No headline

The Daily Inter Lake

Payton Hume, a 2018 state wrestling champion at 170 pounds and two-time state finalist, signed a wrestling scholarship to the University of Mary, a NCAA Division II school, on Thursday.

The University of Mary recruited Payton Hume for the 165-pound weight class for college. Hume carries a 3.5 GPA and plans to major in Math education.

Hume finished his season with a record of 47-4 by beating two-time state champion Brock Bushfield of Billings Skyview in the finals 11-1.

He was a 2017 state runner-up at 152 and a three-time state placer.

Hume has been to Junior Nationals the last three years and has won many matches in those events.

He was also a Western Regional champion in folkstyle and a placer in freestyle this spring. He has won multiple state freestyle and Greco championships and wrestled for Team Montana the last three years for the Western State Duals.

“Payton is a tough young man that is very talented and would be a great addition to the college practice room,” Flathead High School Jeff Thompson said.

“Payton is one of those wrestlers that just can’t get enough. He wrestles year-round and loves to work out. He is very passionate about the sport and will no doubt be successful in college.”

Buffalo Hill Golf Club opens Cameron 9 for play today

The Cameron 9 and the practice facility at Buffalo Hill Golf Club will open for the season today at 8 a.m.

The 18-hole course will open in the near future as conditions allow.

For tee times call 756-4547.

Casey Keyser is the new head golf professional at Buffalo Hill.

Keyser played high school golf at Flathead and collegiately at Boise State.

Gus Thompson Memorial Spring Warm-up on April 21

The 4th Annual Gus Thompson Memorial Spring Warm-up Baseball Games will be held at Thompson Memorial Park and Field on Saturday, April 21, at 1 p.m.

For the first game, 5 Guys Burgers and Fries will face off against Swank Construction, both from the Kalispell Pee Wee 10U league. Following that, at approximately 3 p.m., two 12U teams, Sunriser Lions and Kalispell Elks Club will do battle. There will be a brief opening ceremony for each game and an MVP award will be given to a player from each of the four teams.

Spectators are reminded to bring their own seating.

The event gives tribute to ‘The Father of Kalispell Baseball,’ John Gustav (Gus) Thompson, a long-time Kalispell businessman and a pitcher in the 1903 World Series.

The field is located at the corner of Eighth Avenue East and Ninth Street East in Kalispell.

Tilynne Vasquez

takes wrestling title

at Flo Reno Worlds

Tilynne Vasquez, a sophomore at Flathead High School, pinned her way to the 108-pound wrestling title in Reno, Nevada, at the Flo Reno Worlds on April 6-8.

Vasquez wrestled five times. Competing for the Kalispell Wrestling Club, she pinned Julienne Mariscal of El Paso Sun Devil’s Wrestling Club in the first round in 30 seconds, stuck Kaitlynn Gomez of Popeye Wrestling in the third round in 1:38, pinned C. Simmons of Central in round four in 1:39 and Aubrey Navarro, unattached, twice — in round four in 5:32 and round five in 1:03.

Vasquez is a two-time Class AA state placer for FHS. She was sixth as a freshman and was fourth back in February in Billings, which was the best showing by a girl in state history.

Vasquez is a Pan-American Games champion. The United World Wrestling championships in May is her next major event.

Austin to retire from MHSA this summer

HELENA (MHSA press release) — Joanne Austin, longtime Montana High School Association (MHSA) employee, has announced her retirement effective June 30, 2018.

Austin, who has been with the MHSA since 1986, has served as a member of the office staff, as assistant director and for the last thirteen years as Associate Director.

During the course of thirty-two years, her responsibilities included soccer, speech and drama, music, state tournament administration and track and field administration. She also served as the MHSA Gender Equity Compliance Officer for most of her tenure. Austin is known throughout our state and nationally for her gender equity expertise. She has conducted workshops numerous times at the state and national level. She was awarded the MHSA James C. Haugen Meritorious Service Award (for outstanding contributions to the MHSA) in 2005.

MHSA reclassification: Belgrade to move to AA, Arlee jumps to B

HELENA (MHSA press release) — The Montana High School Association Executive Board conducted a regularly scheduled meeting on April 9-10, reviewing reports regarding recently held state tournaments in wrestling, basketball and swimming.

Effective in 2019-2020, the following schools were reclassified and assigned to the district/divisions as indicated (district and division assignments are tentative with final action on alignment to be taken at the November Executive Board Meeting): Belgrade High School from Class A to Class AA — Belgrade High School is tentatively assigned to the Class AA Eastern Division; Arlee High School from Class C to Class B — Arlee High School is tentatively assigned to District 6B for basketball, volleyball and track and field and Class B for cross country (Arlee will remain in the Western Division for Eight-Player football, B-C softball and B-C wrestling) and Great Falls Central Catholic High School from Class C to Class B — Great Falls Central Catholic High School is tentatively assigned to District 1B for basketball, volleyball and track and field, Class B for cross country, and Division 1 for golf (Great Falls Central will remain in the Northern Division for Eight-Player football, the Southern Division for B-C wrestling, the Eastern Division for B-C softball and the Northwest Division in B-C tennis).

The following schools met the enrollment guidelines to change classifications, but petitioned the board to remain in their current classification: Butte Central Catholic High School will remain in Class A and? Fairfield High School will remain in Class B.

The board approved a combined state basketball tournament for Class C (eight teams for boys and girls) effective in 2019-2020, approved Eight-Player football hosting their state championship game each year between Butte and the Billings area (effective 2018-19) and approved (because of the inclement spring weather) waiving the requirement that for an athlete to be eligible to compete in post-season competition, he/she must compete in two MHSA sanctioned meets during the regular track and field season. This requirement is waived for this season only.

Kalispell Lakers Baseball Camp on April 20 at Griffin Field

The 2018 Kalispell Lakers Baseball Camp will be held Friday, April 20, from 5-9 p.m. at Griffin Field.

The camp is for youngsters ages 8-15. It will feature baseball fundamentals in throwing and fielding with a special emphasis on hitting.

The registration deadline is Monday.

The cost is $40 per camper and includes a T-shirt and pizza. The family fee for two campers is $75.

Kalispell Lakers Baseball team members and coaches will conduct the clinic.

Registration forms can be downloaded at www.kalispelllakers.org.