Ponies ready to run in Helena

Over the past two weeks, the Havre high cross country teams have competed in two of their favorite races, the Havre Invitational and the Mountain West Classic. But this week, both Blue Pony teams will face another challenge as they get set to take part in the Helena Preview meet.

There are a few different things that make the Preview meet such an important one, but the least of which is that it will allow both teams a chance to run on the course where the Class A state meet will be held, which is Bill Roberts Golf Course. The race will take place Thursday afternoon in Helena.

"I think that the Preview meet is another one the kids are always excited about," HHS head coach Josh Holt said. "For one thing, it's good, because they get to see the course that we will run at state. So it's good for them to get that experience. But it also allows them to compete against some really top runners, which is another motivating factor for them. Both teams want to do well and neither of them wants to lose to the other. The boys want to do better than the girls and vice versa, so there is a little friendly competition to it too."

While the Havre girls didn't finish as strong in Missoula as they wanted to last week, the absence of both Kaylee Nystrom and Tamera O'Leary played a part in HHS finishing 39th. Yet this week, both runners should be back in action for the Ponies, joining Kadia Miller, who was the only Havre girls runner to finish in the top 100 at the Mountain West Class. She finished 52nd.

The other girls that will compete in the meet for the Pony girls are Amelia Miller, Lilly Taly, Rhoda Peterson and either Melanie Jones or Madison Shennum.

"Not having Kaylee and Tamera did make a big difference for us," Holt said. "They are good runners, so it will be nice to have them. But overall, it will be a good chance for us to see where we are at. We don't have long before divisionals and state, so we really need to get in that mindset."

As far as the boys are concerned, Austin Jones will lead the way again for HHS. Like Kadia Miller, he was the only runner from the boys squad to finish in the top 100 at the Mountain West Classic. He will be followed by the No. 2 runner for Havre, Jakob Keller, as well as Cameron Pleninger, Quinn Reno, Noah Azure, Trevor Williams and Barrett Kilgore.

"The boys team has done a nice job of getting its pack time down," Holt said. "They have really improved a lot since the start the year and hopefully they can keep that going these last few weeks."

Another unique thing about the Preview meet, is that there are seven individual races in both the boys and girls competitions. The No.1's run against the other No.1's, the No. 2 runners compete against the rest of the No. 2's and so on. That gives each runner a chance to see where they stack up with others in their same position.

The meet will be held Thursday afternoon in Helena at the Bill Roberts Golf Course.