Havre High golf teams finding their stride as September nears

The Havre High golf teams have already reached the heart of their 2022 season.

The Blue Ponies kicked off the final four weeks of the fall with a trip to Harlowton for the annual Jawbone Classic, which is a match-play triangular with Lewistown and Livingston Tuesday.

The meet featured 15 boys and eight girls playing head-to-head matches for the Ponies, and, as always, Havre competed very well.

On the boys side, the Blue Ponies got wins from Shane Patacsil, Jevin Jenkins, Carter Spangler, Dylan Kuhn, Conner McKay and Chason Mader, while Pony girls to win included Calista Pyrak, Callie Bebee, Tierra Parker and Alex LaBrie.

"The match play event is a great change of pace for our kids," HHS head coach George Ferguson said. "Jawbone is a fun, challenging course, and the format is great because it really forces kids to concentrate on each hole and not their individual score, and it's a great competition, too. Match play is just a great format, and I wish we could do more of it. But it was a fun day. It was a tough, hot 18 holes, but our kids did great. It's a great event and our players really enjoy it."

And the fun is just starting for the Ponies, who will travel to Lewistown Thursday for a quad with the Eagles, Billings Central and Hardin at Pine Meadows Golf Course.

The varsity tournament is the start of the home stretch for the Ponies, who travel to Glendive and Sidney next week, followed by the final two regular season tournaments at Billings Central and Laurel.

The Havre lineup for Lewistown includes, Matt Huse, Ethan Stortz, Lane Kinsella, Reid Kato and Patacsil for the boys and Shea Reber, McKenzie Kuhn, Pyrak, Bebee and Parker for the girls.

"It's getting to be crunch time," Ferguson said. "We'll be playing a lot of big tournaments, and we have qualifying the next two weeks to see who makes our final varsity for the year. So it's a big time of the season for our kids. They are all doing a great job, and the goal is to peak by divisionals, and I really think we're on the right track so far."