Locals qualify for national HS rodeo
Four Flathead Valley-area prep students qualified to represent Montana at the National High School Finals Rodeo with their performances at the state high school rodeo last weekend.
Brooke Wilson, a Bigfork native, led the way with a victory in barrel racing. She finished in 15.46 seconds, two-tenths of a second faster than the second-place finisher.
Her win was a continuation of her dominance in the event throughout the season. Wilson accumulated 150 total points over the course of the circuit, while her two closest competitors had 122.
Kalispell’s Tyrell Toren was the only rider from the area to qualify for nationals in two events.
Though he did not post a score at the state rodeo, Toren’s 69.5 points accrued over the season in bull riding were enough to punch his ticket to the NHSFR. He also did not register a score in saddle bronc, but his 70 points from the season were enough to advance.
Another Kalispell native, Dalton May, finished second in bareback riding with 144 points on the year, just four points off the state leader.
Essex’s McKinnon Little snagged the final qualifying spot in breakaway roping, edging out Arena Plenty for fourth place. Little earned 103 points on the season, 26 points back of first place.
Each of the four athletes will ride for Montana at the NHSFR, which will be held on July 16-22 in Gillette, Wyoming.
Hashley hired by UGF
GREAT FALLS — The University of Great Falls has hired Kalispell’s Doug Hashley to be its new Assistant Athletic Director of Facilities & Event Management.
“As we continue to try and grow Argo athletics in quantity and quality, hiring someone to manage our facilities and oversee our events was an absolute must,” UGF vice president for athletics Dave Gantt said in a press release.
“As soon as we created the position, I knew Doug was the man for the job. He’s been a successful player, coach, and administrator at multiple levels of athletics and has deep roots in the Montana sports community.”
Hashley, an elementary and middle school teacher in Kalispell and head and assistant coach in various sports for the last 28 years, will move to Great Falls for the position after his youngest child graduated this spring.
Hashley is best known for his exploits as a star basketball player for Big Sandy and Montana State University. The big man, in size and position, is still the Bobcats’ second all-time rebounder and is the seventh all-time rebounder in the Big Sky Conference. He was first-team all-Big Sky once and second team all-conference twice in his career, and in 2008, he was inducted into the Bobcat Hall of Fame.
Hashley has been both an elementary and middle school physical education teacher, and has coached multiple sports. He was the head boys’ basketball coach at Flathead from 1994-97 and the head girls’ basketball coach at Glacier from 2007-10. He has also been an assistant coach for Flathead’s football, softball, track, and girls’ basketball teams, and has served an assistant for Glacier’s boys’ basketball team since 2013. He also served as the activities director at Kalispell Middle School from 2007-10.
Rose Grant wins mountain bike race in Missoula
MISSOULA — Columbia Falls’ Rose Grant won twice over the weekend at the Missoula XC mountain bike race at Marshall Mountain.
Grant won the UCI elite women’s cross country race in 1 hour, 37 minutes, 7 seconds on Saturday, holding off a charge from Argentina’s Sofia Gomez Villafane by two seconds.
Grant won the short track event on Sunday in 24:13, topping Gomez Villafane again, this time by 11 seconds.