Whitefish girls win state title, boys finish fifth behind Douglas' gold
Whitefish women's track and field takes the state title. (Matt Weller photo)
Ethan Amick, Simon Douglas, Colby Minton and Preston McPherson finish first in the Men's 4X400 Relay. (Matt Weller photo) .
Whitefish Bulldogs Colby Minton (left) and Preston McPherson (right) compete in the Men's 400-meter race on Friday at the State Championship meet. Minton ended up in the sixth position overall with a time of 50.57. (Matt Weller photo)
Whitefish's Rachael Wilmot sprints to a first-place finish in the girls 100 meter run at the Class A state track and field meet at Legends Stadium on Saturday, May 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Whitefish's Ginger Bergland took second place in the girls 300 meter hurdles at the Class A state track and field meet at Legends Stadium on Saturday, May 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
After receiving the baton from Ethan Amick, Simon Douglas sprints away on the final leg of the Men's 4X400 Relay . The squad would finish first overall on their last race as Whitefish Bulldogs. (Matt Weller photo)
Whitefish Junior, Sol Holmquist, earns a podium spot with a personal best throw of 111-11 at the Montana Class A State Championship on Friday. (Matt Weller photo)
Whitefish freshman, Grace Sliman, set a personal best height of 5'4" in the high jump at the Montana Class A State Championship on Saturday. This performance put her atop the podium, first overall. (Matt Weller photo)
Whitefish women's track and field takes the state title. (Matt Weller photo)
Whitefish's Grace Sliman clears 5' in the girls' high jump at the Class A state track and field meet at Legends Stadium on Saturday, May 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
The Whitefish Bulldogs made their mark at the Class A State Track and Field Championships over the weekend at Legends Stadium, with the girls claiming the team title and the boys notching a top-five finish behind a pair of thrilling races from senior Simon Douglas.
Led by dominant sprint performances from Rachael Wilmot and a clutch high jump win from freshman Grace Sliman, the Whitefish girls tallied 74 points to outpace Havre (60) and Hamilton (56) in a tightly contested team race. The victory marks Whitefish’s first girls state championship since 2022 and the program’s sixth overall.
Wilmot led the way with a clean sweep of the sprint events. The junior powered through the 100 meters in 12.47 seconds and returned later to win the 200 in 25.05, both times holding off strong charges from Laurel’s Kaitlyn Dantic and Havre’s Macy Brandon.
Another standout was freshman Grace Sliman, who cleared a personal-best 5 feet, 4 inches in the high jump to claim the state title and secure more critical points for Whitefish.
Fellow freshman Ginger Bergland also delivered a high-impact performance, taking second in both the 100-meter hurdles (15.63) and 300-meter hurdles (45.79). Bergland chased Stevensville standout Reagan Johnstone in both races, giving Whitefish another 16 points from just two events.
The Bulldogs closed out the meet with a fourth-place finish in the 1,600-meter relay (4:06.46), sealing the title well before the final handoff.
On the boys side, Whitefish finished fifth overall with 40 points, thanks in large part to Simon Douglas, who capped off his senior season with a thrilling victory in the 800 meters.
After placing second in the 1,600 meters on Friday — edged at the line by Livingston’s Finn Schretenthaler — Douglas returned with a strategic run in the 800. He stayed tucked behind the leader for the first lap before surging ahead with 200 meters to go, winning in 1:56.37.
The win capped a remarkable career for Douglas, who also anchored Whitefish’s victorious 4x400 relay team that claimed the state title in 3:23.62, narrowly beating Hamilton at the line. Douglas teamed with Colby Minton, Ethan Amick, and Preston McPherson to clinch the win.
In the 100 meters, Riley Zetooney clocked 11.43 seconds to finish fifth, adding four points to the team total in a tightly packed final.
Carson Gulick tied for fifth in the boys high jump at 6 feet even and finished fourth in the 110 hurdles in 15.44.
The Bulldogs' state championship run was made more impressive given the graduation of past stars Brooke Zetooney and Hailey Ells, who had been instrumental in Whitefish’s recent success.
But with new leaders like Wilmot and rising freshmen like Sliman and Bergland, the future looks bright for Whitefish girls track and field.
While Whitefish took fifth in the boys standings, the race for the championship came down to a single point. Corvallis edged Frenchtown 76-75, with Laurel finishing third at 64. Columbia Falls placed fourth with 55.
Ethan Amick, Simon Douglas, Colby Minton and Preston McPherson finish first in the Men's 4X400 Relay. (Matt Weller photo) .
Whitefish Bulldogs Colby Minton (left) and Preston McPherson (right) compete in the Men's 400-meter race on Friday at the State Championship meet. Minton ended up in the sixth position overall with a time of 50.57. (Matt Weller photo)
Whitefish's Rachael Wilmot sprints to a first-place finish in the girls 100 meter run at the Class A state track and field meet at Legends Stadium on Saturday, May 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
Whitefish's Ginger Bergland took second place in the girls 300 meter hurdles at the Class A state track and field meet at Legends Stadium on Saturday, May 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider
After receiving the baton from Ethan Amick, Simon Douglas sprints away on the final leg of the Men's 4X400 Relay . The squad would finish first overall on their last race as Whitefish Bulldogs. (Matt Weller photo)
Whitefish Junior, Sol Holmquist, earns a podium spot with a personal best throw of 111-11 at the Montana Class A State Championship on Friday. (Matt Weller photo)
Whitefish women's track and field takes the state title. (Matt Weller photo)
Whitefish's Grace Sliman clears 5' in the girls' high jump at the Class A state track and field meet at Legends Stadium on Saturday, May 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider