Blue Ponies ready to roar

The season has started about as well as anyone could have expected for the Havre High girls track team, which is seeking its fourth-straight team title at its home meet this Saturday.

The Blue Ponies will be competing at the Havre Middle School track for the second time this season on Saturday, but this time, they will be the host team as they welcome a number of teams from across the Hi-Line to take part in the Lions invitational track meet. The events are scheduled to get underway at 9:30 a.m.

Right now, 15 teams are set to be in attendance for the meet and the Ponies will be the only team from Class A, with others such as Malta, Chinook, North Star, Cut Bank, Fort Benton, Belt, Rocky Boy, Harlem, Big Sandy, Box Elder, Turner and Chester-Joplin-Inverness among the teams that will make the trip.

In terms of the Havre girls winning their home invitational, the team that likely stands in the way is Fort Benton, which finished second in Class C last season and has a slew of talented athletes. But while the Ponies certainly want to finish first, head coach John Ita's first priority Saturday is getting as many Havre kids on the track to compete as possible.

"Our biggest focus for the Havre Invite is just trying to get every single kid out there and able to compete," Ita said. "We want all of our kids to have the chance to compete in this meet and we are trying to get everyone healthy so can be part of our home meet."

As far as the girls are concerned, Havre has been winning track meets based on its ability to score points in the running events and the jumps more than anything. The Ponies have yet to lose a relay as both the 400-meter and 1,600 relay teams have finished first in Glasgow, at the Cal Wearley in Havre and in Choteau last Saturday.

Jessa Chvilicek, Sadie Filius, Katie Wirtzberger, Grace Loftus, Loy Waid and Kadia Miller have all run on one of the relay teams or another and each of those individuals has scored points in other races. Chvilicek, Wirtzberger, Waid and Loftus have all stood out in the sprints: the 100, 200 and 400, yet not one has been more consistent than the freshman Filius, who has three first-place showings in the 300 hurdles. She has also placed in the 100 hurdles three times too.

Chvilicek has done well in the sprints and won the 100 in Choteau last Saturday but the high jump is the solo event in which she has pre-qualified for state along with teammate Sarah Faber. Havre has also qualified for the Class A state meet in the short relay. Chvilicek, Wirtzberger and Faber have all done well in the jumps, however, another name to watch is Devyn Huebsch, who is coming along in the triple jump. Miller and Hannah Haslem are also individuals to watch in the distance events.

"We have done really well in the relays and those sprinting events," Ita said. "But we have some nice point-getters in the jumping events too. Jessa has been consistent in those and Sarah Faber just keeps working and improving every single week."

When it comes to the Havre boys one of the stronger groups has been the throwers led by junior Mason Rismon, who has won the javelin in his last two events. Senior Dylan Chvilicek has also performed well in the throwing events. Rismon is also part of a 400 relay team that has placed in the last couple of meets for Havre. Other runners on the team include Andrew Boucher, Nolan Lotton and Brandon Shaw.

Boucher has performed well in the 200 this season while the distance events have also been fruitful for the Pony boys so far this season with Jakob Keller, Noah Azure and Dylan Young all placing in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 to start the 2018 season.

"I think our distance runners and our throwers really continue to be the strength of our boys team," Ita said. "Those kids have really been working hard in practice and in the offseason and I think hard work has really paid off and overall, our team has benefited from the leadership of those kids."

The Havre girls will be looking for their fourth consecutive team victory, while the boys team will be looking for its first top-five finish. The Lions Invitational track meet will begin Saturday at the Havre Middle School track at 9:30 a.m.