Havre cross country set for first meet under Danielle Parsons

In their first action under first-year head coach Danielle Parsons, the Havre High cross country teams will begin the season today with the Hardin Invitational. Hardin offers a tough course to start the season, so Parsons hopes that her runners will use this weekend as a learning experience.

"Our goal at this meet is to go and get a time and to learn," Parsons said. "This course will definitely expose to an athlete their weaknesses so after we come back from Hardin, we'll definitely know the areas that we need to work on."

At the meet, the Blue Ponies will compete against many other schools. Teams that will run at today's meet include Big Horn, Billings Central, Billings Christian, Box Elder, Cody, Colstrip, Miles City, Lewistown, Fromberg, Hardin, Hays-Lodge Pole, Lame Deer, Lockwood, Lodge Grass, Livingston, Plenty Coups, Powder River County, Roberts, Roundup, Shepherd, Sidney and St. Labre Catholic. While she is new to the job, Parsons expects two teams to be their toughest competition this weekend.

"I do know that Hardin always has a great team and Lewistown always has a great team," Parsons said. "It'll be fun to see them."

In their first meet, Parsons expects all her runners to do well this weekend. On the boys team, she expects seniors Caleb Tomac and Zack May to lead the way. On the girls team, she expects runners such as Hailey Gingery, Jayla Meldrum and Clara Haslem to do well. Parsons also expects the freshmen to do well in their first action for the Ponies.

As a first-year head coach, Parsons is still getting acclimated to leading the Ponies. As she finally gets the opportunity to coach the Ponies in competition this weekend, Parsons is excited about the road trip and getting to know her athletes better.

"I look forward to just getting to travel with the athletes," Parsons said. "I look forward to getting to know them when they're removed from the influence of everything else so we can just gel together as a team."

The HHS cross country teams began the Hardin Invitational earlier this morning.