Kari Filius to head Havre High cross country teams

After a good fall season back in 2019, the Havre High cross country teams were excited about the coming season. And now, that bright future will be led by new head coach Kari Filius for the 2020 season, as the Havre High School Board approved her new position recently. With Filius now leading the program, there will be a new path for the runners to follow.

Filius has had some previous experience as a coach, as she coached a lot of basketball at Havre Middle School and assisted at the Havre High School. Filius has coached a little bit of cross country, but it was years ago, when Filius was an assistant under Kim Ray up at the high school, eventually coaching middle school cross country.

Now, Filius has a position as a head coach for the Ponies, which is something she never had thought about much before.

"I never really thought about head coach because I've been an assistant a lot," Filius said. "I didn't really think about it until I started getting calls about the booster club and ordering uniforms. Things that head coaches do besides coaching. It's weird. I'm excited about it, but it's different than what I'm used to. It's good."

Filius has a rich history with Havre athletics, as well. Back in the 1990s, Filius was a part of the Northern Montana College's "Decade of Dominance", helping bring the first women's national title to the Skylights basketball team. Filius achieved the Academic All-Conference award for three years and Academic All-American honors in 1992 and 1993. Filius scored 1,181 points in her guard position during her time with Northern and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005.

Since her graduation from Northern in 1993, Filius has taught Health Enhancement for Havre Public Schools during her time as an educator. On top of that, Filius earned her master's degree in education and is married to 2002 Hall of Fame Wrestler and former HHS wrestling head coach, Scott Filius, as well as having three children, Peyton, Parker and Sadie, who have all made strides in Havre High athletics.

At the end of the day, Filius carries a good amount of coaching experience, and it will carry over to her new position at the high school.

"I've learned to get to know the kids and their goals," Filius said. "I'm very competitive, so once we get established where we are, then we can start going towards those goals and pushing a little harder to maybe go above what we're used to doing. But, you have to get to know the kids, see where they're at and go from there."

When it comes to Filius' new position as a head coach for the Ponies, there will be a lot of hard work going forward. Cross country is a sport that demands a lot of physical fitness and endurance, things that Filius knows all to well in her time at Havre Middle School. The season will have some heavy limits put on it, but Filius will be prepared to still push her team to its best form.

As for the expectations Filius has for the team this season, she keeps it short, sweet and to the point.

"I know there are several girl returners and a few boys," Filius said. "But my goal is to place at state higher than they did last year and to have individuals run a little faster. I want them to be a little better than they were last year. We'll see."

Filius will be faced with an odd type of challenge this season, as COVID-19 has put some specific guidelines on the fall sports season. As for cross country, some restrictions including social distancing guidelines, requirements of masks when not participating in a race, immediately reporting to the bus after finishing a race, no contact with others, as well as other restrictions for before and after the meet. But, Filius knows that she and the other fall coaches will have a good plan put forward.

"We're going to have a coaches meeting next week with all the fall coaches," Filius said. "I've read the guidelines, but we're going to see how we're going to do it. It depends on how many kids go out for cross country and how many age groups we're going to have because we're going to have to have smaller groups. But we're outdoors and we're going to be spread out in our workouts, so that won't be as bad. The meets will be weird. They've got things in place for the meets."

Things will be a little different for the 2020 cross country season, but Filius and the Blue Ponies will be ready for any challenge that comes their way. After all, Havre High works alongside its tradition of excellence, something that Filius knows all too well, which will be another strong point for the new head coach as she prepares to get her team ready for the 2020 cross country season, which starts in two weeks.