Blue Ponies set to take next step under Erin Lynch

As the fall sports season returns, everyone will be anticipating the return of football and volleyball on the Hi-Line. But local sports fans should not forget the return of the Havre High cross country teams this fall.

With more experience leading the Blue Ponies and several runners returning from last year, second-year HHS head coach Erin Lynch believes her teams can make some noise this fall.

"I'm really excited about this season," Lynch said. "I have a group of kids that are coming in pretty well-conditioned. They've been hitting some preseason training really hard on their own and our team is just really coming together."

Many Ponies return for the cross country teams as they try to improve their times this season. Caleb Tomac returns for Havre after finishing 22nd at the state meet with a time of 18:03.16. Brody Henry and Ezra Goldhahn also return for the Ponies after competing in the state meet last year. Lynch also expects Zack May to run strong this year for the Ponies.

On the girls side, Hailey Gingery returns for the Ponies after finishing 31st at state with a time of 22:03.11. Jayla Meldrum, Nevaeh Phillips, Clara Haslem and Chloe Shennum also return for the Ponies after competing in the state meet last season.

Along with this stable of veterans, the Ponies have several newcomers to the program this fall. Hannah Kinsella joins the program as a senior. But most of the newcomers will be underclassmen, so Lynch looks forward to see who will emerge from the pack as a top runner for the Ponies.

"We have a whole slew of freshmen this year, which is exciting to see," Lynch said. "We have a couple kids from each level that are joining us this year as well."

This fall, the Ponies will run in several meets. They will start the season this Friday with the Hardin meet before coming back to the Hi-Line on Sept. 10 to host the Havre Invitational. On Sept. 17, the Ponies will head to Fort Peck for the Glasgow Meet.

The Ponies will compete in Great Falls for a meet on Sept. 23. Then the next week on Sept. 27, the Ponies head to Lewistown for the Fergus Invitational. Later that week, the Ponies head to Miles City for the Custer County Invitational. With that meet coming in the latter half of the year, Lynch believes it will be important in assessing how her runners are progressing.

"I'm really looking forward to see how the kids do at the Miles City meet because there's some good competition coming in from North Dakota," Lynch said. "(There's) some elite runners over there and it'll be later in the season so we'll see how we're really stacking up for state."

Then on Oct, 6, the Ponies head to Helena for the Helena Invitational. The Ponies should compete against more teams at that meet than the other ones during the season, so Lynch expects it to help them preview their competition for state.

"We'll see a lot more Class A competition when we're there that we wouldn't normally see pre-state," Lynch said.

The Ponies will next compete in the Malta Invitational on Oct. 8 before finishing the regular season on Oct. 14 with the Eastern A Classic in Sidney. The best runners for Havre will then complete at the state meet in Missoula on Oct. 22 to wrap up the year.

Over the course of their season, the Ponies will compete against stiff competition. Lynch expects Hardin to have good depth this season and she believes both the Miles City boys and girls teams should be competitive with many returning runners. Another team that should be competitive this year includes Whitefish. But the Ponies will be less focused on their competition and more focused on improving their own times over the course of the fall.

"With cross country, what's really neat is you get to see the hard work that the kids pour into their practices pay off week to week and just that constant improvement and becoming stronger and going faster," Lynch said.

The HHS cross country teams will begin the season this Friday with the Hardin Meet.