Pony thinclads off and running in Glasgow

Despite all the crazy weather leading up to the start of spring sports, the Havre High track teams opened the season in Glasgow on time and the girls started in promising fashion with a first-place showing.

There were a number of teams from along the Hi-Line in attendance but Havre was the only Class A squad and the Pony girls took care of business, finishing first with 84 points, just ahead of second-place Glasgow, which had 75 as the host team. Circle finished third with 45, followed by Malta and Chinook with 42 to tie for fourth.

The Ponies were led by some standout individual performances led by Jessa Chvilicek, Sarah Faber, Sadie Filius and Loy Waid, who took home first-place finishes. Chvilicek won the 100-meter dash (13.85) and was followed by Waid who won the 200 (27.76). Filius, a freshman, impressed in her debut, crossing the finish line first in the 300 hurdles with a time of 50.85, while also getting second in the 100 hurdles, posting an 18.52.

“Sadie really came out and she worked hard,” HHS head coach John Ita said. “She really set the tone for those younger kids. You could just see in her face that she was working hard.”

Sarah Faber was another individual champion for Havre as she won the high jump (5-00). Yet, another area of strength for the Ponies in Glasgow was the relays, as the Pony girls won both the 1,600 and 400-meter events.

Grace Loftus, Katie Wirtzberger, Chvilicek and Waid posted a time of 51.64 to win the short relay, while Wirtzberger, Chvilicek, Waid and Filius ran the 1,600 relay in 4:15 to take first with a comfortable 35-second margin. Loftus also scored points for Havre with a third-place finish in the long jump as well as a fourth in the 200. Hannah Haslem also put together a solid effort for HHS with a third in the 1,600 (6:36) and a sixth in the 800 (2:55).

“We had a lot of really nice performances with the girls,” Ita said. “We had six first-place finishes. I thought Grace Loftus

had one of her better meets. She placed in three events. Hannah Haslem also did well in her distance events. Jessa and (Loy) Waid also did really well in the 100 and the 200

and in both of those relays. The girls are led from the top to the bottom by hard-working athletic girls that are good examples for our younger kids.”

Megan Molyneaux of Chinook also had a strong showing, getting second in the 100 (13.92) and the 200 (28.05). Her teammate Kourtney Hanson also finished near the top of the podium in the 800, getting second with a time of 2:36. Shyan Krass of Turner was fifth in the same race thanks to a time of 2:43. Sarah Billmayer of Turner also scored points for the Tornadoes getting second to Filius in the 300 hurdles. North Star had two girls place in the javelin as Janae West was third with a throw of 98-00 followed by Kenidee Worley in fourth (94-01).

In the boys competition, the host team, Glasgow, won the meet with 118 points. Scobey was second with 84 and Richey-Lambert finished third with 66. Malta was fourth with 51, followed by North Star with 35 and Havre with 33.

The Havre boys finished in the top five thanks in large part to Andrew Boucher, who placed as an individual while also helping the Ponies finish first in the 1,600 relay with a time of 3:47. Boucher also finished fourth in the 200 (24.66). Noah Azure, Nolan Lotton and Mason Rismon also helped Havre get the top spot in the 1,600 relay and Azure also reached the podium in the 1,600, finishing fourth (5:15) and sixth in the 800 (2:16). Rismon also scored points in the long jump (6th, 16-09) and the javelin (6th, 128-04). The 400-relay team that got fourth consisted of Brandon Shaw, Lotton, Boucher and Rismon.

In the running events, Dylan Young was another Havre athlete to score points as he ran a 5:17 in the 1,600 to finish sixth, while Preston Glock also managed a fifth place in the 110 hurdles (18.93). In the field events, Brock Nystrom notched a fourth-place finish in the pole vault (10-00) and also in the discus, Casey Mariani finished sixth after a throw of 113-01, a personal best.

“I couldn’t be happier for the boys,” Ita said. “We have some boys that have taken some lumps and they have just kept working and now they are starting to turn into point getters for us. We had three of the top 10 guys in the javelin, and I was really pleased with that. You could see that our distance kids really worked hard in the offseason and now that is starting to pay off. Overall, I just thought things went really well.”

Another top individual in the meet was Caden Rettig of North Star, who won the long jump (18-09) in addition to taking third in the pole vault (10-00) and sixth in the 200 (24.77). Daniel Nerat also came in second in the shot put (43-08) for the Knights. Cord Schneider of Chinook was fourth in the same event (42-01).

Cody Welsh of Turner, a state champion in the 300 hurdles last season, won that event in Glasow (44.09). He also finished third in the high jump (5-06) and the 110 hurdles (16.93). A couple of local runners also stood out in the distance events as Jack Harmon of Turner won the 800 (2:10.29) finishing one spot ahead Trajan Hannum of Chinook who was second (2:10.30). Brad Cichosz of Harlem also posted a third-place finish in the 3,200 thanks to a time of 10:50.

Many of these teams will be in action Wednesday, including Havre at the Cal Wearley Invitational hosted by North Star at the Havre Middle School Track Wednesday. The meet will start at 8 a.m.