Havre High harriers finish strong

Chris Peterson

Havre Daily News

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All season long, both Havre High cross country teams have had one goal: to get better. And this past Saturday, at the Class A state meet, both teams managed to perform better than they did a season ago.

Last season, both Blue Pony teams took 12th at the state meet. This year, in Kalispell, both teams finished 11th and according to head coach Josh Holt, the Ponies improved across the board. Frenchtown won the boys championship, while Hardin took home the top spot among the girls.

“I think we set out to do better than we did last year and we did that,” Holt said. “There were some kids that maybe could have done a little better. But it was a fast course and I think that made a difference, but overall, I was very pleased.”

While Havre senior Austin Jones didn’t make the top 15 as he had hoped, he was still the top overall finisher for the Pony boys and came in 27th, thanks to a time of 16:49. Jakob Keller, another consistent performer for Havre this season, was 47th (17:32). The third top-50 finisher for Havre was Trevor Williams (48th) with a time of 17:45. The other runners for Havre included Quinn Reno (61, 17:50), Barrett Kilgore (91, 18:33), Noah Azure (103, 19:06) and Cameron Pleninger (117, 20:21).

“I thought that the boys did well,” Holt said. “The competition was really tough and the course was fast. But Austin and Jakob both ran really well. I thought that both of them did about the best that they could.”

As far as the girls team went, Kadia Miller had another strong showing to cap off a stellar freshman season. Yet, she fell short of earning All-State honors by just four spots, as she finished 19th after posting a time of 19:59.

Outside of Miller, the next best finisher for Havre was Kaylee Nystrom, who finished the course in a time of 20:53 to finish 39th. Nicole Parsons (65th) ran a time of 21:47 and Amelia Miller, who finished 76th, ended up with a time of 22:08. Rounding things out for Havre was Melanie Jones (94th, 22:51) and Lilly Taly, who finished 108th after a time of 24:08.

“Kadia had a tremendous season,” Holt said. “I thought that the girls worked really hard and I was really happy with their effort.”

Holt said that while he was pleased with the season, he wants to continue to improve, which will require putting in more work than in previous years.

“I think that if really want to take the next step forward, we need to put together a year-round program,” Holt said. “I thought that we did some good things, and I thought that we ran faster and were more competitive this season, but if we want to run with some of these teams, we will need to work really hard and get a program going in the offseason.”

CLASS A

Boys

Team Scores — Frenchtown 66, Corvallis 72, Fergus (Lewistown) 102, Laurel 146, Belgrade 148, Columbia Falls 189, Hardin 217, Hamilton 245, Polson 269, Whitefish 273, Havre 283, Dawson County (Glendive) 307, Beaverhead County (Dillon) 326, Browning 358, Sidney 399, Custer County (Miles City) 425, Park (Livingston) 431, Billings Central 491.

Havre boys — 27. Austin Jones, Havre, 16:49.6; 47. Jakob Keller, Havre, 17:32.0; 48. Trevor Williams, Havre, 61. Quinn Reno, Havre, 17:50.0; 91. Barrett Kilgore, Havre, 18:33.1; 103. Noah Azure, Havre, 19:06.2; 117. Cameron Pleninger, Havre, 20:21.1; 118.

Girls

Team Scores — Hardin 91, Whitefish 97, Corvallis 115, Columbia Falls 138, Polson 152, Belgrade 198, Hamilton 222, Beaverhead County (Dillon) 251, Fergus (Lewistown) 272, Dawson County (Glendive) 285, Havre 292, Browning 309, Frenchtown 326, Laurel 352, Custer County (Miles City) 367, Stevensville 385, Sidney 425, Billings Central 559.

Havre girls — 19, Kadia Miller, Havre, 19:59.5; 20; 39. Kaylee Nystrom, Havre, 20:53.7; 65, Nicole Parsons, Havre, 21:47.9; 75, Amelia Miller, Havre, 22:08.7; 94. Melanie Jones, Havre, 22:51.5; 108, Lilly Taly, Havre, 24:08.9.