Four Wildkats, 3 Valkyries headline All-State squads

Unbeaten all season, the postseason has been pretty good as well for the Columbia Falls Wildkats, who had four girls selected as All-State for Class A soccer by the North A coaches.

Riley Bird, Alexa Friske, Taylor Rodgers and Bella Mann all received All-State honors after helping the Wildkats go 13-0-2, including a 4-0 win over Bigfork in the state championship. 

Mann had 17 goals and six assists for the Kats; Rodgers had 11 goals and 19 assists. Byrd also had 11 goals and seven assists while Friske, a defender, had one goal and one assist. 

Friske and Bird are juniors and Rodgers and Mann are seniors; Friske is a repeat All-State selection while Rodgers landed the honor for a third time.  

State runnerup Bigfork had three girls selected All-State, including senior goal keeper Irelynd Vigil. Paeten Gunlock, who had 17 goals and 10 assists, and fellow senior Ione Plummer (9 goals, 3 assists) were also All-State. For Gunlock and Vigil, it’s their second straight selection. 

Eleven players were named first-team all-conference, with nine of those landing All-State honors. Whitefish had the final two All-State picks: Freshman Alley Bingham (8 goals, 8 assists) and sophomore defender Sage Ordway (4 goals). 

Columbia Falls senior Isla Alexander and Thompson Falls-Plains freshman Katherine Wrobleski grabbing the final two all-conference spots. 

In the Southwest A, Polson’s Kellyn Nelson, a senior, was named first-team all-conference. 

The complete honors teams follow:  

North A Girls 

First Team 

Alley Bingham, fr., M    Whitefish* 

Riley Bird, jr., M    Col. Falls* 

Alexa Friske, jr., D    Col. Falls* 

Sage Ordway, so., D    Whitefish* 

Ione Plummer, sr., F/M    Bigfork* 

Taylor Rodgers, sr., M    Columbia Falls* 

Irelynd Vigil, sr., GK    Bigfork* 

Bella Mann, sr., F    Columbia Falls* 

Paeten Gunlock, sr., F    Bigfork* 

Isla Alexander, sr., D    Columbia Falls 

Katherine Wrobleski, fr., F T-Falls/Plains 

Second Team — Brynn Bagley, sr., F/M, Bigfork; Zoey Bernall, so., D, Libby; Adelle Flynn, fr., M, Whitefish; Mila Jones, sr., M, Columbia Falls; Taylor Johnson, sr., D, Bigfork; Onnikka Lawrence, jr., F, Columbia Falls; Ava Lawyer, jr., GK, Thompson Falls-Plains; Solvieg Nygard, sr., F, Thompson Falls-Plains; Tatiana Raymond, jr., M, Columbia Falls; Neva Sliman, fr., M, Whitefish; Jacie Solem, sr., GK, Whitefish. 

Honorable Mention — Mickie Anderson, jr., M, Bigfork; Elaina Door, sr., GK, Columbia Falls; Evie Door, so., M, Columbia Falls; Taylor Corvallis, sr., F, Whitefish; Delaney Kirby, sr., D, Bigfork.  

Southwest A Girls 

First Team 

Emerson Laird, fr., M    Missoula Loyola* 

Annalise Lewis, jr., M    Hamilton* 

Emma McKoy, sr., GK    Stevensville* 

Kate Allen, jr., F    Corvallis* 

Sophia Rheinhardt, jr., D    Frenchtown* 

Gianna Ruprecht, sr., D    Stevensville* 

Greta Gantz, jr., M    Hamilton* 

Addisen Nobi, so., M    Stevensville 

Kellyn Nelson, sr., M    Polson 

Ellie Hughes, jr., D    Hamilton 

Hattie Taylor, so., GK    Missoula Loyola 

Second Team — Natalya Chvilicek, sr., D, Stevensville; Madigan Hurlbert, jr., F, Stevensville; Amya Lindauer, so., D, Loyola; Olivia Ramirez, so., GK, Polson; Mia Faulk, sr., GK, Hamilton; Harlow Waln, fr., M, Frenchtown; Shyanne Waitt, sr., M, Corvallis; Lily Tucker, so., M, Frenchtown; Ciri Nice, sr., D, Polson; Deci Endres, fr., M, Stevensville; Charlotte Tobiason, 8, M, Loyola. 

Honorable Mention — Amelia Stene, jr., F, Polson; Luciana Cowmey, fr., M, Loyola; Isadora Neal, I, M, Hamilton; Anya Hammill, so., D, Corvallis; Raina Hiesterman, 8, D, Stevensville; MacKenzie Ochsner, jr., M, Frenchtown. 

NOTE: This article has been updated to show Alexa Friske as one of the four Columbia Falls All-State picks in the second graph.