HHS harriers run in Malta

The Havre High cross country teams are heading into the busiest portion of the 2020 season. And head coach kari Filius says the goal remains the same. She says she just wants her runners to continue to improve their times as they head towards the psotseason.

And the Blue Ponies will get another chance to improve when they travel to Malta for the Malta Invitational on Saturday. The meet begins the final month of the season for Havre, which is coming off a season-place finish at last week's Park Invitational in Livingston. Havre was set to attend the Great Falls Invitational originally, but, the coronavirus pandemic led AA schools to make changes to their formats, including have Class AA-only meets this season.

So, while Havre didn't get to go to Great Falls last week, the Ponies did get some good competition in Livingston, where both the boys and girls finished second.

"The kids ran well in Livingston," Filius said. "Highlights were Ethan Durward and Hannah Haslem running personal bests this year by quite a bit."

Indeed. Durward's PR gave him a 12th-place finish, while Haselm, a veteran runner for the Pony girls, placed an outstanding sixth, while senior teammate Tamera O'Leary was right behind her in seventh.

So, with those improvements in tow, Havre will move on to Malta, where the Ponies will battle a mostly-Class B fields of runners and teams. The Ponies will then be right back in action on Monday when they host their second home meet of the season. HHS will play host to a meet at beaver Creek Golf Course.