RUNNING FOR GOLD

All season long, the Havre High girls track team has dominated when it comes to the relay races, and this weekend, at the Class A state meet in Laurel, the Blue Ponies will look to finish at the top of the podium again.

During the track season, the Havre girls have competed in 19 relay races in 10 different track meets. The 400-meter relay team, which will consist of Jessa Chvilicek, Grace Loftus, Loy Waid and Katie Wirtzberger this weekend, has finished first in 10 out of 10 races, including last week's first-place finish in Belgrade at the Eastern A Divisional track meet. What also made the divisional title in Belgrade particularly impressive was not only the fact that Havre won, but also that it posted the best time (50.51) of any Class A girls relay team in the state this season.

"It was really cool, it felt good," Jessa Chvilicek said of winning the Eastern A 400 relay. "We are a little nervous going into state but we know that we have a good chance of getting it."

When it comes to the short relay race, the Pony girls are no stranger to success. Not only have they dominated their competition this season, but they also have previous state experience, finishing sixth in the same event last season. Chvilicek and Wirtzberger were part of that team last season and joining them will be Loftus and Waid, who also are not strangers when it comes to competing at state.

"State is a little crazy," Chvilicek said. "It's a lot more exciting and the atmosphere is different, but it's motivating because you know that you are close to winning and that makes you want to push that much harder."

A fast start is never a bad thing in a relay race or any race for that matter and when it comes to starting strong in the blocks, Grace Loftus has excelled all season. She will be the first runner to get the baton in the short relay and she is looking to make her 100 meters count.

"I like to get out the blocks as well as I can," Loftus said. "Loy (Waid) and I usually have pretty good handoffs, so my focus is just on having good form and running as fast as I can to get her going."

Loftus hands to Waid, who won the open 400 at the Eastern A and is projected to find the podium in the 200 at state. Like Wirtzberger and Chvilicek, she is also part of the 1,600-relay team.

"It's fun to be on a team," Waid said. "We all get along really well and have all worked really hard. (Winning) would be really cool."

From Waid, the handoff is to Chvilicek, who will then pass it to Katie Wirtzberger, who will try to hold off teams from Dillon and Corvallis, as well as any other competitors. The Beavers best time is 50.58, about half a second behind Havre, while Corvallis has a time that is more than a full second longer than the Ponies.

"After talking with all our coaches this week, we just told the kids to go have fun," HHS head coach John Ita said. "The long and the short relay teams have a chance to go and win those, and that's really exciting. It's been a long time since we have been able to say that to our girls. We have a chance to win and, if not, place really high and so we want them to go out and enjoy it."

In the 1,600 relay, the Ponies will have more to work to do. While Havre comes in with the best time in the short relay, Havre has posted only the fifth-best time in the 1,600 with its best time being 4:15, which is more than seven seconds behind Corvallis, the team projected to win the title in the event.

Yet, the case could be made that Havre hasn't been able to truly show what it can do with its long relay team as key pieces in Wirtzberger and freshman Sadie Filius have been hurt for extended portions of the season.

"If those two are healthy, it can make a big difference," Ita said. "Katie just hasn't really been healthy this season and that has prevented her from training the way that she wants to. But she has been getting healthy and she could really run well, and Sadie, too. She was nursing some injuries but she has been running very well, so I am excited to see what that long relay team can do."

For the Havre girls, it has been years since the Ponies have scored more than a few points at state, so winning an event would be a huge achievement. Being in position to contend for a state title in two events shows just how far the likes of Chvilicek, Wirtzberger and Loftus have come, along with the emergence of Waid and Filius the past two years. Emma Gillen and Kadia Miller are also alternates for the relay races, with Gillen the backup in the short relay and Miller acting in the same role for the 1,600 relay.

The Ponies may not score enough points to score for a team trophy or even contend for one in Laurel this weekend, but Havre is good enough to find the podium a few times and, if everything goes according to plan, the 400-meter relay team will be standing at the top, giving the Havre girls something they haven't had in years, a state track champion.