Dillon 381, 15. Butte 424, 16. Lewistown 426, 17. Billings Skyview 429, 18. Browning 481, 19. Havre, 539.

Top 15 individuals: Annie Hill, Glacier, 17:08.67; Christina Aragon, Billings Senior, 17:29.35; Tiahna Vladic, Billings Senior, 17:53.92; Ella DeGrandpre, Hellgate, 18:20; Kaitlin Wride, Flathead, 18:26.42; Nicole Bouma, Flathead, 19:04.16; Ellen Brooks, Sentinel, 19:06.92; Gillian Maness, Flathead, 19:09.14; Miranda Foster, Hellgate, 19:13.02; Bailey Smith, Glacier, 19:19.48; Molly MacDonald, Sentinel, 19:22.35; Courtney Hutton, Billings Senior, 19:27.54; Jade Hallgrimson, Billings Senior, 19:28.11; Wren Cilimburg, Hellgate, 19:31.55; Elena Borges, Billings Senior.

Havre Girls - 64. Rachel David, 22:20; 114. Rainey Stoner, 24:50; 116. Nicole Parsons, 25:00; 123. Hannah Lunak, 25:52. 124. Meggie Zook, 26:14; 126. Marca Herron, 127. Amelia Miller, 27:31.

Havre Boys - 90. Austin Jones, 18:48; 97. Jakob Keller, 19:04; 98. Bobby O'Leary, 19:05; 112. Lane Paulson, 19:29; 129. Brock Ross, 20:24; 129. Barrett Kilgore, 20:58; 130. Cameron Knapton, 21:08.