Ponies set for senior day with Havre Invite

As the season nears its end, the Havre High track and field teams will be looking to hit their strides in time for the postseason. The Blue Ponies will get a chance to do that competing in the Havre Invite this Saturday at the Havre Middle School Track. In their last home meet of the season, HHS head coach Kari Filius looks forward to seeing her athletes maintain their improvement.

"We're just going to work on our starts and our technical things," Filius said. "Just those little things to get our times a little better and our distances a little better. They're going in the right direction and that's what we're hoping for on Saturday."

The meet will also serve as the Ponies' senior day. There are nine seniors on this year's squads with three on the girls team and six on the boys team. On the girls team, Sadie Filius, Emma Gillen and Amya Custer will compete at home for the last time. On the boys team, Jasper Wendland, Zach Monk, Justin Rosgaard, Riley Pleninger, Orion Thivierge and Kaden Barkley will be honored Saturday. While this is only her first year as the leader of the program, Kari has seen the impact of their leadership.

"They're really good leaders. They help the younger kids commit to practice and commit to being there every day," Filius said. "They are performing well and showing what sticking with it for four years will do. It's just a really good atmosphere and the seniors have done a really good job of making it fun and positive."

Along with the seniors, the underclassmen will be looking to compete hard in their last home meet of the season. Kaydance Reiter will be looking to continue her strong freshman season that has seen her win the 100-meter sprint and the 200-meter sprint on multiple occasions. At the Whitefish ARM Invitational this past weekend, Reiter posted personal bests of 13.03 in the 100 and 26.74 in the 200.

Brayden Kimberling has also run well this season for the Ponies with multiple first-place finishes in the 100 and the 200. In the 100, he has recorded a personal best of 11.67 and in the 200, he has posted a personal best of 23.72.

Caleb Tomac has been a strong long-distance runner in the 800 and the 1,600. He recently set personal records with a 2:05.83 in the 800 and a 4:37.68 in the 1,600. Long-distance runner Brody Henry has also recently set personal bests with a 2:07.17 in the 800 and a 4:49.83 in the 1,600.

Hailey Gingery has been running well lately, with a personal best of 5:38.64 to take first in the 1,600 in the Whitefish ARM Invitational last weekend. She also set a personal record of 2:28.90 in the 800 in the North/East Top 10 earlier this week.

This will be the Ponies' smallest meet of the season with only five other schools competing. Filius expects Lewistown to be their toughest competition of the meet as the Eagles will be the only other Class A school competing. The other schools that the Ponies will compete against are Big Sandy, Harlem, Malta and North Star.

While it will be a smaller meet, it should be nice for the Ponies to compete at home. With most of their meets taking place on the road, this will be the third meet for the Ponies this season. With one last chance for the Hi-Line to see them in action, coach Filius hopes her athletes leave an impression.

"It's going to be nice because we've been traveling a lot," Filius said. "It'll be nice to be able to get up in the morning and just go right to the track and then perform in front of people in Havre and show them how much we've improved since the last home meet."

The Havre Invite will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Havre Middle School Track.