Ronan's Finley becomes an Oredigger
MAX DUPRAS | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 week, 4 days AGO
Ronan senior Kolby Finley goes up for a layup against the Bigfork Vikings on Jan. 21 at Bigfork High School. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Max Dupras joined the Lake County Leader as a sports reporter in January of 2026. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Montana. Max is a lifelong Montana resident, growing up watching Griz sports in Missoula. He has covered sports and news for multiple publications, including the Rapid City Journal, NonStop Local News and the Montana Kaimin. He is also a former intern of the Lake County Leader, having covered everything from city council meetings to wildfires. He covers sports for all Lake County schools. Reach out to Max at [email protected] or 406.531.0978 | April 30, 2026 12:00 AM
Ronan basketball standout Kolby Finley shined all year, leading the Chiefs to a stunning season where they qualified for state and won the Northwest A.
Now, the Northwest A Most Valuable Player is heading to Butte, where he will continue his basketball career as a Montana Tech Oredigger.
Finley was one of just two players from last year’s roster to have significant playing time. With essentially a brand new starting lineup, Finley had to find a way to win.
He went on to earn the career mark of scoring 1000 points for the Chiefs, all while leading the team to a 15-3 record. It was the first time in over two decades that Ronan had won the Northwest A.
Ronan won two games in the Western A Divisional Tournament over Butte Central and Hamilton to take on Dillon in the divisional finale. Despite that loss, Finley and the Chiefs took their talents to the state tournament, where they eventually lost to both Lockwood and Butte Central.
Finley wrapped up his high school basketball career as a two time All-State selection, a four time All-Conference selection and ended with the conference MVP award too.
Now, he’s headed to the Mining City, where he hopes to continue the success of an Oredigger team that went 23-9 last year and made it to the second round of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Tournament.
ARTICLES BY MAX DUPRAS
Lake County softball teams notch quality wins
Polson and Ronan had a loaded weekend full of tournament softball down in Frenchtown. With a tournament slate and a busy week for Mission/Arlee/Charlo as well, each team needed their best performances to come out on top this week.
Baseball teams post mixed results in conference contests
With baseball heating up, every Lake County squad is eager for every victory they can get. It was a week that saw some serious wins and also some heartbreaking losses. All three local teams got to the diamond to showcase what they can do in this baseball-heavy weekend.
Packed track and field weekend sees major Lake County success
It was another packed week in track and field as schools from across Lake County sent teams to a prestigious meet down in Missoula. These athletes competed in a week where they took on some of the best teams in western Montana across all classes. Luckily, many of those athletes shone.