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  • 29 Jun 2013

    Missoula's Riley King starting out in Arizona League

    It was about three weeks ago now that the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball snatched up Missoulian Riley King in the 2013 MLB first-year player draft. The 19-year-old outfielder quickly chose baseball over returning to the hoops program at Carroll College, signing to play in the Royals' minor league system and jetting off to Arizona and Kansas City's extended spring training facility in Surprise. That was the last time we'd heard from the Missoula Sentinel graduate. Well now an update: King will remain in Arizona, at least for now, with the Royals' rookie-level affiliate in the Arizona League this season. King boarded a plane for the southwest on June 11, two days after finishing his pro paperwork. All of the recently signed draftees from the organization would be there before getting divvied up along the minor-league ladder. When the Arizona Royals opened their season on June 20, the 24th-rounder from Missoula was in the starting lineup batting fifth. He hasn't had the success that fans of the Missoula Mavericks had come to expect on a daily basis, but then again this isn't exactly Montana American Legion pitching he's facing either. King has a .208 batting average through six games and is still looking for his first extra base hit. Still, he's nothing if not consistent. King opened the season on a three-game hitting streak and has hits in five of the Royals' first six games. He's also one of only seven position players on the team who hasn't committed an error yet. None of the other six has played in more than five games either. We'll keep you up to speed on any happenings related to Missoula's recently drafted baseball star throughout the summer. Should King get the call up to advanced rookie, one step up in the minor league system, his destination will be Idaho Falls and the Chukars of the Pioneer League. Missoula plays two series against the Chukars this summer, once at home July 13-15 and once on the road July 20-23. King will have to play some inspired ball in Arizona to make the jump in the next two weeks for a trip back to Missoula. Until that call finally comes, he'll have to start trying to enjoy that broiling Arizona sunshine.

  • 15 Mar 2014

    Lady Spartan seniors finish amazing 4-year run of success

    Here’s a quick look at what the girls of Missoula Sentinel’s class of 2014 have done in four years on the basketball court:

    • Four straight State AA title game appearances

    • Three straight State AA championships

    • A four-year combined record of 83-10

    So is it safe to call this group the greatest girls’ basketball class in Sentinel history? “Oh for sure – by far,” said Spartans coach Karen Deden, a Sentinel alum as well. “We’ve been blessed with a group of kids that have really pushed it to a new level – and it kind of started with Olivia. Those kids have worked hard and they play year-round since they got here and vastly improved. They’re a team and they play well together.” Senior guard/forward/superstar Olivia Roberts led the Spartans to a 48-30 beat down of Billings West on Saturday to win the third of those three state championships. Roberts led all players with 18 points and nine rebounds. The future 5-foot-11 Wyoming Cowgirl was around for most all those 80-plus wins since her freshman year as the only frosh to see major varsity minutes in the 2010-11 season. But soon her fellow classmates at Sentinel High School joined her on the court. Five other varsity seniors will graduate with Roberts this spring. They include 6-1 Sam Harper and 5-10 Emily Beach, a pair of heightened starters defending the key for the Spartans this year; 5-8 guard Maddie Keast, a Lady Griz signee and threat from anywhere on the court; 5-9 forward/post Jess Henning, a reserve who ensures Sentinel won’t drop its defensive intensity when starters check out for a rest; and 5-0 guard Brittani Wulf, the speediest and smallest Spartan on the roster. Keast has only experienced the last two Sentinel seasons – albeit the most successful ones – though she missed most of Saturday's title game with an ankle injury. She transferred from Loyola Sacred Heart before her junior season. The group weathered the storm of expectations again this year with another charge through the state bracket. “I said to the kids, to be proud of where you’re at. I mean think of the whole season playing with a target on your back and to persevere through that,” Deden added. “Because every time somebody plays us, they have absolutely nothing to lose. They can go out there and play out of their heads, because what’s the worst that’s going to happen? They’re going to lose.” On the eve of her fourth state championship appearance in as many seasons, one of Sentinel’s all-time great athletes struggled to put the grandeur of her prep career into words. Roberts’ awe at her past path couldn’t keep her from focusing on the immediate future, though. “I can’t believe it. It’s so weird to think that I’ve been to the state championship every single year,” Roberts said after her Spartans outlasted Kalispell Glacier in Friday’s semifinal. “I’m so blessed to have such a great coach and such great teammates. “But all I’m thinking about is I just want another state championship. I want a three-peat and I want to get it done.” Consider that job very well done, Lady Spartans.

  • 08 Jan 2014

    The Jesse Sims case: When some questions can't be answered

    We in the media ask a lot of questions. I mean it's kind of our job, right? Well sometimes the people at which we're directing said queries are not allowed to answer them. When such a quandary arises, you'll usually see a flood of things like, "No comment," and the like. Sometimes, though, you get a real gem when an authoritative figure says everything you need to hear, without saying anything at all. Such was the case when the Missoulian contacted Stevensville boys' basketball coach Joey Wark on Tuesday night looking for confirmation of the rumors that star athlete Jesse Sims had transferred schools. Here's what he had to say:

    "The rule that we have at the school is that we are able to talk and comment on the players that we have on our team; so I’d gladly talk to you about our great senior leaders like Jared Schultz and Zach Gavlak."

    - Joey Wark, Stevensville coach

    Wow. What fantastic legal speak to pretty much answer the question without answering it at all. The Missoulian did confirm Tuesday that Sims indeed had switched schools to Corvallis High School and will be sitting out the varsity basketball season after playing the first five games with defending State A champion Stevensville. We should see Sims back on the football field this coming fall, where he's really done his damage. The junior has already drawn scholarship offers from six schools for the gridiron game.

  • 04 Feb 2014

    Hellgate hoops enjoying rivalry week

    Hellgate hoops likes to cram as much Missoula excitement as it can into one action-packed week. Instead of spreading its crosstown games over its Western AA conference schedule, the Knights hit their Garden City rivals back to back in one crazy week. It pumps the energy level at games through the roof, Hellgate boys' basketball player Devin Bray said "We did it last year, too, but it's nice having a crosstown week and not just a crosstown day," said Bray, who scored six points in Hellgate's win against Sentinel on Tuesday, the first intercity matchup of the season and the week for the Knights. "It definitely makes you focus the whole time and not just for a day. You want to come out, show 'em what we got, and show the team we play the second time what we got as well." Following the Knights' 62-43 victory at home against Sentinel, they'll go on the "road" this weekend to visit Big Sky, a whole three miles of travel time. That game is Friday. Both are doubleheaders with the Hellgate girls' team. The pattern repeats in two weeks for Hellgate, visiting the Spartans on Tuesday, Feb. 18 before hosting Big Sky just two days later on a Thursday. It's a little added fun that the Hellgate teams get to indulge -- on top of the already manic atmosphere of a rivalry game. "It's so loud you can't hear the coaches yell," Bray said with a laugh. "You just have to concentrate on the game and you have to block it out. You hear stuff from the crowd and it gets pretty intense with the crowds. It's an awesome feeling, though."

  • 02 Oct 2013

    Wading through Hellgate's two-QB system

    To say the Missoula Hellgate Knights have struggled on offense would be, well, offensive. Through four games, the Knights hadn't scored a point and were needless to say 0-4. But that was before co-quarterback Andy Nemec got the lion's share of the signal-calling duties in the Hellgate backfield. The senior -- who is still listed as wide receiver on the team's depth chart -- was a wildcat-only option in Hellgate's offense. In layman's terms, he was only brought in to run the ball while the "passing QB" Brayden Frohlich worked the throwing downs. "The idea is that we have different styles with the different players," coach R.L. Boyles told the Missoulian after a Week 2 game against Great Falls High. "They each have abilities so we try to utilize each of their abilities." But that became very clear to defenses as well. Nemec = run. Frohlich = pass. Neither player could do much of either with the play call all but revealed to the defenses. It was a frustrating environment to try and get anything going, Nemec said. "Every week I have to ask our offensive coordinator what my role is in the offense this week. Last week I didn't play as much defense," said Nemec, also the team's starter at safety. "Which was nice, so I could be rested to be on the offensive side of the ball. "(Offensive coordinator) JP (Souliere) made some changes last week to see if we'd have any success with that and we did. I think we're going to change it up a little bit more this week to see if we can get more going on." Behind a revamped offensive line and the with a new scheme in hand, the Knights scored 14 points last Friday against Billings Senior. Both scores came with Nemec at quarterback. They'll try to build off of that limited success this week with a home game against Butte on Friday, the second leg of a Missoula County Stadium doubleheader at 7:30 p.m.

  • 30 Aug 2014

    Hometown Pride Classic a win for Montana football

    Even a narrow loss couldn't keep the Ronan football team down. "You don't ever want to say you're happy when you lose, but come on," Chiefs head coach Jim Benn said gesturing to his surroundings. "Getting to coach here and letting our kids have this experience, I mean I'm watching my quarterback take pictures with his parents on the field." The special location was Washington-Grizzly Stadium Saturday, which hosted the first Hometown Pride Classic series between high school teams in Montana and Idaho -- an event as pleasing to its organizer as it seemed to be to the players, coaches and fans involved. "This was the best case scenario," said Marc Burr, GM of the Billings Wolves indoor football team and the driving force behind the Hometown Pride Classic. "Who doesn't want to say they're hosting a game like this? And to have two or three of them lined up?" Prior to the Ronan vs. New Plymouth game on Saturday afternoon, Hamilton beat Salmon on Friday evening and then Frenchtown and Timberlake finished out the trio on Saturday night. Burr said the opener featuring Hamilton drew 577 paid attendees and 1,474 people , though the gate isn't really the main factor in calling the experiment a success or not. It's more in the feedback that Burr and other officials receive. Which so far has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive. The future of the Classic is still unknown. It only came together so nicely this year with the Montana Grizzlies traveling to Wyoming in Week 1, leaving their 25,000-capacity stadium vacant. Should it not work out so swimmingly in the future, Burr hopes to move games to Bozeman and Bobcat Stadium for another round here or down to the Moscow, Idaho, at the home of the University of Idaho. Either way, Year 1 of the Classic has Burr and Co. hoping to make the games a yearly event. "I would have to say this is definitely a win for the state of Montana," Burr said.

  • 07 Nov 2013

    AA FOOTBALL: Can anybody beat Bozeman?

    It's been a very long time since the Bozeman Hawks received a true challenge on the football field. Their closest game in almost two months was a 27-point victory. So can anybody beat Bozeman now that we're on the eve of Montana's Class AA football postseason? That much is still unknown, but it doesn't mean the rest of the field won't be ready to try to knock off the 10-0 titans. It all starts with the Spartans of Missoula Sentinel this Friday. "We respect them," Sentinel senior lineman Ryan Nagel said, "but we don't fear them." "They’re definitely beatable," fellow Spartan senior Jeremy Eisenmann said. "Just like any other team, they have their weaknesses." It's just that so far, those weakness have been very, very well masked. Bozeman, the preseason pick as conference champs and the steady No. 1 in the weekly media polls all year, is the heavy favorite for a state championship after coming up just short in 2012. Those Hawks lost 38-36 to Butte High. These Hawks haven't lost a thing. Undefeated Bozeman leads AA in scoring offense (51 points per game) and scoring defense (12.6 points per game). Only once have the Hawks been held to fewer than five touchdowns scored in a game – their most narrow victory coming 27-12 over Kalispell Glacier back on Sept. 13. "Their average margin of victory is ..." Sentinel coach Dane Oliver started, "well, a number I don't even want to disclose. Several touchdowns." The Hawks have the state's leading rusher Hunter Gappmayer (179.4 yards per game), who's out right now with an injury but could be back for a potential Round 2 match, and third-leading passer Will Weyer. The quarterback has thrown 25 touchdowns this season to just three interceptions. Because Bozeman doesn't turn the ball over. The Hawks have just seven giveaways on the year, about half as many as any other team, and are plus-21 in the takeaway category. That's 10 more than any other school. But it's too early to crown the Hawks, the remaining seven playoff teams shout in unison. Should the 6-4 Spartans come up short, Bozeman will reach the semifinals and another challenger. Should the brackets continue to play out the way they've been built and No. 1 clash with No. 2 for the state title later this November, the Hawks will find a rematch of their greatest challenge from the regular season. The 9-1 Glacier Wolfpack hung with the Hawks back in September like no one else has. Now the Pack is just hoping for another shot. "They’re definitely ahead (of everyone else)," said Glacier coach Grady Bennett, whose 2012 squad lost in the state semis to Bozeman. "We like to think we’re one of the teams that, if we get a chance to play them again, we think we could be the ones to take them out." Class AA First Round Pairings Friday 7 p.m. – No. 8 Missoula Sentinel (6-4) at No. 1Bozeman (10-0) 7 p.m. – No. 6 Billings Skyview (6-4) at No. 3 Helena High (9-1) 7 p.m. – No. 7 Butte (6-4) at No. 2 Kalispell Glacier (9-1) Saturday 1 p.m. – No. 5 Great Falls Russell (6-4) at No. 4 Helena Capital (7-3)

  • 09 Nov 2013

    Montana 6-Man Football: a reporter's learning experience

    As a sportswriter, it's important to begin a post-game interview with the right question. You need something that can start a dialogue and set the pace for the rest of the conversation, something that proves you as the asker are competent and entices the interviewees to want to talk and give you those juicy nuggets to fill out a story. Saturday, following Hot Springs's nail-biter of a 6-man football loss to Denton-Geyser-Stanford, I decided to start my conversation with Savage Heat coach Jim Lawson by asking how it was that his team managed to score 21 points – i.e. three booming touchdowns – on three massive plays that totaled 220 yards while the rest of his early game tries on offense went for squadoosh. He, immediately recognizing me as a 6-man rookie, politely offered an explanation to the explosiveness of broken plays before adding a smile and a caveat: "That stuff is all pretty common in 6-man football." You're right, Coach. Of course it is. It was at about this time I think we each acknowledged I was a bit out of my element. You see, Saturday's Montana Class C state quarterfinal game was my first foray into the world of 6-man football. I did my homework. I knew the major differences between 11-man – your typical football seen everywhere from ESPN to the Little Grizzlies. Fifteen yards for a first down, not 10. An extra point kick is worth two, not one. Same as a two-point conversion is not for two by any means and just a single point. Plus quarterbacks can't scramble past the line of scrimmage, even when rushed, so two skill players must touch the ball on every play. Oh and the field is only 80 yards from end zone to end zone, not 100. I'd forgotten the part where quarters last only 10 minutes, down from the regulation 12 of all other high school football games, but that had little impact on my ability to cover the game Saturday. Sadly with Hot Springs' 58-52 loss to Denton-Geyser-Stanford at home, that ends 6-man football season in the Missoulian's coverage area. No more 6-man teams from western Montana remain in the state playoff bracket. Which is too bad. I quite enjoyed the fast-paced game, which saw 84 points by halftime and supplied big play after big play. Six-man truly is the Wild West of football, where anything can happen and highlight-reel plays are made about as often as I could log them in my stat book The lone drawback of my experience came more from the setting than the game itself. With no cell service in Hot Springs, I was suddenly tossed backward in time as a reporter. No Twitter, no live updates, not even the iPad scoring app worked – albeit for a much different reason that involves system crashes whenever a player scores on a kick return. I guess I'll have to wait until next fall to get a second dose of the fastest sport on the gridiron. Perhaps by then, I'll be able to impress those 6-man connoisseurs with my bulging knowledge of the small-town game.

  • 04 Apr 2014

    Latest Loyola golf stars ready to continue run

    Following Tommy Tirrell's tie-breaking chip-off victory Friday that earned him second place at the Loyola Sacred Heart Invitational golf tournament, he carried his iron off the 18th green to talk to a waiting reporter. They introduced themselves, having never met before. Tirrell didn't garner too many interviews in his sophomore or freshman seasons golfing at Loyola. "You probably talked to Tom last year," Tirrell said, no hint of animosity in his statement of fact, just an observation. Tom Swanson, and with him Maggie Crippen on the girls' side, dominated the action for the Rams and Breakers golf teams over the past few seasons. Each are gone now onto NCAA Division I programs, but the Loyola golf legacy still has some sheen on it. The Loyola teams flashed it at their home invitational this week, the season opener for action without their multi-medalist leaders in camp. Swanson and Crippen were each three-time State B individual champions in their last three seasons of high school golf before graduating last spring. Swanson headed off to Michigan to swing for the Wolverines while Crippen is now on the links with North Dakota State. In their place is a new crew that isn't really very new at all. The top two girls and boys each played important roles in the past few seasons, though as sidekicks to their well-known superhero teammates. "And I think that even we didn't know how far along they had come," Loyola head golf coach Julia Jones said following the conclusion of this week's Loyola Invite. Tirrell and Jared Geer, who battled it out for second place Friday, were both top 10 finishers at state last year. So were Sadie Crippen and Brooke Bezanson on the girls' side, Crippen nearly knocking off her older sister before finishing second in the state meet. They seem to be stepping into the empty shoes with gusto as Loyola looks to continue its half decade of sheer state dominance. The boys are five-time defending champs, tied for the most consecutive wins at any boys' level with the 1993-97  Columbus team, while the Breakers have five straight state-trophy winning seasons with top-three finishes. Right there in the middle in 2011 is the program's only championship. "I think the expectation that they have is that if they work hard enough that it will continue," "And we've got good leadership. Jared Geer is our only senior, so they're young, but they're pretty well seasoned." Other players like Tom Sellman and Bryan Swanson for the boys and Madison Purdy, Julia Downing and Rosie McCormack for the girls will keep pushing those top pairs as the Rams and Breakers continue their march on Class B golf.

  • 07 Jun 2013

    Lacrosse sticks for summer

    Missoula Sentinel students Alvin Adams and Sean McCoy will get the chance to play lacrosse this summer thanks to the generosity of a local lacrosse enthusiast and their Life Skills Department teacher. The Sentinel duo, who finished their freshman year of high school Friday, received hand-made custom lacrosse sticks from Tucker Sargent, University of Montana club lacrosse coach, after he was contacted by para-educator Christian Bitterauf. The sticks were part of a "graduation" celebration for the students who successfully finished another school year. The wooden sticks, which also have the boys' names engraved in them, came from Sargent's new business, Sargent Sticks. The Life Skills department at Sentinel serves students with mild to moderate cognitive and physical disabilities.

  • 12 Feb 2015

    Entry to Montana wrestling's Four-Timers Club just got tougher

    Winning four straight state wrestling titles is hard enough, but the reclassification of weight classes in Montana that began this year will likely make the feat decidedly more difficult. When the Montana High Schools Association shifted from 15 to 13 wrestling classes, it eliminated the weight at which many four-timers wrestled as freshmen. The 98 and 105 weights were combined -- as were 195 and 220 on the upper end -- to form a new hybrid weight of 103 that will leave fewer holes in brackets and dual lineups. But it also adds new competition for the lightest weight, the one typically housing freshmen, by doubling the participants. "It's going to be interesting with the weight changes," said Columbia Falls wrestling coach Jesse Schaeffer, who has a senior in his wrestling room chasing state title No. 4 this week in Shonn Roberts. "I think that's going to maybe reduce that." Twenty-three Montana wrestlers have completed their four-peats and 11 of those started at 98 pounds of lower -- Gene Davis of Missoula County High, the state's first four-timer, won his freshman year at 95 pounds in 1960 before a similar weight shift later in the decade. Add in Roberts, who will compete at 138 pounds when state action begins Friday in Billings but won at 98 in 2012, and that's exactly half. "It's kind of weird since that's what I wrestled at as a freshman," Roberts began, "but 103, the 98-105 mix, I think that's reasonable. It'll make things a little bit tougher." That's hardly the thinking behind merging weights, though. At either extreme ends of the weight scale (195 and 220 became the 205 class) fewer teams -- especially at lower classifications -- could field a full lineup. Many times, too few entrants there led to a state bracket marred by automatic byes and regular season duals that might as well skip on to 105 pounds anyway. The unintended consequence is that 2015 may be near the last time wrestling fans will get a trio of four-time possibles all on the mats at the same time. Sidney's Gresh Jones joins Roberts in the Class A tournament this week at 126 pounds searching for his fourth, while Forsyth's Matt Weber will be the talk of Class B-C with a potential fourth title. Both boys won their first -- and lightest -- at 112 pounds, though.

  • 18 Jan 2014

    Sentinel's Jaydn Wilson narrowly misses Jug Beck 3-peat

    It's been a long time since Missoula Sentinel wrestler Jaydn Wilson had lost a match at his Spartans' home tournament, the Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic. That's three years to be exact. As he won his way into the semifinals of the 2014 addition of the tournament this weekend, the 37th such holding at Sentinel High School, he'd come to the spot where a freshman Wilson had been knocked off the championship path. In between were more than 15 wins. But that streak came to an end in Saturday's semifinals.Wrestling Clarkston (WA) big man Dylan Beeler at 220 pounds, Wilson owned a 3-1 advantage with moments left in the third and final period. Beeler got the upper hand and scored a two-point takedown to tie things up with five seconds remaining in the period. The boys battled to a stalemate through the first minute-long overtime and went to a second. With Beeler starting from the down position, he pulled away for an escape and even scored another takedown in that 30 seconds to go up 6-3. During Wilson's turn in the down position in the second 30-second section, he failed to make up the ground and was even caught for what looked like a near-fall. Beeler could have tallied three more points with the near-fall as time expired but the match finished with that score and Wilson's first loss in three years of Jug Beck matches. But the Sentinel senior didn't let it get him down. He followed his two Jug Beck championships with a bronze in this year's event. He pinned Helena Capital's Dillon Coffman in the consolation semis and then beat Mead's Mason Ju 7-2 in the consolation championship. The Spartans' most dominant wrestler improved his record to 27-2 in matches held at the Classic.

You are here: Home » 2013 » October

Monthly Archives:' October 2013

Hellgate girls soccer: a year's worth of difference

On an October Tuesday in 2012, on a rain-soaked and muddy Playfair Park field, the Missoula Sentinel girls’ soccer team brushed away its punchless challenger, Missoula Hellgate, 2-0.

The Spartans earned a spot at the State AA Soccer Tournament by handing the Knights one last defeat. Hellgate fell to a winless 0-10-2.

Well, what a difference a year makes. Continue reading →

Homegrown Eagles leading this soccer bunch

A year ago, no Big Sky soccer player broke the double-digit mark for goals scored. The Eagles’ closest shot came from Miguel Gutierrez, a foreign exchange student who scored nine times and added two assists for the state-bound Missoula squad.

Big Sky took some grief from others around the state for having its best goal scorer be a foreign exchange player. Gutierrez’s play seemed like a free-agent pickup and the critics let coach Jay Bostrom hear about it — so much so that for the first few games at the beginning of this season, Bostrom made sure to note in conversations with the Missoulian that none of his goal scorers were exchange students. Continue reading →

Revisiting Stevensville's long-awaited triumph at Whitefish

Two weeks ago we saw the battle of the regular season in Class A soccer up in Whitefish, a potential state title game preview.

Whitefish was undefeated. Stevensville was undefeated. The spectators were salivating.

But this big juicy steak turned out to be a little tough once you got into it. Stevensville scored four times in the second half to run away with a 5-2 match, the first loss for the Bulldogs in 33 matches. Continue reading →

LSH Rams off and running despite late start

It was one of the most anticipated games of the opening week of Class B football contests. And it never even happened.

But Loyola Sacred Heart’s late start to the football season hasn’t hampered the Rams at all. They’re undefeated with just three games left in the regular season already — even if they were late to the party.

The Rams (4-0) have won all four games by an increasingly lopsided total, quickly verging on blowouts by the midpoint of the season. The only thing that’s been able to keep them down this year hasn’t been on the football field in fact. Continue reading →

Tristen Clark, an athlete of the week honorable mention

Sometimes newspapers make mistakes. I know, I know, inconceivable right?

In this past week’s Prep Athlete of the Week, a Missoulian weekly staple among the sports pages, we nominated Tristen Clark of Deer Lodge football for the boys’ honor. He had thrown for two touchdowns, run for two more, caught a TD pass and also intercepted a pass on defense and returned that to the end zone for a touchdown.

Or so we thought. Continue reading →

Wading through Hellgate's two-QB system

Wading through Hellgate's two-QB system

To say the Missoula Hellgate Knights have struggled on offense would be, well, offensive. Through four games, the Knights hadn’t scored a point and were needless to say 0-4.

But that was before co-quarterback Andy Nemec got the lion’s share of the signal-calling duties in the Hellgate backfield.

The senior — who is still listed as wide receiver on the team’s depth chart — was a wildcat-only option in Hellgate’s offense. In layman’s terms, he was only brought in to run the ball while the “passing QB” Brayden Frohlich worked the throwing downs. Continue reading →

Recent Posts

  • 03 Feb 2015

    UPDATED: 2015 national signing day's western Montana football commits
    UPDATED: With fall camps just around the corner, the list of western Montana natives in the Missoulian's coverage area has swelled near 50. Take a look:
      It’s national signing day 2015 and the National Letters of Intent were flying around this morning with local athletes securing their spots with college football programs. We’ll keep you updated with the area players who have made their commitments known throughout the day. Here’s a quick look at what we have so far. Don’t forget this is just a bare bones list right now and it will be updated often. Don’t see your name or your kid listed here? Leave it in the comments, or get in contact with us at ajmazzolini@missoulian.com or on twitter (@ajmazzolini).   MONTANA (4) TE Colin Bingham, Missoula Big Sky DE Andrew Harris, Kalispell Glacier S Josh Sandry, Bigfork DE Jesse Sims, Corvallis MONTANA STATE (5) LB Josh Hill, Kalispell Glacier LB Tanner Hoff, Hot Springs WR Logan Jones, Kalispell Glaicer QB Brady McChesney, Kalispell Glacier DE Byron Rollins, Missoula Sentinel EASTERN WASHINGTON (1) TE Jayce Gilder, Corvallis NORTH DAKOTA (1) TE Brock Shaide, Missoula Big Sky CARROLL COLLEGE (1) WR Paul Wilson, Missoula Hellgate MONTANA TECH (9) WR/RB Nate Gray, Hot Springs RB Jackson King, Missoula Sentinel WR/RB Danny Mannix, Flint Creek WR Sam McCamley, Kalispell Glacier WR Ty Morgan, Columbia Falls OL Matt Murphy, Missoula Big Sky OL Truman Pisk, Kalispell Glacier DB Tucker Rauthe, Kalispell Glacier LB Ike Schweikert, Columbia Falls MONTANA WESTERN (12) OL Zach Brown, Hamilton RB/LB Joe Caicedo, Darby WR Devin Cochran, Kalispell Glacier RB Cory Diaz, Missoula Big Sky RB/LB Jason Ferris, Dillon QB/S J.D. Ferris, Dillon WR/DB Justin Ferris, Dillon QB/DB Bo Hughs, Loyola Sacred Heart (transfer) RB/LB Raymond Matt, St. Ignatius LB Connor McKillop, Missoula Sentinel WR/DB Austin Ray, Corvallis OL Spencer Ross, Columbia Falls MONTANA STATE-NORTHERN (6) RB Zach Crace, Libby LB Travis Crawford, Missoula Big Sky FB Lane Foster, Hot Springs DL Trevor Frandsen, Missoula Big Sky MLB Jonathan Gragg, Missoula Hellgate OL Ryan Handley, Missoula Hellgate ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE (3) LB Joe Gallatin, Polson DE Jesse Grabowska, Florence RB Marty Pigeon, Loyola Sacred Heart DICKINSON STATE (1) DB Cain Boschee, Kalispell Glacier LEHIGH (1) OL Harrison Kauffman, Kalispell Glacier MACALESTER COLLEGE (1) WR Jack Streibich, Whitefish
  • 23 May 2014

    Makena Morley gets creative to fund trip to track nationals
    Ever wanted an autographed photo of one of Montana's all-time record-breaking prep runners? Now's your chance. Bigfork High School junior and State B champion of champions Makena Morley is raising money through technology and grass roots to help her reach the New Balance Outdoor High School Track & Field Nationals meet in Greensboro, North Carolina in mid June. And any donors of $25 or more through the fundraising website IndieGoGo.com receive a Morley original complete with signature.  As of this posting, Morley is about 75 percent of the way to her goal of $2,300 for travel and lodging costs for her and her father to the national meet. Events run June 13-15. Morley isn't new to the national running scene, but she appears to be getting create in funding her trips there. She won the West Regional of the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships back in December and then finished eighth in the ensuing national race. "As a junior I have been to 4 national championship races (three in cross country and one for indoor track) but I have never won a national title, so this one is very important to me because I would love for this to be the year for me to win," Morley wrote on her IndieGoGo.com fundraising page. "It is an important year for my college recruiting process, because this is the year when all colleges are looking at you and at what you have accomplished!" IndieGoGo is a kind of online kickstarter to raise money for a cause or idea. It's "the world’s most established crowdfunding platform," according to the organization's website. Crowdfunding is the process of pooling money from many different people for a cause. Morley, a three-time winner of the State B cross country title and Gatorade Runner of the Year for Montana, plans to run the 5,000 meters at the New Balance Nationals along with either the one or two mile. For more about her trip to nationals, or to donate, you can visit her page here.

  • 12 Feb 2015

    Entry to Montana wrestling's Four-Timers Club just got tougher
    Winning four straight state wrestling titles is hard enough, but the reclassification of weight classes in Montana that began this year will likely make the feat decidedly more difficult. When the Montana High Schools Association shifted from 15 to 13 wrestling classes, it eliminated the weight at which many four-timers wrestled as freshmen. The 98 and 105 weights were combined -- as were 195 and 220 on the upper end -- to form a new hybrid weight of 103 that will leave fewer holes in brackets and dual lineups. But it also adds new competition for the lightest weight, the one typically housing freshmen, by doubling the participants. "It's going to be interesting with the weight changes," said Columbia Falls wrestling coach Jesse Schaeffer, who has a senior in his wrestling room chasing state title No. 4 this week in Shonn Roberts. "I think that's going to maybe reduce that." Twenty-three Montana wrestlers have completed their four-peats and 11 of those started at 98 pounds of lower -- Gene Davis of Missoula County High, the state's first four-timer, won his freshman year at 95 pounds in 1960 before a similar weight shift later in the decade. Add in Roberts, who will compete at 138 pounds when state action begins Friday in Billings but won at 98 in 2012, and that's exactly half. "It's kind of weird since that's what I wrestled at as a freshman," Roberts began, "but 103, the 98-105 mix, I think that's reasonable. It'll make things a little bit tougher." That's hardly the thinking behind merging weights, though. At either extreme ends of the weight scale (195 and 220 became the 205 class) fewer teams -- especially at lower classifications -- could field a full lineup. Many times, too few entrants there led to a state bracket marred by automatic byes and regular season duals that might as well skip on to 105 pounds anyway. The unintended consequence is that 2015 may be near the last time wrestling fans will get a trio of four-time possibles all on the mats at the same time. Sidney's Gresh Jones joins Roberts in the Class A tournament this week at 126 pounds searching for his fourth, while Forsyth's Matt Weber will be the talk of Class B-C with a potential fourth title. Both boys won their first -- and lightest -- at 112 pounds, though.