Ponies' times improve in Great Falls

The Havre high cross-country teams had a very competitive meet Saturday in the Great Falls Cross-Country invitational, facing off against multiple Class AA and Class A schools in a big race.

Both the HHS boys and girls teams placed 20th in the meet and showcased their best effort on the course, which has known to be an endurance test for the many harriers who have ran it.

Havre High head coach Josh Holt is proud of his teams and what they did at the invitational.

“Both teams ran really well,” said Holt. “I feel like we’re right where we need to be now. We got some room for improvements, but all-in-all everything went really well”

The Pony boys had some promising times and consistent performances among the Havre runners. Junior Dylan Young continues to shine on the team, as he ran a 17:11.54 and placed 34th overall. Senior Cameron Pleninger landed in 90th with a 18:07.76. Junior Trenton Varney and freshman Paul Bartlett placed fairly well, too. Varney finished in 108th with a 18:19.29 and Bartlett in 130th with a 18:41.49.

Both Pleninger and Young were the only two to land in the top 100 in the invitational, the rest of the boys’ team placed in the top 300. The boy’s team has continued to put forth the effort and shown the prowess that has given them some good stats throughout the season so far.

“All those kids ran really well,” Holt said. “Overall, can’t complain too much for running at 5:15 in the afternoon, so that was fantastic.”

On the girls side, the improvement in the Ponies' times has shown. The Blue Ponies put up some very impressive times for the race. Junior Tamera O’Leary finished 68th with a 21:26.50, sophomore Emma Gillen placed 78th with a time of 21:42.72 and junior Hannah Haslem finished 97th with a 22:04.65. All three girls were the only ones to place in the top 100 at the meet, but other harriers on the girls’ team accomplished things of their own.

Sophomore Savannah Stewart finished with a personal best of 23:48.98 and placed 148th in the meet. Holt is happy to see one of his underclassman harriers achieve a personal best and commended Stewart for her effort and determination on the course.

“We had some decent performances,” said Holt. “Some of these girls are just coming along really fast, which is just fantastic.”

The Blue Pony teams will face another big race this Saturday down in Missoula. Many schools from across the state will be there, but schools from states like Idaho and Washington will also be attending. This is the biggest meet Havre will go to this season and will look to give it their all.

Havre Blue Pony cross country races to the course for the Mountain Wesi Invitational this Saturday.

2019 Great Falls Invite

BOYS

Team scores: Sentinel 133, Billings West 140, Helena 141, Lewistown 159, Billings Senior 180, Columbia Falls 189, Hardin 204, Glacier 209, Great Falls 258, Corvallis 277, CMR 309, Helena Capital 325, Billings Skyview 357, Hamilton 364, Laurel 402, Frenchtown 455, Browning 476, Flathead 478, Park 483, Havre 491, Whitefish 508, Big Sky 533, Dillon 550, Belgrade 620, Butte 667

Havre boys: 34, Dylan Young, 17:11.54; 90, Cameron Pleninger, 18:07.76; 108, Trenton Varney, 18:19.29; 130, Paul Bartlett, 18:41.49; 143, Ethan Durward, 18:55.28; 157, Sidney Moffitt, 19:15.19; 158, Riley Pleninger, 19:16.50; 167, Joshua Currie, 19:33.06; 181, Kendall Pleninger, 20:03.93; 186, Brody Henry, 20:11.82; 188, Joshua Williams, 20:17.02; 230, Brigham Blackwell, 22:30.63; 232, Logan Cloninger, 22:42.10; 239, Alec Azure, 23:15.68; 240, Jacob Miller, 23:21.34; 261, Nathan Gregiore, 28:22.10

GIRLS

Team scores: Helena 47, Hardin 129, Flathead 131, Sentinel 150, Billings West 167, Laurel 226, Helena Capital 229, Whitefish 241, Corvallis 259, Billings Skyview 287, Columbia Falls 329, CMR 340, Glacier 365, Hamilton 379, Frenchtown 431, Big Sky 437, Lewistown 462, Dillon 476, Park 488, Havre 490, Great Falls 511, Browning 553, Belgrade 574

Havre girls: 68, Tamera O'Leary, 21:26.50; 78, Emma Gillen, 21:42.72; 97, Hannah Haslem, 22:04.65; 141, Chloe Shennum, 23:35.16; 148, Savannah Stewart, 23:48.98; 163, Grace Loftus, 24:19.35.