Pony XC teams head to Cut Bank

A couple years ago, Josh Holt took over as head coach of the Havre High cross country team with the idea that both Blue Pony teams could compete with the best Class A has to offer. At this point, there is still a ways to go to reach that goal, but so far, both teams seem headed in that direction.

Neither Havre cross country team managed to finish in the top 10 at the Class A state meet a season ago but with all the varsity runners returning for the boys squad and a majority also back for the girls, each team will be looking to take a big step forward. And today, the Havre High runners on both teams will test themselves for the first time at the Cut Bank Time Trials. The action will get underway at 3:20 p.m.

"Ultimately, I would hope that we could end up in the top 5 at state," Holt said. "That would be coming off years of finishing in 12th or 13th place. I think we have two teams that can do amazing things this year, I think we will be able to sneak in there and surprise some people."

Last season, both the boys and the girls teams finished in similar fashion at the state meet, as both teams ended up 11th. However, the girls team had the top overall performer in freshman Kadia Miller, who finished 19th at state, falling just short of earning All-State honors.

"I think that Kadia is going to get All State this season," Holt said. "After her freshman year, I think she has improved. She has worked really hard and she knows the courses. She ran really well on the course state will be on this year, so I expect her to have a really great season."

While Miller was 19th, the next best finisher for the Havre girls was Kaylee Nystrom, who was 39th. She will also be back on the team along with Amelia Miller, Melanie Jones and Lily Tally.

"What Kaylee was able to do last season was really kind of unheard of," Holt said. "She grew in leaps and bounds over the course of the season and she ended up being our second best runner at state. She definitely has the talent and the growth that she had over the season was really incredible."

Holt said he expects both Amelia Miller and Kaylee Nystrom to improve even more this season and said all they should have strong individual seasons along with Kadia Miller. Yet, Holt will still have two openings on his varsity roster that will need to be filled by a crop of candidates that includes Grace Loftus, Ireland Coyne, Madi Shennum, Natalie Verploegen Ryen Olson, Rhoda Peterson and Tamera O'Leary.

The Havre boys, on the other hand, have all their varsity runners back from a season ago, including Austin Jones, who was the top finisher at state (27th). Jakob Keller, Trevor Williams, Quinn Reno, Barrett Kilgore, Cameron Pleninger and Noah Azure are the returners for HHS. The rest of the boys roster includes Alex Azure, Andrew VandenBos, Austin Delarosa, Dylan Young, Garrett Parsons, Kendall Pleninger, Riley Kilgore and Torek Swenson.

"Right now we have a pretty good idea of who our varsity runners are," Holt said. "But we will use the time trial in Cut Bank for the basis of that too and we will also adjust things down the road if we need to for things like consistency."

Havre opens the season today the Cut Bank time trials and will then compete in Malta (Sept. 9) and Lewistown (Sept. 15).