The Flathead Bravettes are notable in their wrestling history for developing some top-notch grapplers in a young sport, at least by local high school standards.

Every so often, though, an athlete shows up who is more or less fully formed. Such a person would be Julia Kay. 

“She’s just an incredible athlete,” Amber Downing, Flathead’s girls wrestling coach, said. “Phenomenal leader as well and really pushes the pace with the other girls.  

“And yeah, she’s got quite the arm on her.” 

“She’s just a great kid, great teammate,” said Jess Hensley, the Bravettes’ flag football coach. “Receptive to feedback. 

“From the get-go you saw the pocket presence, staying in there and keeping her eyes downfield; it was impressive.” 

Going into a pair of home duals Thursday with Missoula’s Hellgate and Big Sky programs, Kay is 20-1 on the mat this season. Last fall, when the Bravettes finished third at the State AA flag football tournament, she threw for 1,540 yards and 20 touchdowns in 13 games, and ran for 357 yards and another six scores. 

She’s talented enough to take her pick of sports to play at the next level. But she’d rather not pick — she’d love to find a college that would have her play both. 

“I still don’t know,” Kay said of her college future. “I still haven’t found a spot that is offering both, but I definitely want to do both.” 

She said Sacred Heart in Connecticut, William Penn in Iowa, Montreat in North Caroline and Cornell are wrestling programs that have made contact. For flag, well, there’s very little film of Kay’s gridiron exploits. 

“No flag football film, so no contact,” she said. 

It makes an upcoming Montana All-Stars event set for Billings March 29-30 an important destination — it’s another chance to showcase her football skills. 

As for now it’s wrestling season and Kay has some unfinished business. After winning Utah State 3A titles at 105 and 115 pounds in 2023 and 2024 at Canyon View, she appeared poised to pick up another in Montana as a junior. 

Then the dream got put on ice. 

“I just got done with wrestling practice and got to my car and just — slid under,” she said. “Just slid right underneath it. I got up and was like, ‘Wow, that really hurt my knee.’ Pretty unlucky.” 

She battled through a torn meniscus at the Western Divisional, losing in the 130-pound final to Helena Capital’s Taylor Lay, 14-6. She’d beaten Lay three times that season and ended up facing her again in the finals at State. 

The knee, and Lay, didn’t cooperate. 

“I don’t if we hit it wrong or what, but we just smoked it,” said Kay, who lost by injury default. “that’s OK. It happens.” 

Kay opted not to have surgery and spent the spring in physical therapy, then went back to Utah to train for Fargo Nationals. She went 5-2 in Fargo, then was right as rain for the start of flag football. 

Hensley was a first-year coach and 11th-hour hire for the program.  

“I show up to tryouts, and I said, ‘Who’s the quarterback?’ and they said, “Julia.’ “ Hensley recalled. ““I was like, OK, done. That was easy.” 

Hensley credited Kay not only for her ability on the field, but for helping repair team cohesion after a rough finish to the 2024 season. 

“Another nod to her is that she really took it on her shoulders to help me,” she said. “They had kind of a tough ending to the last season. When she experienced that as a junior, she said, ‘That’s not what the senior season will be like.’ “ 

“There wasn’t a great energy around the team,” Kay said. “Everybody was just done by the end of the season. I talked to some of the girls, and I was like, we really need to have good energy. And they agreed.” 

Fast forward to now, and Kay is the No. 2-ranked wrestler at 130 pounds in AA. Ahead of her is Belgrade freshman Charlie Lund, thanks to a 9-8 decision recently. Kay had pinned Lund in their previous two meetings. 

“She’s really good,” Kay said. “She caught me. I’m looking forward to going against her again. Hopefully this weekend.” 

A Class AA Mixer is set for Missoula Big Sky Saturday. Flathead will head down with its many talented wrestlers, including Kay, who wrestled with the boys in Utah in eighth grade and played tackle football in sixth and seventh grade.  

Naturally, she’s tougher than a two-dollar steak these days. Or as Downing put it: “It’s always nice to have those kids who have the training and abilities already worked in.”