Homecoming Race: HHS harriers shine

The sun may not have been shining for the Havre Invitational Saturday, but the overcast conditions provided the perfect environment for what ended up being a near-perfect day for the Blue Pony cross country teams.

While the Ponies weren’t able to sweep the team titles as they had hoped to do, the girls team won the meet for the second straight year and the Havre boys team managed a respectable third-place finish.

The highlight of the meet, which was held on the campus of Montana State University-Northern, was junior Kadia Miller winning the girls individual title for the second straight year. She ran the course in 26:21.

“It feels great (to repeat),” Miller said. “We have been putting in a lot of work. We have been running this course a lot, so it’s nice to see some results. I kind of wanted a better time. I had a better time my freshman year but it will come.”

Havre High head coach Josh Holt said after the race he was pleased with what he saw from his top runner.

“It’s always good to see Kadia come out and perform,” Holt said. “I am always happy about that. She ran the race that she needed to and she ran the race that she wanted to.”

Miller was joined in the top three by sophomore Tamera O’Leary, who earned a medal after posting a time of 22:26. The other medalist for Havre was Hannah Haslem, who managed seventh after running 23:06. Grace Loftus also put forth a strong outing, finishing 14th (24:03) and rounding things out for the Havre girls were Lilly Taly (15, 24:06) and Aliviah Pratt (20, 24:25).

In the boys meet, Sam Fulbright of Lewistown took home the top individual spot with a time of 17:06. He helped lead Lewistown to the team title as well. The Eagles won with a score of 28 points. Glasgow was second with 43 and Havre was third with 65.

The Havre boys may not have won the meet, but the Ponies weren’t without impressive performances such as Jakob Keller’s time of 18:13, which was good enough to get him fifth place.

“I felt good, I did better than I thought I would do,” Keller said. “I was hoping to get under 18 (minutes) but my main goal was to try and separate Lewistown. It was rough. There are a lot hills.”

The meet was the final Havre Invitational for Keller, a senior.

“It was sad,” he said. “I am going to miss it.”

Keller was the only top-10 finisher for the Ponies, but a number of Havre runners came close to hitting that mark. Dylan Young was the second runner in for HHS and he finished 12th with a time of 18:39. Junior Cameron Pleninger wound up 14th for the Ponies after running the course in 18:56 and senior Noah Azure also had a solid finish, ending up 16th with a time of 19:06. Sidney Moffitt also ran for the Ponies and finished 29th (20:04), along with Sergio Tamayo, who was 34th (20:42) and Joshua Williams, who ended up 39th (21:09).

“I am very happy with the results today,” Holt said. “Our girls performed really well and our boys, they showed up and ran today. They competed hard and it was a tough course. It’s not as easy as people think, there are some tough hills. But it was a great day, the weather was a little cloudy and about 50 degrees. All our kids ran well. I thought it all went really well.”

Both Havre teams will be on the road to Missoula this Saturday to take part in the prestigious Mountain West Classic.

Havre Invitational

Boys

Team scores :Lewistown 28, Glasgow 43, Havre 65, Browning 94, Cut Bank 143.

Individuals - 1. Sam Fulbright, LEW, 17:06; 2. Wilson Overby, GLA, 17:27; 3. Ike Braaten, GLA, 17:35; 4. Ryker Melton, LEW, 17:38; 5. Jakob Keller, HAV, 18:13; 6. Chance Miller, LEW, 18:22; 7. Ellis McKean, GLA, 18:34; 8. Logan Wisenbaugh, LEW, 18:28; 9. Bradley Vaughn, LEW, 18:31; 10. Merlin McKean, GLA, 18:34; 11. Brad Cichosz, HAR, 18:37; 12. Dylan Young, HAV, 18:39; 13. Robbie Giko, BELT, 18:55; 14. Cameron Pleninger, HAV, 18:56; 15. Troy Parsons, LEW, 16. Noah Azure, HAV,19:06; 17. Daniel Lawrence, HAR, 19:17; 18. Justin Bird, BRO, 19:24; 19. Chris Reevis, BRO, 19:35; 20. Iverson Many Guns, CB, 19:36.

Havre boys - 5. Jakob Keler, 18:13; 12. Dylan Young, 18:39; 14. Cameron Pleninger, 18:56; 16. Noah Azure,19:06; 29. Sidney Moffitt, 20:04; 34. Sergio Tamayo. 20:42; 39. Joshua Williams, 21:09.

Havre JV boys - 11. Kendall Pleninger, 20:56; 12. Riley Pleninger, 21:02; 15. Ethan Durward, 21:!6; 18. Christian Mathis, 21:42; 22. Torek Swenson, 22:00; 23. Garrett Parsons, 22:11; 27. Nicolas Nelson, 22:42.

Girls

Team scores - Havre 36, Glasgow 41, Lewistown 90, Centerville 97, Browning 129, Cut Bank 143, Malta 153.

Individuals - 1, Kadia Miller, HAV, 21:26; 2. Iris McKean, GLA, 21:39; 3. Tamera O'Leary, HAV, 22:26; Chasin Kipp, BRO, 22:46; 5. Emily Kolstad, GLA, 22:51; 6. Lindsey Paulson, 23:04; 7. Hannah Haslem, HAV, 23:06; 8. Shaylyn Dilley, 23:08; 9. Lauren Padden, GLA, 23:15; 10. Carly Parsell, SHE, 23:18; 11. Ashley Brand, 23:26; 12. Ali Cunningham, 23:29; 13. L'Tia Lawrence, HAR, 23:38; 14. Grace Loftus,HAV, 24:03; 15. Lilly Taly, HAV, 24:06; 16. Alaina Sallee, GLA, 24:16; 17. Eve Miller, LEW, 24:17; 18. Chaslissa Kipp, BRO, 24:20; 19. Leslie Young, BRO, 24:23; 20. Aliviah Pratt, HAV, 24:25.

Havre girls - 1. Kadia Miller, 21:25; 3. Tamera O'Leary, 22:26; 7. Hannah Haslem, 23:06; 14. Grace Loftus, 24:03; 15. Lilly Taly, 24:06; 20. Alviah Pratt, 24:25.

Havre JV girls - 2. Katie Wirtzberger, 26:36; 6. Carli Ballard, 27:18; 8. Hannah Pratt, 28:16; 9. Savannah Stewert, 28:20; 15. Marissa Ratliff, 30:39.