Whitefish’s athletic feats of the year

Winter  

A relatively young team of Whitefish wrestlers ended the season with a solid showing at state on Feb. 9-10 in Billings, despite battling injuries all season. At 132-pounds, Landree Aurand picked up a first-round pin over Miles City’s Maddox Malloy in 1:12. Senior Henry Bennetts won his first round in the 160-pound bracket. Sam Akey and Samantha Bennetts had strong performances as well.  

Both the Whitefish boys and girls swim teams placed fourth at 2024 MHSA State A and B meet in Great Falls in February. Gretel Vine, Avery Theis, Sophie McDermott, Georgia Morrell, Emi Qunell, Landon Brown, Gavin Sibson, Logan Hyland and Ryland Armstrong all placed in the top six of their individual events.  

The Lady Bulldog basketball team bested Libby in overtime, and Bailey Smith scored 22 points in a win against Ronan at the Northwest A conference tournament in the first week of February. They dropped two matches to Columbia Falls and ended the season 5-13 overall.  

The play-in matchup for the right to advance to the main divisional tournament was a battle for the boys basketball team on Feb. 18. They were ultimately bested by Ronan, a team that they had both beaten and lost to in the regular season, ending their season with an 11-9 record.  

On the slopes 

Jacob Dewey, 24, claimed first in the annual Whitefish Whiteout skimo race Feb. 10 at Whitefish Mountain Resort, while 38-year-old Maria Lamb placed first among women.  

The Special Olympics Montana Glacier Area Winter Games were held at Whitefish Mountain Resort on Thursday, Feb. 29. Numerous competitors of all levels of experience competed in races such as alpine slalom. 

The Flathead Valley Ski Education Foundation hosted a series of youth races at Whitefish Mountain Resort Feb. 23-25 on Ed’s Run. Over 110 athletes from Northern Division teams including FVSEF, Blacktail, Missoula, Discovery, Great Divide, Bridger, Big Sky, Red Lodge, Casper (WY), and the Black Hills (SD) participated, including 23 from Flathead. 

Later in the season, FVSEF athletes earned a third-place overall team award within the Northern Division in Red Lodge.  

Glacier Nordic Club athletes Liam Browne from Kalispell, Findely Dezzani from Columbia Falls and Maeve Ingelfinger from Whitefish performed admirably throughout the season. 

Ingelfinger won two titles and skied an impressive leg of the second place U18 relay at the Junior National Championships in Lake Placid, New York in March. She also competed in Sweden for the World Cup Circuit, the highest level of Nordic racing internationally. 

The Nate Chute snowboard races, in its 25th year, drew the usual stacked field of shredders on March 17 at Whitefish Mountain Resort. Kyle Anderson took home the top prize in the men's open division and Audrey Hebert won the women’s open division.  

Whitefish High School senior and Flathead Freeride Club skier Townsend Reed won the International Free Skiing Association's Junior Freeride Championship in Breckenridge, Co. on April 13.  

Spring  

Whitefish tennis qualified 11 players for the State A tournament and swept the team titles at the Northwest A Divisionals May 13 –15.  

Mason Kelch and Dane Hunt defeated Whitefish teammates Buren Brust and Jesse Burrough in the Northwest A divisional boys doubles championship match. The two boys teams joined the girls pairings of Ainsley Scott and Maggie Mercer, and Camry Kelch and Zoey Marzo, while Jake Oelerich, Alivia Lusko and Liesl Brust qualified for state in singles.  

The boys then took third and the girls seventh at the MHSA State A Tennis Championships in Kalispell May 23-24. 

“What a difference a year makes,” Whitefish girls tennis coach Pat Dryden said. “Last year we struggled to field a full varsity team and this year we went 13-2 in duals, qualified six girls for state and just captured a division title.” 

In track, the Bulldog women placed second as a team at the Class A State Track and Field Championships. Strong relay teams and the performances of, Rachael Wilmot, Hailey Ells, Maeve Ingelfinger and Bailey Smith earned solid points for the team.  

The boys track and field team took third at state with dominant performances by Carson Krack and Simon Douglas.  

The Bulldog baseball teams fell in two games at the Montana State Baseball Tournament on May 16-17. They finished the season 8-13. 

Summer  

Nearly 1,110 finishers crossed the finish line of the Whitefish Marathon, Half Marathon and 5K on May 18, establishing a new record for the long-standing event and ranking it as one of the three largest marathons in the state.   

The Whitefish Lake Triathlon hosted 165 athletes on June 19 from 13 states and one Canadian province, with locals Ryan Seguine and Carrie Jacobs coming away with wins. 

The Glacier Twins topped the Lakers for the State A tournament berth in Florence on July 18 and were first in conference and district champions. The Twins went on to win two at the 2024 Class A Northwest Regional Tournament in Roseburg, Oregon in August. They finished the season 42-15. 

Badrock Baseball won Gold in the 13U D2 division at the Triple Crown Baseball World Series in Vail Valley, Colorado. The four-day tournament took place July 9-14 against teams from across the country.  

Whitefish High School alum and decathlete Lee Walburn, who graduated from Washington State University in May, placed seventh in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, earning first team All-America honors and raising his rank to eighth in the nation.  

Two weeks later, Walburn competed in the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials held in the same stadium, but his meet was cut short after eight events when he suffered a ruptured Achilles. Still, he ended up in 15th place without the final two events.  

Whitefish native Nicole Heavirland traveled to Paris as a part of the U.S. women’s rugby team. She was an alternate for what was her third Olympic showing. The team came away with their first ever Olympic medal, a bronze.   

The Last Best Ride had an estimated 550 participants, 125 volunteers and over 1,000 supporters in Whitefish the last weekend in July for the fourth edition of the gravel race. 

Fall  

The girls and boys golf teams went on to finish the season second and fourth at the State A tournament Oct. 5. in Polson. It was a huge improvement from 2023, when both the girls and boys golf teams ended the season with fifth place finishes at divisionals.  

Over 550 runners blazed the Whitefish Trail on Oct. 5, taking part in the 15th annual trail running event hosted by Whitefish Legacy Partners. Previously called the Whitefish Trail Legacy Run, the new event, The Whitefish Trail Blazer, featured a more mountainous 50k on Big Mountain.  

Racing at Missoula’s University of Montana, Whitefish senior cross country runner Simon Douglass placed sixth with a time of 16:42.46 at the all-class state meet on Oct. 26.  Ethan Amick, Logan Hyland and Luca Gignoux contributed to a 14th place team finsh.  

In the girls state race, the tightly packed Lady Bulldog runners bunched up to place ninth as a team, led by Maren Cromie placing 30th, followed by Grace Inabnit, Sophie Douglas, Kellie Klepper, Sierra Gibb, Whitney Workman and Astir Pulsifer. 

Whitefish volleyball led the Northwest A Conference for much of the season, capped with a five-set conference tournament victory on Oct. 29. Mylie Ridgeway and teammate Isabella Hartwig were standout players as the team finished the regular season 11-3 and 10-2 in the conference. At the state tournament, they had tough losses to Bigfork and Dillon.  

The Whitefish girls soccer team had a season they can be proud of after exemplary teamwork earned them a place in the State Class A semifinals. The Lady Bulldogs finished the year with a record of 10-4-1 after they lost to the Laurel Locomotives, 3-0 on Oct. 26.  The team was led by new head coach Kelly Ordway.  

The Montana Class A State boys soccer championship game was a rematch between the Whitefish Bulldogs and the undefeated Billing Central Rams. Whitefish won in 2023, but this time around the Rams came out on top in a thrilling 3-2 win in overtime.  

Eric Sawtelle, in his first year as head boys soccer coach, said he was proud of the team and happy with how they played in the title match. He noted the season they have had, finishing with a record of 11-3-1. Their only losses came from matches with Billings Central and Columbia Falls. 

The Bulldogs’ football season came to an end Nov. 9 in a tough 55-21 quarterfinals loss to Billings Central. They improved greatly throughout the season and went into the quarterfinal playoff game with a five-game win streak. They ended the season 7-4 overall. The week prior, quarterback Carson Gulick dove and flipped into the endzone on fourth-and-goal with 48 seconds left to put Whitefish ahead of Bigfork for a 24-21 victory in the first round of the Class A football playoffs. 

Whitefish posted five players to the All-State football team for Class A: first-team picks were Gulick (quarterback, safety), CJ Thew (receiver and cornerback), Scotty Dalen (defensive end), Riley Zetooney (running back) and Sam Akey (offensive and defensive line). 

    Whitefish's Brooke Zetooney placed first in the girls 100 meter run at the Archie Roe Invitational at Legends Stadium on Saturday, May 4. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Alaina Murr, with the Whitefish Bulldogs team, weaves between gates in the Alpine Glide event with Dream Adaptive Program Staff Johnny Middleton during the Special Olympics Montana Glacier Area Winter Games at Whitefish Mountain Resort on Thursday, Feb. 29. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Jacob Dewey leads the pack up NBC at Whitefish Mountain Resort during the annual Whitefish Whiteout skimo race on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. (Matt Baldwin/Whitefish Pilot)
 Casey Kreider   

    Whitefish quarterback Carson Gulick throws a pass in a game on Sept. 20. (Chris Peterson/Hungry Horse News)
  

    Two runners off to a quick start at the Whitefish Marathon. (Julie Engler/Whitefish Pilot)
  

    Whitefish high school senior Maeve Ingelfinger competed in Sweden in January where she earned fourth place in the 10K classic race. (Photo provided)