Ponies improve at state

Neither Havre High cross country team walked away from the Class A state meet with any hardware, but even so, both Blue Pony teams had plenty to be happy about.

The Havre girls capped a solid season with a sixth-place finish at Saturday's state meet in Helena, a dramatic improvement from its 11th-place showing in 2016. Kadia Miller was the top individual performer for HHS earning All-State honors in Class A for Havre, which had two runners finish in the top 20. Beatrix Frissell of Polson won the individual state championship with a time of (19:15). Hardin won the team trophy, followed by Corvallis and Polson, which tied for second.

The HHS boys also improved their finish, tying for ninth after finishing 11th last season. The Pony boys got a 10th-place finish from Austin Jones, who joined Miller in earning All-State honors and had two in the top 20. Levy Taylor of Laurel was in the individual state champion from Class A after running the course in 16:29. Corvallis won the team title, followed by Frenchtown in second and Columbia Falls in third.

Miller was the top finisher at state for the Pony girls for the second straight year. She got 12th after a time of 20:33.

"She ran a fantastic race," HHS head coach Josh Holt said of Miller. "She came out really strong and held on to finish in that top 15. Looking at her time, 20:33, was a decent time on that course. She dropped about 25 seconds off her time from the 7-on-7, so I couldn't be more pleased with her performance. She ran strong, and we are already looking at next year and how we can improve."

Senior Kaylee Nystrom was 20th for the Ponies, with a time of 21:06 and Tamera O'Leary finished 32nd (21:51). Lilly Taly finished 67th and ran the course in 23:13. Amelia Miller was 78th (23:41), while Madison Shennum (114, 25:40) and Melanie Jones (128, 27:13) were the other varsity runners for HHS.

"Kaylee Nystrom, to come out and throw down a 21:06, that just in her second year running distance, that was fantastic," Holt said. "And then having a freshman, Tamera O'Leary run a 21:51, she dropped more than two and a half minutes off her time alone. They girls went out and competed. They ran their hearts out. We were 11th last year and to come away with sixth place, that's amazing. If you would have asked me on Thursday, I would have thought 10th or 11th, so it was great for the girls. They worked hard and they deserved it."

For the Pony boys, Jones led the way, earning All-State honors in his final race for Havre High. He finished 29th a season ago.

"For four years he has been struggling to make that top 15," Holt said. "He was close a few times, he just couldn't crack it. We adjusted his training and got him where he needed to be. But mostly, it was him believing he could do it. Some kids kind of broke off and he just hung in there. I think at one point he was in 12th or 13th place and in that last stretch, he just did what he had to do to get in the top 10."

Jones ran a 17:18. Junior Jakob Keller was 19th for the Havre boys with a time of 17:42. Quinn Reno was 54th (18:26) for the Havre boys, followed by Trevor Williams in 55th (18:27) and Noah Azure, who was 78th (18:50), Cameron Pleninger was 79th (18:51) and Barrett Kilgore was 89th (19:04).

"Jakob Keller was also really strong," Holt said. "He was four spots from being all state. They all ran really well. You see we finished tied with Belgrade, we were one point behind Hamilton, so it could have went either way, moving up one spot here or there. We could have been in seventh place. But they finished 11th last year and 10th this year. We have improved every single year and that is what we are looking for. It was a great weekend."

Havre girls - 12. Kadia Miller. 20:33; 20. Kaylee Nystrom, 21:06; 32. Tamera O'Leary, 21:51: 67. Lilly Taly, 23:13; 78. Amelia Miller, 23:41; 114. Madison Shennum, 25:40; 128. Melanie Jones, 27:13.

Havre boys - 10. Austin Jones, 17:18; 29. Jakob Keller, 17:42; 54. Quinn Reno, 18:26; 55. Trevor Williams, 18:27; 78. Noah Azure, 18:50; 79. Cameron Pleninger, 18:51; 89. Barrett Kilgore, 19:04.

State A Cross Country Results

CLASS A

BOYS

Team scores -- 1 Corvallis 109. 2 Frenchtown-Alberton 133, 3 Columbia Falls 144, 4 Fergus 152, 5 Hardin 195, 6 Polson 196, 7 Laurel 205, 8 Hamilton 215, 9 Belgrade 216, 10 Havre 216, 11 Browning 243, 12 Whitefish 280, 13 Ronan 310, 14 Park 336, 15 Beaverhead County 383, 16 Dawson County 394, 17 Billings Central 482, 18 Sidney 529, 19 Custer County 529, 20 Libby 602, 21 Stevensville 652. NS - Butte Central

Top 25

1 Levi Taylor, Laurel, 16:29.85; 2 Matt Wilson, Hamilton, 16:34.72; 3 Anders Watt, Corvallis, 16:40.16; 4 Gabe Knudsen, Columbia Falls, 16:42.41; 5 Noah Majerus, Fergus, 16:51.94; 6 Sam Fulbright, Fergus, 16:59.07; 7 Quin Stewart, Polson, 17:11.22; 8 Tyler Schmautz, Frenchtown-Alberton, 17:12.82; 9 James Normandeau, Ronan, 17:17.70; 10 Austin Jones, Havre, 17:18.69; 11 Joe Lamb, Columbia Falls, 17:18.83; 12 Luke Lutz, Frenchtown-Alberton, 17:19.17; 13 Jake Jessop, Corvallis, 17:19.75; 14 Brock Rugg, Frenchtown-Alberton,17:20.04; 15 Tate Thompson, Billings Central, 17:20.37; 16 Trajan Hill, Hardin, 17:31.82; 17 Grant Martin, Corvallis, 11:086:2717:35.54; 18 Ase Ackerman, Dawson County, 17:38.77; 19 Jakob Keller, Havre, 17:42.12; 20 Conor Pierson, Park, 17:42.87; 21 David Prather, Hardin, 17:44.78; 22 Jackson Thorn, Belgrade, 17:47.32; 23 Rigby Poulsen, Hamilton, 17:47.68; 24 Ryker Melton, Fergus, 17:49.51; 25 Connor Fink, Sidney, 17:52.24.

GIRLS

Team scores -- 1 Hardin 68, 2 Corvallis 101, 3, Polson 101, 4 Whitefish 115, 5 Beaverhead County 192, 6 Havre 209, 7 Hamilton 232, 8 Frenchtown-Alberton 256, 9 Fergus 260, 10 Laurel 264, 11 Custer County 301, 12 Columbia Falls 321, 13 Belgrade 324, 14 Libby 391, 15 Park 391, 16 Browning 421, 17 Sidney 439, 18 Dawson County 455. NS -- Billings Central, Butte Central, Ronan, Stevensville.

Top 25

1 Beatrix Frissell, Polson, 19:15.82; 2 Lyric Devries, Hamilton, 19:39.80; 3 Naima Crowl, Polson, 19:51.81; 4 Emily Kuehn, Dawson County, 19:55.77; 5 Morgan Vosler,Custer County, 20:01.34; 6 Brynnli Poulsen, Hamilton, 20:05.54; 7 Grace Timm, Laurel, 20:06.03; 8 Ella Greenberg, Whitefish, 20:10.34; 9 Sydney Little Light, Hardin, 20:14.96; 10 Khylah Two Leggins, Hardin, 20:23.26; 11Kailee McCready, Corvallis, 20:30.28; 12 Kadia Miller, Havre, 20:33.32; 13 Lilli Day, Corvallis, 20:36.66; 14 Molly Sitter, Polson, 20:40.12; 15 Libby Nedens, Hardin, 20:42.58; 16 Journey Erickson, Hardin, 20:45.59; 17 Lizzy Mattson, Frenchtown-Alberton, 20:49.88; 18 Charlie Bellrock, Hardin, 20:56.70; 19 Jessica Henson, Whitefish, 21:06.32; 20 Kaylee Nystrom, Havre, 21:06.95; 21 Larissa Saarel, Park, 21:08.55; 22 Lindsey Brooks, Ronan, 21:12.05; 23 Kara Wissenbach, Corvallis, 21:13.56; 24 Albany Jessop, Corvallis, 21:20.35; 25 Braya Hobson, Whitefish, 21:27.88.