Golf is the first sport to get underway for high school athletes and Sam Engellant and the Glacier Wolfpack have spent the first two weeks of their season setting high expectations.
Last year Engellant lost in a playoff at the state tournament, but he is the clear favorite to win outright in October and the rest of his team is making a strong case to repeat.
The defending state champions won this week’s MCPS Invitational with Engellant taking top honors and teammate Torren Murray finishing second.
The Wolfpack girls also won the team title at MCPS behind junior Kendall Tkachyk claiming top honors. Northern Pines Golf Club in Kalispell is hosting the Class AA tournament this, offering the Wolfpack a home course advantage.
The Whitefish golf teams will be led by first-year coach Shaun Forrest and are aiming to send two teams to the state tournament. The girls team will bring back state qualifier Rylee Scott and add Stella Jaffe, who played in California last year and will be one to watch towards the top of the Class A ranks. The Whitefish boys won the team title in 2020 and brought home trophies in 2021 and 2022 but return just one state qualifier, Otto Klein.
Bigfork senior Keni Wade was the Class B state champion as a sophom*ore and finished runner-up last year in Class A — she’ll again be chasing an individual title to close out her high school career. The Class A state tournament will be held in Polson, giving Wade a bit of a local advantage.
Flag Football
Since the Montana High School Association announced a pilot program for girls flag football in 2021, enthusiasm for the sport has exploded. Three schools fielded 82 players during the inaugural season, but at least 14 schools will have programs this year. The growth is expected to continue, as flag football has been widely adopted around the country for high school athletes and was announced as a new event to be showcased during the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Kalispell has reined supreme in the land of flag football as Glacier and Flathead were two of the teams that started in year one. Glacier has won back-to-back titles and is looking to make it three in a row.
The Wolfpack graduated quarterback Kai Johnson and receiver Noah Fincher who connected for three touchdown passes in the championship final, but coach Mark Kessler will have plenty of top athletes ready to step up on the 50-plus person roster.
Junior Khirsten Terrellscored in last year’s championship game as well and will continue to be a force on offense, as will Karley Allen.
Flathead has been second only to Glacier in two years of flag, and will be looking to finally topple their crosstown rivals. Juniors Casiann Clemons and Alice Dolezal and senior Courtney Hendrickson will help lead the Bravettes this season. Last year’s 28-13 championship loss will provide motivation for the team to step up their game.
Volleyball
Neither Flathead nor Glacier return any all-state players, but the Wolfpack entered the state tournament last fall as the No. 1 seed after winning the Western AA Divisional tournament. The Wolfpack graduated a top-notch class of seniors, but coach Christy Harkins has shown an ability to shape a championship-ready team from any group of athletes that take the court. All-conference senior Kenedee Moore will take up the leadership mantle this year.
Across town, Flathead’s Kendall Kratofil is an all-conference returnee who will help guide the Bravettes. The team missed qualifying for the state tournament the last two seasons and haven’t reached the podium since 2012.
A notable difference in state qualification this year is that ClassAA won’t have divisional volleyball tournaments . The top two seeds in each conference in the regular season will earn automatic berths to state, while seeds 3-6 in both conferences will take part in play-in matches to determine the final four berths.
In Class A, eastern teams have dominated the state for the last four years. The Wildkats did make it to the title match just four years ago, but it’s been a playoff drought since then. The team returns all-conference honoree Emalee Alton.
Meanwhile, Whitefish brings back a slew of talented players including all-state senior Isabella Hartwig and all-conference honorees Myli Ridgeway and Ainsley Scott. The Bulldogs lost a first-round match last year to state runner-up Billings Central, but should return as much more experienced squad.
Bigfork didn’t make the Class A tournament in their first year but showed they can fit right in within the larger classification. Senior Ava Davey and junior Taylor Howlett are the Valkyries’ top returning players.
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