HHS harriers set to run in Malta

For the first time this season, the Havre High cross country teams will compete with their varsity rosters and they will do so Saturday at the Malta Invitational.

Both Blue Pony teams opened the season at the Cut Bank Time Trials last Friday and head coach Josh Holt used that meet not only as a warmup, but as a way of finalizing his varsity rosters for the meet in Malta. The meet gets underway Saturday at 10 a.m. in Malta.

"We are going with our top seven runners from Cut Bank on both teams," Holt said. "So with our boys team, that ended up being the same guys we had at the end of last year. So I think our boys team is very strong. And our girls, we have three of our top runners back from last season in Kadia Miller, Amelia Miller and Kaylee Nystrom, so our girls team is going to be strong, too."

The Ponies will see a number of other teams from along the Hi-line in Malta, with most of them coming from Class B or Class C. While the competition will be similar, one thing that is different in cross country throughout Montana is the distance being run. Previously, cross country races were three miles and now, they are the distance of a 5K or 3.1 miles.

"It's just a little bit longer," Holt said. "The biggest reason for the change was just to make us the same as other state and the national races. So if we were to compete in a regional or national race, it would be the same."

When it comes to the girls team, Kadia Miller will still be the No. 1 runner for the Ponies, followed by seniors Kaylee Nystrom and Tamera O'Leary, who will be the No. 3 runner after a strong performance in Cut Bank. Amelia Miller, who was a strong contributor for the Havre girls last season, will be the No.4 runner, followed by Lilly Taly, Rhoda Peterson and Melanie Jones.

"Some of the girls were a little frustrated with their times," Holt said. "But they are actually right on pace, they are just running a little longer this year is all. But they have all been working really hard, so I expect to see some good times."

As far as the Havre boys are concerned, Austin Jones will be the top runner again for the Ponies this week. The other varsity runners will be Jakob Keller, Cameron Pleninger, Barrett Kilgore, Trevor Williams, Quinn Reno and Noah Azure.

"Nothing has really changed for our boys team," Holt said. "We have the same group that ran at state and they have been looking good, so I expect some really strong times from them, too. I think overall, the thing that I want to see is improvement. I want to see us getting better and improving each week."

Both Havre cross country teams will compete in Malta. The competition will get underway at 10 a.m. The Blue Ponies are only two weeks away from hosting their own Havre Invitational, set for Sept. 23.