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Montana Sidelines
Roundup of recent sports and outdoors news
By DILLON TABISH
FARRENS STEPS DOWN AS WHITEFISH GIRLS SOCCER COACH
Wendy Farrens has resigned as head coach of the Whitefish High School girls soccer team after four seasons.
The Bulldogs were 36-17-3 and qual- ified for the Class A state tournament every year under Farrens. Whitefish played in the 2013 state title match.
Farrens was recently engaged and plans to spend more time out of state, leading her to step down as soccer coach.
“She realized she could not be fully committed. And, of course, we appre- ciate that. We need someone who can give it their all,” Whitefish Activities Di- rector Aric Harris said. “She’s done an amazing job with our girls program.”
Farrens decision comes at the same time Whitefish is searching for two oth- er coaches. O’Brien Byrd resigned last- week after 12 seasons to take over the Columbia Falls boys soccer program.
“(Byrd’s) decision makes sense to me. He’s a family man. We wish him the best going over there,” Harris said.
The school will begin conducting in- terviews for both positions, while also interviewing finalists for the vacant vol- leyball coaching position.
Sarah Scott resigned last month as head coach of the volleyball team after four seasons. The Bulldogs were 24-40 under Scott.
Harris said interviews are scheduled this week with potential replacements. He hopes to have a candidate chosen by the end of this week.
The school tabbed a new softball coach on Feb. 12. Ron Stone was cho- sen as the top candidate to replace Car- rie Lamb, who also stepped down last month after four seasons.
Stone is being recommended to the school board, which will finalize the hire at its next meeting in March.
BIGFORK ROLLS INTO DISTRICT 7B BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
The Bigfork Vikings will try to de- fend their District 7B title during this week’s tournament. The boys and girls basketball tournaments are this week, Feb. 17-19 with the championship game on Feb. 21 in Columbia Falls.
Bigfork, the defending Class B state champion, is 17-1 overall and 8-0 in con- ference, followed by Thompson Falls (13-5, 6-2), Eureka (8-10, 4-4), Plains (7- 10, 2-6) and Troy (5-12, 0-8).
Bigfork hosts its first game Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at home.
On the girls side, Plains (15-3, 7-1) is atop the standings next to Bigfork (14- 4, 7-1). Thompson Falls (8-10, 3-5) is in third followed by Eureka (6-12, 2-6) and Troy (5-13, 1-7).
The Bigfork girls play Thompson
Falls at home on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The top three teams will qualify for the Western B Divisional tournaments at Flathead High School, Feb. 25-27. The Class B State Tournament is March 12-
14 in Great Falls.
The Northwestern A Divisional tour-
naments are in Whitefish, Feb. 26-28. On the boys side, defending state champion Columbia Falls is in first place in the standings at 14-3 overall, 7-0 in conference as of Feb. 16, followed by Whitefish (8-9, 4-3), Frenchtown (7-10, 4-3), Polson (6-10, 2-4) and Libby (2-14,
1-6).
On the girls side, it’s also Columbia
Falls in first, at 16-1, 7-0. Frenchtown (11-6, 5-2) is in second, followed by Libby (10-7, 4-3), Polson (2-14, 1-5) and White- fish (2-15, 0-7).
The top two teams from the division- al tournaments will qualify for the Class A state tournaments. The girls tour- ney is March 5-7 in Hamilton. The boys tourney is March 12-14 in Bozeman.
GLACIER, COLUMBIA FALLS SWIMMERS EARN MEDALS
High schools swimmers competed in the All-Class State Swim Meet in Mis- soula last weekend.
Glacier’s James Bouda placed second in both the 100 backstroke (22.86) and 50 freestyle (55.70).
On the girls side, Glacier’s Jessica Loyda placed fifth in both the 50 free- style (25.87) and 100 freestyle (56.97). Teammate Olivia Gibson earned fifth in the 500 freestyle (5:36.67). The Glacier girls 200 freestyle relay team — Gib- son, Loyda, Emma Hornby and Lauren Harmon — earned third (1:45.13) and the 400 freestyle relay team — Loyda, Hornby, Gibson and Bailey Smith — took fourth (3:52.01).
Colton Babcock from Columbia Falls brought home two medals. He placed second in the 200 freestyle (1:48.40) and third in the 500 freestyle (4:57.14). Teammate Zayne Friar earned fourth in the 100 butterfly (56.71.)
STILLWATER CHRISTIAN CLAIMS STATE BASKETBALL TITLE
The Stillwater Christian high school basketball team won the top trophy at the Montana Christian Athletic Associ- ation in Helena last weekend.
The Cougars defeated Yellowstone County 46-39 in the championship game on Saturday.
Isaac Neumann paged the Cougars with 11 points, BJ Bach added 10 points and Clayton Hashley had eight points.
Stillwater Christian capped the sea- son at 13-11 overall.
The Stillwater Christian girls placed third at the MCAA tournament.
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