In Montana wrestling circles, it does not get a whole lot bigger than the Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic.

The tournament, held at Missoula Sentinel, is named in honor of the legendary Missoula coach. This year, the tournament brought in 33 teams from Montana, Idaho and Washington.

Butte High’s boys made a strong showing at the event. With 171 team points, the Bulldogs finished fifth in the tournament and third among teams from the Treasure State. Kalispell Flathead brought home the team title with 223 points. Mead, Washington took second at 196.5, followed by Great Falls High at 193 and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho at 191.

Junior Keegan Hunt and sophomore Bode Hazlett wrestled to individual titles to lead the Bulldogs as we enter crunch time of the season. Hunt took the 103-pound title, while Hazlett won the 138-pound division.

Meanwhile, Butte High junior Peyton Liva won the 100-pound title at the Hellgate Girls Wrestling Invitational across town.

Hunt rolled his record to 33-0 with four wins on his way to the Jug Beck crown. He picked up two wins by pin, one by injury default and one by technical fall.

Hunt made short work of Nash Larson of Coeur d’Alene, pinning him in 1 minute, 24 seconds in the championship match.

Hazlett went 5-0 to run his record to 29-3. That includes four wins by pin and a 10-8 victory over Cut Bank’s Gage Clothier in the title tilt.

Ben Tierney of Butte High reached the semifinals before capturing fifth place at 110 pounds. Will Stepan placed fifth at 150 pounds, while Bradey Doyle (118 pounds), Revels McEwen (126) and Ryder McEwen (144) placed seventh.

Butte Central and Butte High each sent teams to the John Fisher Tournament at Missoula Big Sky.

Lincoln Zell (126), Isaac Zell (118), Kasen O’Keefe (175), Reece Cunneen (165), Bridger Garrison (144), Renzy LeProwse (103), Finn Wortham (150), Cameron Fleege (165), Jake Bailey (157) and Bridger Brancamp (175) scored double digit team points for the Bulldogs.

James Holmes (138), Jack Holmes (126), Kohler Sparks (132) and Tyge Menesses (103) competed for the Maroons.

Butte High’s girls placed sixth in the 12-team Hellgate tournament. Flathead won with 193.5 points. Missoula Big Sky was next at 169.5, followed by Browning at 143, Ronan at 135, Polson at 129.5 and Butte High at 116.5.

Liva took the 100-pound title with a 4-0 performance. That included two pins along the way. She stuck Aubrey Cavan of Havre in 2:15 in the championship match.

Junior Mattie Stepan placed second at 145 pounds for Butte High. She went 4-1 on the tournament with three pins and a major decision. Stepan fell 10-2 to Kaitlyn Thorn of Bozeman in the title bout.

Junior Brooke Johnson took third at 140 pounds for the Bulldogs. She won a 10-9 thriller over Haley Wilson of Flathead in the third-place match.

Freshman Chyanne Robinson placed fifth in the division with a 235-pound limit.

Butte High’s girls competed at Missoula Sentinel on Tuesday. Their upcoming schedule includes a mixer Saturday in Lewistown and a mixer Monday in Dillon.

The Bulldog boys will wrestle at the AA Duals Saturday in Great Falls.

Central’s grapplers will be in Lewistown Friday and Saturday for the Class A Duals.

Complete results from the tournaments are available at trackwrestling.com.

Luedtke within reach of 1,000, Dawson

Butte High junior guard Hudson Luedtke moved up one spot to No. 2 on the Bulldog boys’ all-time scoring list as the Bulldogs went to Kalispell for a pair of Western AA wins last weekend.

Luedtke hit a clutch 3-pointer down the stretch as Butte High overcame a nine-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter to beat Glacier 57-54 Friday night. Luedtke scored 24 points.

He added 26 points less than 24 hours later as the Bulldogs beat Flathead 78-69. The wins lifted Butte High to 6-3 overall and 2-2 in Western AA play.

With 985 points on his career, Luedtke now is 15 points away from becoming Butte High’s second boy to score 1,000 points in his career. That could very well happen Friday when the Bulldogs play host to Missoula Big Sky Friday at the Butte Civic Center.

In Kalsipell, Luedtke passed up Chris Rasmussen, a hero on Butte High’s last state championship team from 1984. Rasmussen finished his storied career with 969 points.

Only John Dawson, who scored 1,022 points from 1966 through 1968, stands above Luedtke ion the all-time Bulldog list.

If Luedtke doesn’t overtake Dawson on Friday, which he could do with a 38-point game, he could do it Jan. 30 when the Bulldogs play host to Helena High at the Richardson Gym.

Senior Torre Tempel had a huge weekend in Kalispell, too. After scoring 13 points against Glacier, Tempel, who was battling an ankle injury earlier in January, tossed in 23 points in the win over Flathead. Tempel hit five 3-pointers in that victory.

Dylan “Bobby” Bache and Braylon Larson each scored 10 points against Glacier. Bache added 14 against Flathead. Larson added eight, while Spencer Callaghan and Kendel Noctor both scored three.

Butte High’s girls’ basketball team, which is 7-2 and 3-1 after the weekend, ran its winning streak to six games with a 61-52 win over Glacier on Friday. A day later, the Dogs saw that streak snapped with a 53-52 loss to Flathead.

Sophomore Cadence Graham scored a total of 46 points on the weekend. Senior Brityn Stewart tossed in 39.

Graham shot 10 for 12 from the free throw line and scored 29 points against Glacier. Stewart hit three 3-pointers and scored 19 points. Butte High also got six points from Dylann Bartoletti, four from Franki Salusso and two apiece from Autumn Clary, Addie Hiatt and Emma Johnson.

Graham and Stewart both scored 20 points against the Bravettes on Saturday. Graham again did a lot of her damage from the charity stripe, hitting 12 of 14 shots. Johnson scored nine points, while Salusso tossed in two, and Bartoletti netted one.

Butte High’s girls will also host Big Sky Thursday at the Civic Center.

Butte Central’s girls went on the road to open Southwestern A play with a 64-22 rout of Stevensville. The win lifted BC to 3-5 overall.

Three Maroons scored in double figures to lead the way in the win. Sophomore Rylee Forbes scored a game-high 18 points in the win. Freshman Kenzie McQueary tossed in 14, while classmate Braelynn Schelin netted 13

Central also got seven points from Zayonna Otherbull, five from Evyn Smith, three from Arika Stajcar and two from Jaedyn Maldonado and Meika Boyer.

At the Maroon Activities Center, the BC boys rolled to a 94-40 win over Stevi in their conference opener. The win evened Central’s overall record to 4-4.

Once again, the Maroons were lights out from the 3-point line. Eight days after setting a school record with 19 made 3-pointers against Anaconda, the Maroons dialed in for 16 long balls against the Yellowjackets.

Senior Owen McPartland sank six threes and scored 30 points to lead the way. Sophomore Joshua Sutton and junior Ryan Peoples each hit four 3-pointers. Sutton scored 21 points, and peoples finished with 17. Patrick Stimatz and Cade Kelly also hit 3-pointers.

Freshman Jaxon Hiatt finished with eight points, Kelly scored seven, GG Fantini and Justus McGee both scored four, and Stimatz finished with the three.

The Maroons will continue Southwestern A play this week with games against Frenchtown and Hamilton. The boys will be at Frenchtown on Thursday, while the girls will play at home.

BC will welcome Hamilton for a doubleheader on Saturday.

Shorthanded Bulldog swimmers compete in Great Falls

Butte High’s swimming teams did not finish on top of team standings Saturday in Great Falls. That is in large part because the Bulldogs were missing some key swimmers.

In all, 10 Butte High swimmers missed the meet because of illness, injury or another school function. However, Bulldog coach Lynn Shrader was impressed with the Bulldogs who made the trip.

Butte High’s girls competed with just five athletes and were missing three of their top six swimmers. They placed eighth.

Junior captain Olivia Thurmond is still recovering from her knee surgery, eighth grader Adalie Grochowski battled an illness, and sophomore Nimalka DeAlwis competed in the speech and debate meet.

“Every girl who swam had at least one best time,” Shrader said. “It was great to see. All are working really hard.”

Junior Tatum Trefts took seventh in the 100-yard breast stroke. She also had a best time in the 50 freestyle, just missing out on the top 10. Sophomore Sophia Fladager saw a 4-second drop in the 100 free to take seventh.

Eighth grader Bryher Fitzpatrick knocked off five seconds in her 200 free to place 10th.

The 200 medley relay of Sophia Fladager, Trefts, Fitzpatrick and Bella Corrales captured sixth. The 200 free relay of Trefts, Bryher, Fitzpatrick, Elly Rumler and Fladager finished eighth.

Butte High’s boys placed sixth, despite have five swimmers gone with an illness.

“Again, everyone who swam and individual event swam at least one best time,” Shrader said. Junior captain Nathan Stone swan a personal-best time in the 100 butterfly by more than half a second to capture fourth. He also took eighth in the 50 free with a PR.

Senior captain Blair Hamry posted a 2-second drop to take 10th in the 100 butterfly. Eight grader Alex Sonnemann took 14 seconds off his best 200 individual medley time to place seventh.

The A medley relay team of Gage Plum, Hamry, Stone and Tucker Kissell captured fifth. The B medley relay of Ayvahn Mann, Jorden Sonnemann, Alex Sonnemann and Alex Cranny swam to 10th.

In the 200 freestyle relay, Hamry, Kissell, Alex Sonneman, and Stone took sixth.

“The team is working hard and getting over illness, and I am looking forward to the next three meets before state,” Shrader said.

Butte High will compete in a meet Saturday at the Butte Family YMCA. Butte Central’s swimmers, who had the week off, will also compete in that meet.

Tech men win fourth straight

Montana Tech’s men’s basketball team rolled its record to 16-4 overall and 4-1 in Frontier Conference lay with wins over Montana Western and the University of Providence.

Tech rolled to a 69-47 win over the Bulldogs Thursday in Dillon before routing Providence 81-56 two days later in Butte.

Four Orediggers scored in double figures to lead the Oredigger men in Dillon. Hayden Diekhans and Michael Ure led the way with 14 points apiece. Brayden Koch scored 13, and Keeley Bake knocked down 10.

In Butte, Diekhans poured in 19 points, while Ure finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Ifeanyi Okeke scored 12 points, while Connor Michaud and Josh Coulanges each scored 10 off the bench.

The Tech women are 12-6 and 3-2 after going 1-1 on the week. Both games were decided by just four points. The Orediggers bounced back from Thursday’s 72-68 loss at Western with a 62-58 win on Saturday.

Kenzi Pedersen scored 20 points and Payton Hagy tossed in 18 to lead the Bulldogs on Thursday.

Brooklynn Hankwitz scored 17 points to lead three Orediggers in double figures. Hadley Humphreys scored 13, and Hallie Neibauer tossed in 12. Tech also got nine from Aubrie Rademacher and seven apiece from Liv Wangerin and Brooke Badovinac.

Nine Tech players scored in Saturday’s win. Wangerin’s 14 led the way. Avery Carlson came off the bench to score 10, while Humphreys tossed in nine, and Rademacher netted eight. Neibauer, Badovinac and Kia Wassen all scored five.

The Oredigger men and women will play two home games this week. MSU-Northern comes to town on Thursday before Tech’s teams get a rematch with Rocky Mountain College on Saturday.

Vermillion, Comva win Frontier weekly awards

Montana Tech’s track team competed in a pair of meets last week. Tech competed at the Snake River Open Thursday and Friday in Pocatello, Idaho before sending athletes to the Spokane Indoor Challenge.

Jadyn Vermillion and Kamryn Comba highlighted the Oredigger performance, and they were rewarded with Frontier Conference Athlete of the Week honors. Vermillion was named the top field athlete, while Comba took home the track honors.

Vermillion, a senior from Myrtle Creek, Oregon, took home the honors after her performance in Spokane, a meet that featured schools primarily from the NCAA Division I. She jumped a school-record 18 feet, 7 3/2 inches on her first attempt.

Comba, a junior from Idaho Falls, shattered Tech’s school record in the 800-meter run, taking nearly 4 seconds off the previous record. She finished 17th out of 33 runners, where she was the highest NAIA place finisher at the Snake River Open.

She finished with a time of 2 minutes, 22.14 seconds in the 800-meters for the Orediggers.  She also anchored the 1,600-meter relay team that finished with a time of 4:09.93.

Next up for the Orediggers is the Lauren McCluskey Memorial Friday and Saturday in Moscow, Idaho. The Orediggers will compete at the Bobcat Performance meet Jan. 31.

For more on the Orediggers, go to godiggers.com.