Several superlative athletes call Whitefish and nearby towns in the Flathead Valley home, and many of their talents were on display in 2025. 

Whitefish freeskier Townsend Reed competed in the Yeti Free Ride Junior World Championships in Austria in January. Reed was ranked fifth in the world, going into the competition that included 64 elite junior athletes from 16 countries and had a spectacular run. 

Columbia Falls High School junior Findley Dezzani competed at the U.S. Nordic Nationals in Anchorage, Alaska, alongside her former Glacier Nordic Club teammate Maeve Ingelfinger, who now skis for Dartmouth. Ingelfinger also qualified for the World Juniors in Italy. Glacier Nordic Club athletes, 13-year-old Kendall Dye from Whitefish and 17-year-old Dezzani, qualified for the 2025 Junior Nationals in March, after racing in Sun Valley, Idaho. 

Brothers Liam and Euell Browne from Columbia Falls qualified for the U.S. Ski Orienteering Team and will compete at the World Junior and European Youth Ski Orienteering Championships in Sweden in March. 

Michael Donnay shattered the all-time vertical record at Whitefish Mountain Resort and became the King of Vert by skiing more than 10 million vertical feet in the 2024-25 season. 

Finley McCarthy, a left-handed forward, was part of the Wisconsin Badger womens ice hockey team that won the National Championship trophy. The Badgers outlasted the Ohio State Buckeyes to win, 4-3, in an edge-of-your-seat game. 

In the team’s first trip to the semifinals in a decade, the Whitefish High School Bulldog football team had a close loss to Frenchtown and ended the season with an 8-3 record. 

Former Bulldog football players, Mason Kelch and Ryder Barinowski, now Montana Tech Orediggers, enjoyed an undefeated regular season and made it to the quarterfinals of the NAIA Football Championships. 

The Whitefish High School girls swim team finished in second place at the State Class AB swim meet. 

The Whitefish boys soccer team made it to the state championship game in Polson where they experienced the third loss of their stellar season. 

Three Whitefish High School graduates who earned All-Conference honors were chosen to play in the inaugural Montana Shrine Baseball Classic in August. Centerfielder Christian Schwaderer, catcher Avery Caton and shortstop Ryan Conklin were on the West’s roster. 

Both the Whitefish boys and girls tennis teams swept the team titles at the Northwest A Divisional tournament. 

Former Bulldog, high jumper Erin Wilde, set a school record in the high jump at the University of Montana and finished first in the 2025 Big Sky Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship for the second time. Wilde was also named the Big Sky Conference Women’s Field Athlete of the Week twice. 

Breakaway roper, Zoey Bruyer qualified for the Women's Rodeo World Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, at the Priefert Ranch Open where she earned over $3,000 in winnings. Columbia Falls High School junior Azreal Lara travelled to the Yeti Junior World finals and came home as the world champion barback rider for the second year in a row.  

The Whitefish speech and debate team defeated Columbia Falls to clinch the Class A state title for the first time since 2021. Whitefish High School senior Jake Dunker won the state Poetry Out Loud competition and competed at the national level in Washington, D.C. 

    Erin Wilde competed in the high jump at the Al Manuel Invitational. (Ryan Brennecke/ University of Montana)

    Whitefish's Townsend Reed flying while freeskiing in epic terrain. (Photo provided)
  

    Finley McCarthy and her mom, Cody McCarthy, begin the celebrations after the Wisconsin Badgers won the National Championship game last Sunday in Minneapolis. (Photo provided)