2008: The year in sports

Change is inevitable and sports is not immune to this natural process. The Bigfork area saw a great deal of change, as well as the carrying on of traditions in sports throughout 2008. The high school, in particular, had a lot of change, and even changed some negative traditions.

The 2007-2008 Bigfork High School girls basketball team repeated as the Northwest Class A Division champions. Bigfork went into the state tournament as the number one seed for the second year in a row, but lost out to Havre and Miles City. The Vals had a 10-0 record in conference and 17-1 overall during the regular season. Senior Avery Vogel tied the school record for most assists in a game, with 11, in a win against Glacier High School on Jan. 3.

The boys basketball team had a rough season, again, but was able to make some positive changes. They won their first conference game in two years, beating Ronan in their last regular season game, and played well in the divisional tournament.

In the spring, Vals standout Alyssa Fierro signed a letter of intent to play basketball for Lewis-Clark State College and Hattie Bowen signed with University of Montana-Western to play basketball as well.

Spring sports faired well for many individual athletes at BHS. The boys tennis team sent then senior Philip Myers and doubles team Scott Taylor, a junior, and Tyler Butts, a senior, to state. For the girls tennis team it was doubles team Quindee Averill and Roxy Thurman, both juniors, who advanced to state for the second year in a row.

The BHS track teams had many stand out athletes as well. As a freshman, it was Mallery Knoll who led the Vals, capturing the divisional title in the 100-meter dash. She also placed in the 200 meter, 100 meter hurdles and the 300 meter hurdles. In her sophomore year Kayla Carlson took first in the 3200 meter and placed second in the 1600. Fierro took first in the high jump. In all the girls team had seven athletes qualify for the state meet in nine events.

At the state meet, Knoll took third in the 300 meter hurdles and fourth in the 100 meter. Carlson took third in the 3200 and fourth in the 1600.

The boys track team sent nine athletes to the state meet in 10 events. Senior Andrew Whittaker was the one to watch though. At divisionals Whittaker placed first in the 100 and 200 yard dash. He also placed in the pole vault, and was the anchor for the 400-meter relay team, which also included Brad Bell, Stevan Hibbs and Travis Knoll, that placed second at divisionals. Donny Tudahl won top honors in discus and took fourth in shot put. Roland Benedict took first in the triple jump and placed fourth in long jump.

Benedict had the best showing for Bigfork at the state meet taking first in the triple jump and placing fifth in the long jump. Whittaker took third in the 200, Tudahl took third in the discus and the relay team was fourth.

The 2008 summer arrived late in the Flathead, but the mostly-sunny months of July and August allowed for lots of boating, golfing and little league baseball and soccer. One family even made it a record-breaking summer. Sherrie Bruch, of Ferndale, and 64 family members and friends set the Guinness World Record for most people in a floating line of inner tubes.

With the new school year came new coaches and a new activities director, Matt Jensen, who was soon assisted by Matt Porrovecchio.

After a few years of decreasing numbers of players, attendance and enthusiasm, BHS football found a bit of a revival. The team more than tripled in numbers, with 45 kids suited up, but still went without a win for the third season in a row.

Sophomore Caitlin Charlebois led the 4-7-1 girls soccer team with 19 goals and five assists, which included four hat tricks, making her one of the highest scorers in the state.

The boys soccer team had a slow start to their season, but made some positive adjustments and landed themselves a spot in the state playoffs where they made it all the way to the semi-finals. After beating number one seed Corvallis, they traveled to Libby where they lost 3-1. The Vikings finished their season 3-8-3.

The volleyball team narrowly missed a trip to state themselves. They placed second in the conference in regular season play with a record of 8-2 in league play and 10-2 overall, but ended up taking third at the divisional tournament after failing to get past Polson.

The boys and girls golf teams hosted the divisional tournament, which proved to bring them luck as both teams qualified for state. At state both teams finished in eighth place. Sophomore Kyle Parker had the best individual score from Bigfork, finishing 13th.

BHS’ boys and girls cross country teams didn’t have enough athletes to qualify as teams, but individually they had strong scores at the meets throughout the year. Carlson repeated as champion of the Northwest A Divisional race. Junior Bridger Mahlum finished eighth at the meet. At state, Carlson placed sixth in a time 30 seconds faster than last year.

The biggest change that Bigfork saw in sports won’t actually be implemented until next year. In November the Montana High School Association notified the school that the enrollment numbers have dropped to a point where the school falls into the range of playing in Class B. The Bigfork School Board was given the option to submit an appeal and request that the school stay in Class A. After a lengthy community discussion at a school board meeting, the board chose not to appeal the decision, and next year BHS will compete in Class B.