Flathead Valley Teams Prepare for Spring State Tournaments

Thursday will mark the start of a jam-packed weekend of high school sports as Flathead County athletes are set to compete across Montana for a chance to bring home state hardware back to the valley.

Four area teams will be on title defense duty this weekend, while a slew of other Flathead Valley athletes and teams will be fighting for a spot on the mountain top of the high school sports world — with local baseball teams in search of the first-ever Class AA and Class A/B state championships. 

BASEBALL

In their inaugural season, the Glacier High School baseball team emerged from the newly created Class AA Western division for a chance to also be crowned the first Class AA baseball state champion following classification realignment in the fledgling high school sport late last year. 

After finishing as the 3-seed in the West, the Wolfpack defeated Missoula Hellgate in a state play-in game — with Glacier catcher Brady Buckmaster tagging out Hellgate’s Owen Felton at home on a throw from center fielder Teagan Dixon to preserve a 7-6 lead in the seventh inning — to advance to the state tournament in Butte. 

Senior pitcher and infielder Kaeden Kahler has paced offensive production for the Wolfpack this season, averaging the highest batting, on-base and slugging percentages, and leading the team in hits. Dixon has led the Wolfpack with runs and fielding percentage.

The Wolfpack will start their run to a state title on Thursday, May 28, at 10 a.m. against the Eastern AA 2-seed, Great Falls CMR.

With the classification realignment, a first-ever Class A/B baseball tournament champion will also be crowned by the end of Saturday, with three area teams in the mix for the honor. 

To say the Bigfork Vikings punched their ticket to the statement in dramatic fashion would be an understatement. In a state play-in game, the Vikings’ Grady Campbell delivered a walk-off double to left field in the bottom of the 10th inning, scoring Hayden Mayer and lifting Bigfork past Hamilton 4-3. 

Bigfork will take on Billings Central in the first round of the Class A/B state tournament at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday at O’Malley Park in Polson.

The Columbia Falls Wildcats enter the state tournament on the heels of its third North Conference title in row with an 11-3 conference record, edging out Bigfork in a tiebreaker for the top spot. The Wildcats were the Flathead Valley’s sole representative in the all-class state tournament last spring, going 1-2 in what was their second-consecutive trip to the state tournament.

Junior Jett Pitts will look to pace the Wildcats to their first title game, entering the tournament as one of the state’s hottest hitters. Pitts is 34-for-58 with a team-best 29 RBI on the season. Columbia Falls will open state play against the East’s 2-seed, the Columbus-Red Lodge-Joliet-Park City Cougars, at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Whitefish, who was state runner-up to Polson in the all-class tournament in 2023, will be making its third postseason appearance this weekend. The Bulldogs will be looking to ride on their May momentum to another title game, having only lost three games this month.

The Bulldogs defeated Florence-Carlton 5-1 in their state play-in game behind a complete, five-hit game from pitcher and two-time team captain Tait Orme. Whitefish begins tournament play against an undefeated Dillon Beavers squad at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

SOFTBALL

The Glacier Wolfpack this weekend will look to further build their dynasty by putting together a tournament run that ends in its fourth straight state title game. The Wolfpack will be in search of its second-consecutive Class AA state championship and third title in four years. 

Despite the graduation of six seniors from its 2025 state title team, Glacier enters this year’s tournament with a 10-game win streak and as the Western AA champions. Junior Olivia Warriner has paced the Wolfpack’s offensive production, leading the team in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, hits, home runs and triples. Sophomore Ava Grady has chipped in four homers, a team-high 12 doubles and a team-best 41 RBIs. 

The Wolfpack will open up the Class AA state softball tournament against Great Falls CMR at 2 p.m. on Thursday in Missoula.

This weekend will mark the 10th consecutive state tournament appearance for Class A softball powerhouse Columbia Falls. The Wildkats will be in search of their third state title, following their back-to-back wins in 2023 and 2024.

The Wildkats captured the Northwest A title behind Nicholls State signee Bella Mann and head to state on a seven-game winning streak. Columbia Falls’s first game of state play will be at 3 p.m. on Thursday against the winner of Frenchtown and Havre.

TRACK AND FIELD

In Class AA, both Glacier High School’s boys and girls track and field programs enter the final weekend of the season riding the momentum of sweeping the team titles at the Western AA Divisional meet. The boys team scored 128.83 points to finish ahead of Helena High (112.83), while the girls won with 125 compared to 121 for Helena Capital.

In the boys meet, the Wolfpack were led by their throwers, as Will Astle (53-06) won the shot put and Daniel Peterson also won the javelin (187-07). On the girls side of things, Ada Thiel was also among the individual divisional champions, winning the 400 after a time of 1:00.02. Dacia Benkelman and Lauren Bissen added an 800 and 1,600 title for Glacier. Allie Krueger threw 38-02.5 in the spot put to take first, while Rylee Bigelow won the discus.

In Class A, Bigfork boys track and field will also be entering the state meet with the title of divisional champion. Bigfork’s 114 points were enough to eclipse Corvallis’ 93 and Columbia Falls’ 73 points to round out the podium. 

The Vikings were paced by record-setting performances from Tamret Savik, Robert Merchant and several relay teams. Savik set personal records in both the triple jump — going 48 feet, 3 inches, a meet record — and the high jump (6-5).  Merchant completed a sprint sweep, clipping through the 100-meter finals in 10.90 seconds and the 200 in 21.88 Saturday — a meet record. Merchant also won the 400 in another record time of 48.78. 

Whitefish girls track and field, who took home the Class A state title in 2025, placed third at their divisional meet. Avery Orme earned a first-place finish in the triple jump. Her mark of 36-08 was nearly a foot farther than that of the second-place finisher from Stevensville. Sophomore Ginger Bergland won the 300 hurdles with a time of 44.80. She also finished fourth in the 200 and third in the 400. 

The 2026 Class AA state track and field meet is May 28-30 in Missoula, while the Class A state meet is the same days in Laurel.

TENNIS

The Whitefish boys tennis team is in the hunt to repeat as state champions for the first time in 36 years. With a team full of point-scoring potential, the Bulldogs have all the pieces to do so, led by undefeated senior singles player Jack Oehlerich who took second at state last year. 

The Bulldogs will enter the state tournament as Northwest A Divisional champions. Oehlerich took home the singles title, while Owen Erickson defeated fellow Bulldog Eli Erickson for third place. Two Bulldog doubles teams battled for the top doubles spot, with  Aaron Anderson and Marcus Mercer coming out victorious over their teammates, Jake Shors and Cole Moses.

The Whitefish girls tennis squad also secured the divisional title earlier this month, with Liesel Brust defeating teammate Emy Hansen to claim the singles title. The doubles team of Camry Kelch and Allie Shors took home top honors, while Lucy Marzo and Aubrey Talbot secured a fourth place finish. 

Class A tennis state tournament action will take place Thursday and Friday in Hardin. 

For results and coverage of all the state tournament action, follow along with 406mtsports.com all weekend long.

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