HARLOWTON — There are a lot of things you can measure on a football field, but heart isn't one.
Harlowton senior Bergen Mysse has plenty of that, and he's the motor that makes the Engineers go. He's worked hard on his body throughout high school and has become one of the most electric 6-Man players in the state.
"It's kind of my getaway. If I'm struggling with anything, I go to the weight room," Mysse said. "I come home from a basketball game and go out and lift. We've got a local gym here, so that's pretty nice. We're pretty fortunate. We have a nice weight room and good coaches, so I try to lift quite a bit."
Gym rat might be underselling Mysse. Basketball coach Jonathan Olsen said he'd have to send Mysse home after road games last year to keep him out of the weight room. Where exactly does a kid get a work ethic like that?
"I think growing up with older brothers. I have three older brothers, tough family, so always trying to work hard," Mysse said. "And people telling me I can't. I was really undersized, and I'm still pretty short, but just really wanting to show people what I can do."
This season offers Mysse a bit of redemption, too. He missed the back half of last season after suffering a torn hamstring and was relegated to watching from the sidelines.
"That was mentally so difficult — watching my teammates, watching them struggle sometimes. Just trying to be a good teammate, but it was definitely hard losing over half the season," Mysse said. "It was tough. Coach (JC Mysse) would get on me because I'd try and push it too hard and he didn't want me to hurt it again. It was definitely hard. Coach tried to keep me off of it as much as he could."
Mysse's dedication to the weight room — and his pull as a leader to draw others — has Harlowton-Ryegate off to a 4-0 start and the No. 4 slot in the most recent MontanaSports.com power rankings. It's been a grind for Mysse and his classmates the past few years, but the fruits of their labor are paying off.
"We won two games in two years and we had to put in a lot of time in the offseason to be where we're at now. We've had the biggest group in the weight room all summer that we have in many years, so it's been good having all those kids and you can see it on the field," Mysse said.
The Engineers will battle with No. 6 Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine on the road on Friday night.
