A Top 10 full of dudes and dudettes

The year 2024 came and went so quick, I forgot to do a best-of column. Too late now. 

Ha! We’re kidding. So much happened that I was a witness to, this thing had to be written.

Even so we’ll start with the honorable mention, which are things I didn’t see in person and wish I had.  

That does not include Monday’s FCS title game, which even though it took place this year is officially the 2024 championship. The fast start and victory belonged, once again, to North Dakota State. Montana State fell to 15-1 with a 35-32 defeat.  

I’d witnessed the Grizzlies lose four of these games in person, so when I didn’t get to this one, I figured certainly the Bobcats would win. I won’t get too much into the weeds on their defeat, but I did notice something in common between Monday’s game and most of those Griz title losses: A fatal dose of, “No, let’s stick with what’s not working.” 

I missed the 2024 state softball tournaments, though I did watch Glacier beat Columbia Falls 7-0 in a matchup of defending state champions on a chilly day in March. Kenadie Goudette hit the first of her 11 home runs (teammate Zoey Allen hit 14 taters last season) that day. Ella Farrell threw a shutout. The Wolfpack ended up back in the AA championship and lost narrowly to Helena Capital; Columbia Falls — Maddie Moultray, Haden Peters, Demye Rensel, Tayler Lingle and more — picked up its second straight State A crown. 

Speaking of Columbia Falls, shout out to Malachi Simpson, whose time of 21.67 seconds in the State A 200 meters in Laurel vanquished the old record of 21.86 set 21 years before. I saw Havre’s Steve Heberly run in 2003, and getting his name off the record book is a feat. 

Speaking of Glacier, on April 20 Wolfpack product Kynzie Mohl got a rare start for the Montana softball team. She cranked a three-run triple and three-run double against Portland State in a 9-1 win. It turned out to be the Grizzlies’ only conference victory. Mohl had four home runs in 48 at-bats in 2024. Hope the new coach plays her more. 

I missed the state wrestling tournament for the first time since 2020, which means I missed individual titles for Anders Thompson, Sawyer Troupe and Bella Downing, and the Brave Brawlers’ and Bravettes’ trophy finishes. Ditto for the individual titles for Glacier’s Kaura and Nikola Coles and Columbia Falls’ Traic Fainter. 

My soccer knowledge remains embarrassingly negligible, but I do know this: Whitefish and Columbia Falls just keep winning. Both schools saw their boys and girls make the State A semifinals; Whitefish advanced to the boys final, losing 3-2 to Billings Central. 

Back to Columbia Falls again: It was an honor to write up the retirement of Cary Finberg, the venerable basketball coach and (I suppose) less importantly, then-owner of the Columbia Bar.  

Sheesh, I might be getting old. Here’s the Top 10. 

10. Another coach retirement on my watch was that of Mark Harkins, who stepped down as boys basketball coach at the end of the 2023-24 season. His last home game was a dominant 63-40 win over Missoula Hellgate, which was followed by a celebration in which the microphone made the rounds but never got to Harkins himself. “I’m glad they didn’t. I’m not very good at speeches,” he said.   

9. In May Columbia Falls, behind Reggie Sapa, Kellen Kroger, AC Chilson and Cody Schweikert, took third at the second-ever State Baseball Tournament in Missoula. The first three names had been mainstays on the Glacier Twins Legion team; Schweikert hadn’t picked up a bat in who knows how long, but he went first-to-third with the best of them.  

8. In March Schweikert and Sapa helped the Wildcats finish third at the State A basketball tournament. Sapa had a huge consolation game, with 16 points in 15 minutes. He was still playing in pain after fracturing his leg the previous football season. 

7. The aforementioned Twins were crowned co-champions after rain washed away the final of the State A tournament at O’Malley Park in Polson.  It marked their first state title, shared or outright, since 2018. It was also a fitting send-off for retiring coach Kevin Slaybaugh. Kroger, Nolan Amerman and Maddox Muller all earned post-season honors. 

6. Brody Thornsberry and Kennedy Moore. The two grew up in the same house, and the siblings-but-not-really-but-yeah-really each earned Division I scholarships out of Flathead High. Thornsberry went to Montana for track; Moore went across the country to play basketball for Wake Forest.  

5. Speaking of Flathead, the State AA track and field meet in Great Falls had plenty of highlights, but my favorite might have been Alivia Rinehart’s 300-meter hurdles race. She clipped a hurdle, fell and still finished third. Then she came back and won the 200. 

4. Staying on the topic, the Flathead boys notably scored five points at state in 2021. Three years later they nearly won their first state title since they tied for the 2015 championship. The Braves had enough speed to set two all-class relay records, and their 1,600-meter relay — Lane Chivers, Ben Bliven, Thornsberry and William Hollensteiner — knocked over two seconds off: 3:15.92. Flathead scored 77 points, and Gallatin won with 84. 

3.  Wolfpack footballers play in their second straight State AA championship. Glacier’s 2023 team was fortified by several seniors who’d built to that moment. The 2024 team had talent, certainly, but I don’t think many thought they’d dominate Gallatin in a 46-27 semifinal win. That put them back in the title game, where they lost to Capital for a second time this season. Kobe Dorcheus was a beast that icy night in Helena. He was also one of nine All-State picks off the team. His 1,726 rushing yards are a Glacier single-season record.  

2. Bigfork Valkyries take second at the State A. The Vals were so close to a rare double: Back-to-back girls basketball championships in different classes. The defending B champs got to the State A title game thanks to a buzzer-beater from Ava Davey the night before. The Vals owned a 38-36 lead over Billings Central with 5:43 left in the final, and didn’t score again. To that point they were 13 of 16 on free throws; they wouldn’t get another attempt. I noted that at the time, and I just noted it again.  

1. Touchdown Tommy. The MSU Bobcats just about completed an unbeaten season, and Tommy Mellott out of Butte, America was a huge part. His progress as a passer let him save his legs for the playoffs, where he piled up 410 of his 1,050 rushing yards. In this business the rule is no cheering allowed in the press box. But you can chuckle, and when Mellott had trouble with a snap against South Dakota, recovered the ball and then sprinted 41 yards for the score at Bobcat Stadium? That was plain laughter.  

Back in 2011, after a guy named Tim Flanders led Sam Houston over UM 31-28 in the FCS semifinals, Griz linebacker Caleb McSurdy simply said, “They’ve got some dudes.” Mellott is a dude.  

Here’s to more dudes and dudettes in 2025. 

Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 758-4463 or at fneighbor@dailyinterlake.com.