POLSON - Perhaps there is no better example of family sporting bonds than recent Polson graduates Alex and Loni Havlovick.

The Havlovick's track-and-field tradition reaches "way back," their dad, Brian Havlovick, said. He once threw alongside his three brothers and sisters. A high school state podium finisher in the discus, he later went on to compete at Montana State University in the event. His sister, Peg Havlovick, still holds a Polson Middle School discus record. Penny, now Fogelstrom, was even a two-time discus state champion.

Brian learned the skill from his own dad, whose 45-5 family shot put record stood tall for years, until this season's Lake County Invite, when his son Alex topped it with a launch of 46-2.

"I've always been a thrower," Alex said. "I've always wanted to be better than my dad. My [personal records] were better, but I didn't quite get to the state podium like he did."

Slated as one of the top discus competitors in the state, Alex learned one of the hardest lessons in sport: Nothing is guaranteed. The senior stand-out won the Northwest A Divisional shot put title, but failed to qualify for the state meet in his marquee event, the discus, when he scratched twice in the qualifying round. Both throws, which were just barely out of bounds, would have earned Alex a first-place finish had they been in, Brian said.

"When I didn't make it [to state] in the discus, they were there for me," Alex said of his family members who were all standing close by. "It was hard getting over that, but I did because I knew I had to compete the next day in the shot put."

That day's disappointment affected his sister Loni, too. Since she had to compete in the discus event next, she learned from her brother's mistakes and stood her first throw instead of spinning to guarantee an in-bounds mark. She ended up winning the event.

"They fed off each other that way," Brian said.

At the state meet, Alex was again able to motivate his sister to accomplish her goals in the discus. She placed a disheartening second in the shot put competition after the state's defending champion inched her out on the final throw. She broke down, but Alex was there to comfort her.

"Her brother said, ‘Loni, you still have a job to do tomorrow,'" Brian said. "Use this as motivation."

When she needed to throw a lifetime best on her very last attempt to seal the deal and win a state championship, she did.

"I always try to do my best for myself and for my dad too because he's put so much into it," she said. "It's always been a goal for me to win state for him too."

In seventh and eighth grade, Loni got a taste of almost every event on, or near, the track. She was hurdler and sprinter, did both relays and two throwing events. Her freshman year, Loni thought about sticking to track, but ended up partially tearing a muscle in her foot. While she could still throw, running was out of the question until a few weeks into the season when she felt she was too far behind in conditioning to make the switch back to the track.

"I just ended up getting away from the running," she said. "I definitely always knew I was going to be a thrower."

Normally a three-sport athlete, participating in volleyball, basketball and track, this year, for the first time since second grade, Loni didn't play basketball. Instead, she decided to put the effort into lifting with her brother and perfecting her throwing technique for the track and field season. Not yet a "spinner" in the shot put, she spent the winter learning to spin. Needless to say, that was time well-spent.

According to Alex, the spin is a lot more technical than the glide, but it does more for the thrower, given they can get it down.

"He actually got it before I did," Loni said. "We try to use momentum out of the back of the ring. There were times when he would say, ‘oh, try this' or ‘work on that.' We've always kind of done that."

While he may have picked up the new technique first, Alex eventually switched back to the normal high school glide this season and earned personal records for the rest of the year.

"When he was growing up and learning how to throw this technique, I could explain it to him and he could just do it," Brian said. "Loni was always athletic so she could get away with things, but she struggled so much more."

Loni had to figure out how to customize the techniques her father and brother were teaching her. She had to make the throw work for her. She may have struggled to commit to the spin, but when it all came together, Brian said, she had that magical day. This year especially, it clicked.

"It was a huge help for me," Loni said. "Last year my [personal record] was 36-11 and this year it's 41-2. So, that's a huge, huge difference."

On April 24 at the Libby Invitational, everything came together and in one day, Loni's personal record jumped four feet to 40-11.

"When Loni hit 40-11, her first time over 40-feet, she ran and jumped on her dad and gave him what I'm sure was the hug of his life," Polson head coach Bob Gunderson said. "Watching that interaction was one of the highlights of my season. What a difference supportive parents can make with their kids."

Shortly after her big day in Libby, MSU offered Loni a scholarship. The pressure to compete at the college level was finally off her shoulders. She would join her brother, who will play football at Montana Tech in Butte, and her dad in the elite ranks of collegiate athletics.

"Neither one of them were the greatest stars on their teams," Brian said. "But they both have a future because of the great opportunities they were able to take advantage of."

Some kids get those same opportunities, but squander them because they don't have that "know how" that comes from being around the upper levels of sport all the time, Brian said. The Havlovicks were introduced to the ups and downs, highs and lows of athletic competition from an early age, and those lessons paid off in a big way.

"I knew I wanted to do a sport because if I didn't do something, I think I would go crazy, just be really bored,'" Loni said. "It wasn't until last year that I really thought, ‘this is something that I could do in college."

Gunderson can't deny that the family throwing tradition had something to do with Loni and Alex's interest in the shot put and the discus.

"Of course [it did]," he said. "But having said that, it was the fact that these two kids were willing to put in the time it takes to learn the tremendous amount of technique involved in the two events. The old saying: ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.' These kids were led to water and they drank a lot of it."

Athletics have always been a Havlovick family affair and a focus throughout the years, but Brian knows that character will take you so much further than ability, and he couldn't be more proud because both of his kids have lots of that.

"Next year, we'll only be an hour apart," Loni said. "I told him I'm going to come down every weekend this fall and we're going to watch football and get pizza at the Vuvilla, the best pizza."

It seems these two Havlovicks are like peas in a pod, except when it comes to a favorite dish.

"Anything with meat," Alex said. To which Loni replied, "I don't like meat."