FOOTBALL: Whitefish's Crittenden a Little Sullivan finalist

Derek Crittenden of Whitefish is a finalist for the Montana AAU Little Sullivan Award.

The Montana AAU convention and banquet will be held May 7 starting at 6 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kalispell. The winners will be announced that evening.

The award, patterned after the national Sullivan Award, goes to the top male and female athlete in Montana. Leadership, character and sportsmanship also play a key role in the selection process.

The other three male finalists are Brody Miller, a graduate of Missoula Sentinel; Jade Rauser, a graduate of Broadwater High School in Townsend; and Toby Erickson, a graduate of Helena High.

The four female finalists are Ahlea Billis, a graduate of Bozeman High; Janiel Olson, a graduate of Billings West; McCalle Feller, a graduate of Fergus High School graduate; and Peyton Ferris, a graduate from Twin Bridges.

Montana’s Little Sullivan Award was started by David and Ella Revenes in 1955.

Crittenden will graduate from the University of Montana in 2016 after a stellar academic and football career in Missoula. He was a Rhodes Scholar finalist his senior season and also received the Mickey Charles Award (Football Championship Subdivision’s Outstanding Student Athlete) and was a finalist for the Academic Heisman — the William V. Campbell Trophy.

He holds a 4.0 GPA at UM with degrees in philosophy, mathematics and chemistry. He was presented with the President’s Award in 2015 for the highest GPA.

Crittenden will pursue a pharmaceutical degree in graduate school.

At Whitefish, he lettered three years in football and wrestling and four times in track. He was an all-state defensive selection.

The 6-foot-3 defensive end for the Grizzlies saw action in all 11 games his senior season. He totaled 53 tackles (14 solo and 39 assisted), which was eighth best on the team, had seven tackles for loss, which totaled 21 yards, and had 2 1/2 sacks for minus 14 yards.

Crittenden also had a fumble recovery and a safety.

Rauser just completed his wrestling career at Utah Valley. He qualified for four NCAA Division I Championships, finishing his final season with a 24-9 record. In all-time victories at the school, he is fifth with a 77-32 mark.

In high school he was a four-time state champ and compiled a 175-0 record.

Erickson is currently the 20th ranked heavyweight wrestler in the world in Greco Roman. He’s been a member of Team USA for three years, where he is ranked second at 286 pounds.

In 2015 he was second in the U.S. World Team Trials and second in the U.S. Open.

He currently wrestles for the New York Athletic Club. He attended both Boise State and Northern Michigan.

In high school he was a two-time state heavyweight champion for the Bengals.

Miller wrapped up a standout baseball career at Montana State University-Billings, where he holds 14 school records and was a two-time GNAC Player of the Year.

He played football at Sentinel and was a second baseman for the Missoula Mavericks, earning all-conference three times.

Billis was a four-year starter for Rocky Mountain College in volleyball, earning four AVCA Academic Team Awards, all-conference Frontier Conference four times, including Player of the Year her final season. She was also a NAIA All-American honorable mention selection.

Billis had 44 career double-double (kills-digs). Her 24 for a season and 44 career double-doubles are NAIA records.

In high school, she was a first team all-conference performer.

Olson is the all-time leading rebounder for MSU-Billings with 961 and tied the GNCA tournament record with 17 rebounds in a game. She finished with 1,001 rebounds, which puts her fourth all-time in the GNAC.

She was a four-year letterwinner in high school at West, earning all-conference and all-state honors.

Feller set a Lady Griz record with 75 treys for a season. She is one of three UM players to have back-to-back 30-point plus games and one of 34 UM players to have scored more than 1,000.

She has collected Big Sky academic and player honors.

In high school, Feller averaged 12.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game as a senior. She is the school’s No. 2 career scorer.

Ferris, a guard at Montana State University, averaged 21.4 minutes per game. Off the bench she averaged 16.3 points per game and had three double-doubles this past season. In a 33-point performance against Weber State, she made 16 of 17 field goals, which set a new MSU record at 94.1 percent.

At Twin Bridges, she was a four time all-state and all-conference player.

NOTE: Statistics and information on the eight finalists courtesy of Mike Ward, Montana AAU Little Sullivan Award Chairman.