Blue Ponies run at home in Havre Invite

Saturday morning at Prairie Farms Golf Course, the Havre High cross country teams competed in their lone home meet of the season. In their only meet in front of their home fans, both teams ran well both finishing first in their respective meets.

"I think it was nice to run in front of the hometown crowd and have so many supporters out here today," HHS head coach Erin Lynch said.

"It's really nice seeing all the friends and family from Havre. Seeing them here and cheering you on." HHS runner Hailey Gingery said. "It makes you want to run a little bit faster because you want to look good in front of those people."

Since it was the only home meet for the Blue Ponies this season, the meet also served as their senior day. Before the races, the Ponies honored their seniors Brody Henry, Nathan Gregoire, Chloe Shennum and Hannah Kinsella. With it being the last time they run at home, emotions were high for the seniors.

"Doing that senior walk, I was like, 'This is my last time being here,' so it just hit me all at once," Henry said.

In the 5,000-meter races, the varsity and junior varsity teams for the Ponies ran together. The HHS varsity and junior varsity boys teams scored 39 points to finish first in its meet with Glasgow coming in second and Belt/Centerville finishing third. In the girls meet, the HHS varsity and junior varsity teams took first with a score of 32. Glasgow came in second behind the Ponies and Chinook took third.

Several Ponies had strong times in their lone home meet of the fall. In the boys meet, Caleb Tomac finished second with a time of 16:52.51. In his last home meet as a Pony, Henry took fifth with a time of 17:59.52. Henry had never finished with a time under 18 minutes, so he was excited to do it on his senior day.

"It being senior day and running a PR, it was just everything that I could ever ask for," Henry said.

Zack May took sixth with a time of 18:22.82, while Ezra Goldhahn took eighth with a time of 19:27.10. Mason Gregoire and Dylan Kunz both finished in the top 30 for the meet.

Gingery had a strong performance in the girls' meet as she finished fourth with a time of 20:29.26. Along with finishing where she expected to, she also earned a personal best time in the race.

Jayla Meldrum finished seventh in the race with a time of 21:53.55. Just behind her were her teammates Paige Anderson, Clara Haslem, Hannah Kinsella and Gracie Shandorf who finished in tenth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth. Emily Gulbertons also finished 17th in the race. Lynch believes this group of girls helped the Ponies win their meet.

"They stuck together the whole race and kind of boxed the other teams out," Lynch said. "That's how we ended up edging Glasgow's team and winning by a point."

With this being just their second meet of the season, Lynch liked what she saw from her runners. Many of them recorded great times for this point of the year, so she hopes to build off that as the Ponies head into the rest of their schedule this fall.

"We had a lot of personal records set on this course today so now we have a really good baseline of what times our kids should be at and just where to go from here," Lynch said. "I think we're sitting in a really good place right now."

The Havre High School cross country teams will next compete at the Glasgow meet in Fort Peck this Saturday.

Boys Individuals

Caleb Tomac, 2nd, 16:52.51; Brody Henry, 5th, 17:59.52; Zack May, 6th, 18:22.82; Ezra Goldhahn, 8th, 19:27.10; Mason Gregoire, 25th, 21:53.07; Dylan Kunz, 29th, 22:32.71; Vance Burr, 31st, 22:46.31; Koby Preputin, 32nd, 22:53.64; Rowdy Doney, 43rd, 24:31.42; Tayler Whoteman, 44th, 24:51.25; Nathan Gregoire, 45th, 25:12.28; Porter Blackwell, 48th, 25:43.02.

Girls Individuals

Hailey Gingery, 4th, 20:29.26; Jayla Meldrum, 7th, 21:53.55; Paige Anderson, 10th, 23:34.23; Clara Haslem, 11th, 23:37.78; Hannah Kinsella, 12th, 23:57.11; Gracie Shandorf, 13th, 24:06.62; Emily Gulbertson, 17th, 24:43.67; Ariel Ost, 24th, 25:38.51; Chloe Shennum, 27th, 26:03.92; Nevaeh Phillips, 28th, 26:16.82; Mackenzie Hanson, 29th, 26:17.43; Jaidyn Cole, 34th, 27:35.40; MacKenzie Dean, 40th, 29:35.51; Katie Messinger, 44th, 30:45.95; Natalie Rowe, 45th, 30:56.14; Chloe Corner, 50th, 32:12.94.