As 2025 winds down, I have come to the uncomfortable conclusion that mistakes were made.

Picking the Grizzlies to win the “Super Brawl,” for example. That was some tortured math. 

Thinking Cal Raleigh would be the American League MVP. Giving Vandy’s Diego Pavia a Heisman vote, maybe. 

I put in my first full year as sports editor at the Daily Inter Lake, which kept me away from a lot of local events that were covered very capably by Jon Allen, Luke Schmit and Josh Amick. And yet looking back, I realize I saw a lot of cool things.  

With apologies to Libby tennis ace Ryan Beagle, Flathead’s powerful wrestling squads, the Whitefish and Eureka football teams and Columbia Falls thrower Lane Voermans, here are my Top 10. 

10. Glacier softball. A second AA title in three seasons featured a 15-1 win over Crosstown rival Flathead in which the Pack clubbed four home runs, two by Olivia Warriner. They kept thumping all the way through state. A first-round loss was followed by six straight wins, ending with a 17-15 win in the “if” game over Billings Senior (two more HRs from Warriner, one from Aubree Gerber). A fitting sendoff for coach Abby Snipes. 

9. Ada Thiel. The state cross country meet figured to be another showcase of Glacier High runners Owen Thiel and Lauren Bissen, who’d swept the 3,200 at the State AA track and field championships in May. Then Ada Thiel, freshman sister to senior Owen, stole the show by surging past Bissen to win the AA girls race, leading a 1-2 Wolfpack finish. If you were at the UM Golf Course, that noise you heard was Owen celebrating with his sister right after. 

8. Class A soccer. I didn’t see any soccer in person this fall, but the Bigfork-Columbia Falls final for Class A girls is a definite high point, and I happily monitored the Polson boys’ landmark A boys title. Bully for the Pirates’ and Wildkats’ championships, as well as the runner-up finishes for the Whitefish Bulldogs and Bigfork Vals.  

7. Tommy Mellott winning the Payton Award. Montana State’s quarterback cemented his legend status by getting named the FCS’ top offensive player in January. 

6. Wolfpack football. I didn’t get to one game at Legends this fall, which is a regret, but the Pack getting that elusive state championship after two near-misses had to gratifying. Of course I’d covered the title-game losses of 2023-24, so perhaps it was better I stayed away. Jackson Presley could spin it, Asher Knopik could run it. Awesome squad. 

5. Wolfpack flag football. This team I did witness, Karley Allen wheeling and dealing Glacier to yet another state championship in Hamilton — and landing herself a college scholarship to Milligan University. 

4. Whitefish girls track and field. Rachael Wilmot’s sprint sweep led the Bulldogs to a state championship that seemed unlikely after the graduation of Hailey Ells and Brooke Zetooney. Shout out to Grace Sliman, a freshman who won the high jump, and teammates Sol Holmquist. Ginger Bergland, Stella Frisbee, Amma Boysen and Mila Maddock. Bergland was another high-scoring freshman; of that group that scored at state Wilmot was the only senior. 

3. Big Sky Conference football. If last season was supposed to be a coronation, this season was a pleasant surprise for the Cats. New quarterback, several new linemen on both sides of the ball, two early losses, 13 straight wins. Brent Vigen has a perennial power on his hands: Next Monday will mark his team’s third Division I Football Championship appearance in five seasons. All the Montana Grizzlies did was match MSU’s 13-2 record, with both losses coming to the Cats.  

2. Flathead track and field. Will Hollensteiner set the 400 all-class record the first day; Alivia Rinehart set the 100-meter hurdles all-class mark on the second and grabbed the AA record in the 300 hurdles as well. Hollensteiner, Ben Bliven, Lane Chivers, Kasen Kastner, Colin Smith and Cameron Wells brought home the Braves’ first state title in 10 years. Did I mention how much I like track meets? Beats the office all the heck. In fact they lap it. 

1. Drew Deck’s punt return. Early on I figured either Deck or Michael Wortham, Jr., were going to pop a big return for the Griz. Deck did it in Montana’s 14th game, a 52-22 win over South Dakota on Dec. 13, and in record fashion. His 93-yard return is the longest in FCS playoff history — and would live on even without that distinction. The Glacier product, who had a 60-yarder against Eastern Washington, burst up the middle, cut right to evade a couple big numbers at midfield and then outran a couple small numbers for the TD. “Got to pick my danged knees up,” Deck said after the Eastern game. On Dec. 13 he did just that. 

Reach Fritz at 758-4463 or at [email protected].