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Drakos, Schleeman named top Dogs
Butte High seniors Taylor Drakos and Kade Schleeman took home the top awards from the Butte Athletic Council’s All-Sports Banquet Wednesday night at the Butte Civic Center.
Drakos received the Outstanding Girl Athlete Award, while Schleeman took home the Harry “Swede” Dahlberg Outstanding Boy Athlete honor.
Both athletes were also awarded Block B’s, a distinction that goes to athletes who earned at least seven varsity letters in their Butte High career. Drakos lettered twice each in volleyball and basketball. She lettered three times in softball.
Schleeman, who will play football at Montana Tech, earned nine varsity letters. That includes four in wrestling, three in football and two in track.
Bo Demarais, Aydin Gonzales, Trey Hansen and Jack Luoma were also awarded Block B’s.
Hansen joined the exclusive 12-letter-winner club. He lettered four times each in wrestling and track, three times in football and once in baseball. Gonzales lettered four times each in soccer and wrestling. Demarais lettered three times in basketball and track and twice in football. Luoma lettered four times in soccer, two times in track and once in swimming.
Schleeman also took home the “Sig” Meyer Scholarship, the Don Tamietti Memorial Scholarship and the Chris Milodragovich Memorial Scholarship.
Kyler Stenson won the Frank Mischkot Memorial Scholarship, Autumn Silk received the Tom Tutty Memorial Scholarship, and Grady Winston received the Most Inspirational Student-Athlete award.
Montana Tech football coach Kyle Samson was the keynote speaker for the banquet, and J.R. Richardson was the master of ceremonies.
Click the links below to see all the athletes honored. Photos of Drakos and Schleeman courtesy Alycia Holland Photography.
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Podcast No. 190: Zach Stenson
Nobody is a bigger Red Sox fan than Zach Stenson.
Nobody is a bigger Patriots fan than Zach. Or Duke fan. Or Butte fan.
Zach also represents all that is good with the Special Olympics. In July of 2018, Zach competed in the Special Olympics USA Games in Seattle. He was the first Butte athlete to compete at that level.
Of course, Zach did much more than just compete. He came home with three medals, including a gold medal for winning the 400-meter race.
Each Aug. 10, you can find Zach playing his heart out in the Burgman/Boyle Classic basketball game. The game is named in honor of Kyle Burgman and Casey Boyle, two Butte friends who were killed Aug. 10, 2015 in an automobile accident.
That game is so important to all our Special Olympian basketball players. It might be even more important to Zach. Casey was Zach’s favorite teacher and coach.
When he ran in the USA Games in 2018, Zach competed with Casey’s initials written on his shoes. He drew a cross by the initials.
Now, Zach is passing on the coaching wisdom he learned from Casey. He is the newest assistant coach for the Butte Miners baseball team. He gets to coach his cousin Quinn Cox, an outstanding catcher for the Miners.
Listen in to this podcast to hear Zach’s plans with the Miners. Listen to hear about the multiple times Zach has gone viral with a video and why he cheers for the Patriots. Listen to hear if the current Red Sox have any hope.
Spoiler alert: they don’t.
Today’s podcast is brought to you by Casagranda’s Steakhouse. Eat where the locals eat.
Zach with his father, John. -
A fitting honor for Jeff LeProwse
Jeff LeProwse’s 2013 Butte Miners baseball team didn’t need a fancy baseball field.
In fact, those boys didn’t need a field at all.
“These guys will play on a parking lot,” LeProwse said as he got ready for the season.
Compared to the fields the other American Legion teams around the state played on, a parking lot did not seem like much of a step back from the Miners’ new digs on Field No. 4 at Copper Mountain Park.
Butte’s American Legion Baseball program appeared to be on life support. The year before, the team had 11 players in the entire program, and then the Miners lost their home field in the name of progress on the Montana Tech campus.
Tech was renovating Alumni Coliseum to put in an artificial turf for the football field, and the school had plans to build a beautiful new building where the grandstands once stood.
So, the 2012 season was the final in a long run at Alumni Coliseum for the Butte Miners.
The smart money was on the Miners closing up shop. But the smart money didn’t know Jeff LeProwse, the man we call “Frenchy.”
The numbers were not on his side. The field was not on his side, and the knuckleheads in charge of Montana Legon Baseball wouldn’t let the Miners play in the Class A because the town had too many boys in high school.
When the Butte boys needed a life line, so many other Legion baseball programs around the state offered them a foot on the head as they struggled to stay above water.
Even some of the strongest supporters of baseball in Butte figured it was curtains for the Butte boys. We had a good run. It was time for the Miners and Muckers to go the way of the Butte Copper Kings and disappear forever.
However, LeProwse did not waiver. Come hell or high water, the Butte Miners were going to have a season. And they did.
While they couldn’t play a conference schedule in 2013, they played all spring and summer. When they couldn’t play in a conference tournament, LeProwse found a way to get them to play on an even bigger stage.
The Miners played as “Team Montana” in the Western Region Big League Baseball Tournament in Bremerton, Washington, in July of 2013.
Eventually, the Miners started playing in the Class AA again, even though they didn’t have the numbers or age to compete. The players and their coach just kept showing up to play, even as the losses mounted.
Slowly, though, the program started to build up. Eventually, Butte was allowed to play in the Class A because our high school enrollment numbers dropped low enough that the other Legion programs had no choice but to compete against the Miners.
In 2022 — nine years after the Butte boys first found themselves without a home — the Butte Miners were champions of the Montana Class A and the Northwest Class A Region.
It is one of the greatest comeback stories ever told.
Even better than that, baseball is thriving in Butte like it has not in years. Not only did we eventually get the Butte Muckers back in the Legion program, last year we added a third team, the Butte Motormen.
Boys in Butte are once again growing up dreaming of being Butte Miners. That would not be happening without Jeff LeProwse.
Butte has had some bona fide legends in its baseball program over the years. None were bigger that Jack Whelan, Jim Hanley and Jack Cavanagh, the three legends of 3 Legends Stadium.
LeProwse is right on their level.
Not only did he keep the boys playing, he led the charge to give them their new stadium. He was the mastermind behind the project. He had a dream and he pushed and pushed until that dream became a reality.
That took countless hours of planning, working and dreaming. LeProwse did all that because he knew the boys of Butte wanted to play.
He had coached the few players of 2012 and 2013 Miners in travel ball for years, and he knew their mentality. The only person around who loved baseball as much as the players was their coach. Jeff would play on a parking lot, so he would certainly coach on one.
Butte’s boys played on Field No. 4 on Copper Mountain Park from 2013 through 2016. The field did not have lights or permanent seating. It was basically a bigger version of a Little League field.
Scown Field uptown is a way nicer stadium than what the Miners were playing on.
Not once did you hear LeProwse or his players complain, though. They just showed up and played until 3 Legends Stadium opened in May of 2017.
We went from one step above a parking lot to one of the best Legion facilities in the state. Never again will the Butte boys have to wonder where they will play.
LeProwse stepped down from coaching the Miners after a 10-year run in 2021. That was 10 years in which he spent every free second on baseball — even in the winter. His vacation days went to take the Miners on the road for games.
LeProwse stayed on as president of the program, though, and watched as his older brother, Jim, coached the Miners to the District, State and Regional titles in 2022.
Jeff played Buck Showalter to Jim’s Joe Torre. He was Mark Beckman to Jim’s Tom Berg.
But nobody in town was happier to see the Miners crowned champions than Jeff.
This past Saturday night, the Butte Legion program let Jeff know just how much his years of dedication are appreciated. In a surprise ceremony in the rain, the Butte Legion program named its Memorial Day tournament the “Jeff LeProwse Baseball Tournament.”
While I voted for the “Frenchy Invitational,” that name is a fitting one.
As words of some of the people who know all that Jeff has done were read over the speakers, current and future Legion players surrounded Jeff on the field.
Public address announcer Dave Dunmire read the words of Jim LeProwse last. Those words were directed to his younger brother.
“Without your dedication and leadership, American Legion Baseball in Butte would no longer exist,” Jim’s statement read. “It took a lot of courage to take a group of 14- and 15-year-old players and compete in (Class) AA Legion Baseball without a field to call your own and against teams with much older players on it.”
There wasn’t a dry eye at the ballpark when Jim’s words continued.
“I want you to look around the stadium at all the kids who are now playing Miners Junior Baseball. They have these opportunities because of your vision, leadership and dedication.”
It is not hyperbole to say that Jeff LeProwse saved baseball in Butte. It is simply stating fact.
If you go to a ballgame and watch the city light up as the sun goes down, you will see that there is not a better site in town. There might not be a better view anywhere, and we owe that all to Jeff.
Jim suggested that someday the stadium name should be changed to 4 Legends Stadium to include his brother. Jeff would never let that happen. He would have stopped the naming of the tournament had he known it was coming.
That naming the tournament in Jeff’s honor was a great touch to let the next generations know why they have such a beautiful ballpark to call their own.
Jim is right, though. Maybe the name of the stadium should be changed to include Jeff.
However, it might be more fitting to name the parking after him instead.
— Bill Foley, who is always going to call the tournament the “Frenchy Invite,” can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
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Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week: Moodry, Stewart and Henderson
Ella Moodry, Brityn Stewart and Sam Henderson are this week’s Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week.
The honors come after the outstanding Butte athletes posted big-time performances at their State track meets over the weekend.
Stewart and Moodry share the girls’ honor after they each captured State titles in the javelin. Moodry, a senior at Butte Central, won her third Class A State title in Laurel. She won this time with a mark of 132 feet, 1 inch. She beat second-place Daeja Fike by one inch.
Moodry, who has signed to compete for the University of Montana, also won the State javelin title as a freshman and junior. She took second to Fike during her sophomore year.
Stewart, a Butte High junior, captured the Class AA crown in Great Falls by launching the javelin 130-7. She beat second-place Ava Dierolf by 2 feet, 1 inch. Stewart’s previous best going into State was 117-2.
In addition to track & field, Stewart is a standout in basketball and volleyball for the Bulldogs.
Henderson, a junior at Butte High, capped his first year competing for Butte High by placing second in the triple jump and third in the high jump. The Butte Central transfer busted off a personal-best mark of 47 feet, 2 ¼ inches in the triple jump. Scott Klinker of Great Falls High won the title at 48- ½.
Henderson’s mark broke the school record of 47-1 set by Scott Hemmert in 1989.
In the high jump, Henderson cleared 6 feet, 4 inches to finish in a six-way tie for second. He placed third on jumps. Quinn Clark of Gallatin won by clearing 6-8.
For the second year, Leskovar Honda, home of the 20-year, 200,000-mile warranty, is teaming up with the ButteCast to honor the finest student-athletes from the Mining City in an effort to encourage more children to get up, get out and try all kinds of sports and activities.
Photo of Stewart courtesy Alycia Holland Photography.
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Centerville is again the victim of environmental injustice
The chief executive lectured me about holding up the Superfund process because I have been protesting plans to dump toxic waste near homes on the Butte Hill.
Then he reassured the audience at the May 15 Council of Commissioners meeting that “nothing has been decided” about dumping the waste that will be removed from sites alongside Silver Bow Creek as part of the consent decree cleanup. He said it will all be played out as part of a “public process.”
Well, it turns out the chief executive apparently does not understand the words “public process.” Also, it turns out that his words were very far from the truth. Everything had already been decided long before that May 15 meeting.
Two weeks before — yes before — the meeting in which British Petroleum/Atlantic Richfield Co. representative Josh Bryson and Butte-Silver Bow Superfund Operations Manager Erik Hassler gave an update on the repository siting committee, the two submitted the “final repository screening report” to the Environmental Protection Agency for approval.
(Click here to read the report)
Now we are at the mercy of the EPA to protect us.
That a county employee presented side-by-side with representative of British Petroleum in the first place tells us exactly who is driving the bus on this matter. Also, the unelected Hassler, whose job is funded by BP, does not have the authority to sign off on the future of Butte and Silver Bow County.
The report says that the Berkeley Pit is the preferred repository location for the waste. The stuff that is too toxic for the Pit, though, will possibly be dumped very close to homes in Centerville — even though residents of the Butte Hill have repeatedly voiced their opposition to that plan.
Four years ago, I helped lead the fight to keep the same waste away from the Timber Butte neighborhood. That was a surprisingly easy fight to win.
The fight to protect the residents of Centerville, however, has been a lot tougher. If you look at the houses in the two neighborhoods, it is not hard to see the difference.
Timber Butte is full of really big houses, some of which include indoor swimming pools and 20-foot-high Christmas trees. Centerville is full of small houses that were built by miners in a year that started with 18.
You see, environmental injustice is much easier to pull off when you are not dealing with an affluent neighborhood. That is exactly what this is, too, no matter what the chief executive or his bosses from British Petroleum say.
It is an environmental injustice.
Regardless of the wealth of the neighborhood, though, no person should have toxic waste dumped anywhere near his or her home. We should not have to say that, but here we are again.
This plan rammed through with basically no public input — and without approval from the Council of Commissioners — is environmental injustice added on top of more than a century of environmental injustice.
And this injustice was put into place in meetings that were not open to the public. Sure, they had two members of the public appointed to the chief executive’s repository siting committee. But since one is a resident who first exposed the plan to dump next to her home by Timber Butte, it is not hard to see that the two members of the public did not have much say on the matter.
I assume she was against dumping in any neighborhood, not just her own.
Remember, British Petroleum is driving the bus.
At the same Council of Commissioners meeting in which the chief executive lectured me about holding up the process, Commissioners Josh O’Neil and John Sorich lectured me about calling the meetings “secret.”
The premise of their lectures was that they knew the handshake it took to get in the door, therefor the meeting was not secret. Well, just because you are in on the secret doesn’t mean that it isn’t a secret.
The final report lists eight meetings from June of 2021 and the reluctant appearance by the chief executive and Bryson at a Centerville community meeting on Oct. 17, 2023.
(Bryson admitted in this meeting that he was only there because of the columns I wrote on the subject.)
None of those eight meetings were advertised as open meetings. At least they were not advertised anywhere readily available to the public. None of the meetings have published minutes.
That is not transparency. It is secrecy.
At the Centerville meeting, which came after my columns exposed the secret plan to dump in the Dublin Gulch and near homes in Centerville, residents at a packed Centerville Firehall made it perfectly clear that they do not want waste dumped by their neighborhood.
A couple of months ago, one resident of Centerville wrote a letter saying he would like to see the area above the Kelley Mine cleaned up. The letter did not say he wanted cleanup that comes with the caveat that we accept 850,000 cubic yards of toxic waste.
But Hassler took that letter from one person to mean that the residents of Centerville are split on the issue of dumping toxic waste in their neighborhood. That is simply not ture.
We all want that area above the Kelley cleaned up. In 2006, they called it the “Historic Mining Landscape Area” as a way to save BP money. They weren’t going to clean it up because it has historic value to show future generations how polluted we were.
Those negotiating on behalf of the people would have had an easier time selling us oceanfront property in North Dakota than they would selling the “Historic Mining Landscape Area” to the people of Butte. They only pulled it off because it was behind closed doors.
Well, that “history” is still poisoning us as it runs downhill with each drop of rain or snow runoff. It is also a clear violation of the Montana Constitution, which grants us all the right to a safe and healthy environment.
That waste should be removed. It shouldn’t have more wasted added and then covered with a thin layer of soil and wild grass.
As the leak in the cap at Copper Mountain Park and the exposure of arsenic at the Arrow Stone Park in Deer Lodge show us, their 18 inches of soil is not enough. It will be safe until the time that it will no longer be safe.
Plus, there is even more danger to the public during the time the waste is being dumped. It will not be covered overnight.
People on the Butte Hill should not be exposed to more toxic waste. The people still living near the toxic waste deserve to have that waste removed as quickly as possible.
They are being poisoned, and British Petroleum, the EPA and Butte-Silver Bow have known that for decades. It is also our local government that is playing a key role in holding up that cleanup, not the residents who push back against dumping in neighborhoods.
We are in dire need a government that will not be run by British Petroleum. We need a government that will represent the people of Butte and Silver Bow County instead of the needs of a multi-billion-dollar foreign company.
We need a government that embraces transparency and accountability. We need a government that will stop poisoning its people.
More than anything, we need a chief executive who truly grasps the concept of a “public process.”
— Bill Foley, who is running to be that chief executive, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com or (406) 491-3022. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
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Podcast No. 189: Renzy Kelly
Renzy Kelly can be seen losing his mind and high stepping all around the basketball court on all those videos of Dougie Peoples hitting that game-winning shot for Butte Central in the 2022 Class A State championship game in Missoula.
He also went crazy when Cade Holter hit a three-quarters shot to tie the Butte High-Butte Central game a while back. That one was because he thought the shot won the game, not just tied it.
Renzy has to be one of the longest tenured high school freshmen basketball coaches in the state, if not the country. He has been a hoops coach for the Maroons since his brother Brodie took over as head coach of the program before the 2004-05 season.
Renzy has had the Jack Nicholson seats for ever BC varsity game for the past 20 seasons. That is where Renzy specializes in funny comments to the referees — even if not every ref finds him funny.
The Maroons qualified for the State tournament in 18 of those years. They shared the title with Hardin after COVID forced the shutdown of the season one day before it ended in 2020.
Two years later, Renzy was high stepping as Dougie and the Maroons won the State title.
Renzy is a 1998 graduate of Butte Central. He was a three-sport standout for the Maroons before taking his talent to play receiver for coach Bob Green on the Montana Tech football team.
Kelly had a solid career for the Orediggers. He had a knack for big plays and for scoring touchdowns.
Listen in to this podcast as Renzy talks about losing his mind a couple of times after big shots by the Maroons. Listen as he talks about coaching with his brother and growing up the little brother of one of the most competitive guys who ever lived.
Listen as he talks about some fun road trips with Lee LaBreche, the man we called the Big Kahuna.
Today’s podcast is brought to you by Leskovar Honda, home of the 20-year, 200,000-mile warrantee.
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Butte High cross country team looking for runners, sets summer training
The Butte High cross country team is looking for anyone interested in joining an incredible group of motivated, hard-working young people.
If you’re interested in trying something new, consider joining the team this summer.
The Bulldogs will hold summer training at various locations throughout the summer in preparation for the start of the season on Aug. 11.
The team will be start summer workouts on Monday, June 17 at East Middle School. Workouts will run from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m.
Check out the Butte High Cross Country Facebook page for updates. Be sure to get your physical and come ready to run.
If you are interested in running for the team this fall, contact Coach Guy Wadas at (336) 684-0342 or Coach Don Foley at (406) 490-8668 for more information.
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Point and laugh at that sexist kicker
The sight of my mom standing at the kitchen sink wearing her old No. 44 Cleveland Browns jersey was always comforting to me.
I don’t know where the jersey came from because she grew up a fan of the Green Bay Packers, of all teams. That didn’t matter, though. What mattered was when my mom wore that shirt, it meant she wasn’t going to work as a substitute teacher’s aide with the Butte School District.
It was her shirt that said she was a stay-at-home mom that day.
Days when my mom stayed home were always the best. It wasn’t just because I didn’t have to go to a baby sitter after school, though that was a nice touch. I just liked having my mom home.
I imagined that every kid felt the way.
Unfortunately, my mom didn’t stay home very often. She needed to work so our family wouldn’t starve.
My dad is a staunch union electrician, and he lost his job when the mines closed in Butte. During much of the 1980s, he was forced to go all around the country for work, sending home what money he could.
It wasn’t enough, so my mom had to work.
She would usually go to her job somewhere in the school district. Then, she would go to another job where she would clean someone else’s home before coming home and cooking dinner.
Somehow, our house always stayed immaculately clean, too.
Now north of 70, my mom is still working most days of the school year as a substitute teacher. She is an amazing person who is still a great supporter and role model to her three boys, even now that we are all middle-aged men
Kansas City Chiefs place kicker Harrison Butker apparently wouldn’t like that one bit.
In addition to spouting some homophobic talking points you might hear from an alt-right radio talk show host, the Chiefs kicker basically told the graduating young women of Benedictine College to “stay in the kitchen” during his commencement address on May 11.
In his speech, Butker sounded like Franklin Hart Jr. in the 1980 movie “9 to 5.” That is to say that he sounded a bit like a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.
Well, maybe not the lying part, but the rest of it is spot on with Dabney Coleman’s character in that Dolly Parton movie.
The aftermath of Butker’s address has drawn so many different responses. The most puzzling one is that the sales of Butker’s No. 7 Chiefs jersey have gone through the roof.
I would imagine those jerseys are being sold to the kind of people who watched “All in the Family” and didn’t realize that Archie Bunker was making fun of them.
The other puzzling response is the call for the Chiefs to cut Butker because of his 1850s point of view. Hundreds of thousands of people have signed petitions demanding that the team to get rid of a guy who is one of the best players in the league at his position.
Yes, he is just the kicker. But if the Chiefs had a lesser kicker, they wouldn’t have as many Super Bowl titles in the Patrick Mahomes era.
As disgusting as we might find his words, we have to remember they are just that. They are words. Freedom of speech means letting people spout off opinions that are different from ours.
Yes, Butker’s views seem to be of the Neanderthal variety, but he should have the right to express those views without losing his job kicking a football.
That should go for every person, regardless of his or her profession. If we start firing people for their personal views, the unemployment rate will go through the roof.
If Chiefs did suddenly grow a moral compass and release the kicker, he would be out of work four about 15 seconds before another team picked him up.
The NFL inducted Ray Lewis into the Hall of Fame, and he pled guilty to obstruction of justice in a double murder case.
The league has turned a blind eye to domestic and child abusers. It has given second chances to sexual assaulters. So, if you’re expecting the league to suddenly develop a social conscience over a kicker, do not hold your breath.
The only way Butker is losing his job is if he starts missing kicks.
It is baffling as to why Benedictine College would want a speaker with such archaic views for its commencement ceremony. Perhaps the school didn’t know what he was going to say.
More likely, many at the private religious school probably share in his world views.
Thankfully, those views are becoming more and more out of date.
Many of the women who were graduating were clearly in shock by the insulting comments. Many men were, too. As a guy with a mother, wife and two daughters, I found the comments a bit off-putting, to say the least.
But, here’s the thing. Those women in the crowd — or the girls listening at home or on the internet — are not going to listen to this boob and suddenly give up on their hopes and dreams.
If anything, they will become even more driven for success as they are introduced to the very real chauvinistic threat that they will face in the “real world.”
If a woman decides to be a stay-at-home mother, good for her. The same goes for fathers.
I wanted to be a stay-at-home dad. I never minded changing diapers, making lunch and cleaning up around the house.
Now that the kids are old enough to take care of themselves, I could have all kinds of time to work on my golf game.
However, my wife has always selfishly refused to get the second — or third — job it would require for me to pull that off.
Likewise, I have never made enough money for our family to live off of my income.
Butker’s wife can stay at home with the kids because her husband signed a six-year, $21 million contract in 2019. Also, she chooses to stay at home.
A lot of women would choose the profession of “homemaker,” as Butker put it, if their husband made that kind of money. Many, though, would still rather focus on their careers.
I have an amazing amount of respect for both decisions.
I have zero respect for Butker’s silly opinion, even though he clearly has the right to express it.
More than anything, it is disappointing that Butker decided to tell the women they should strive to be servants for their men — especially during a college graduation.
He had a chance to help lift some graduating students and give them a boost as they hit the world. Instead, he decided to be a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.
Well, maybe not the lying part.
Yes, Butker has the right to say what he said. Of course, we also have the right to call out his bigoted and chauvinistic remarks. Actually, it is more of a duty.
That so many people are ridiculing him on social media is the best reaction of all to Butker’s words.
Post those funny memes. Point at him and laugh. Boo him when he kicks. Cheer for him to suddenly go into a cold streak that will force his team to find a new kicker.
When it comes time to buy a new football jersey, look for a better option than Kansas City No. 7. Maybe even consider a Cleveland Browns jersey — just not handsy quarterback Deshaun Watson’s No. 4.
I might recommend No. 44.
After all, it always looked great on my mom.
— Bill Foley, who also recommends a No. 34 Chicago Bears jersey, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
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Vicevich, Holdodnick lead the way as Trap Club Spring League closes
Dave Vicevich and Jim Holodnick each broke 49 out of 50 targets Thursday as the Butte Trap Club’s Spring League wrapped up with Week 6.
Kohlten Fulton, Tim Cassidy, Mark Hislop and John McClernan each shot a 48 on the final night. Nate Farley shot a 47.
Mindy McClernan and Gillian Clark each shot a 42 to top women’s standings. Jen Hislop followed at 38, and Kim McClafferty shot a 35. Cassidy’s 42 topped wobble scores, beating Bob Gambrel by one.
Vicevich won the High Gun Male award with a 287 out of 300 on the season. He beat runner-up Holodnick by seven. Clark’s 266 out of 300 won the High Gun Female award. McClernan was second at 257.
Chase White took home top junior honors.
Cooney’s Vicevich Law finished the six weeks on top of team scratch standings at 1,111. Team members are Vicevich, Hislop, Scott White, Robert Edwards and John Wombold.
AMBS took second at 1,083, and Baker Auto tied. For third with Edward Jones/Walt McIntosh at 1,076.
Butte Trap Club – 2024 Spring League – Week 6 Final Standings
Team Scratch Standings
Cooney’s Vicevich Law – 1111
AMBS – 1083
Baker Auto – 1076
Edward Jones/Walt McIntosh – 1076
Arc Electric – 1066
FJBCHO – 1046
Cooney’s Locksmith – 1043
St James Hospital – 1027
Superior Title – 1012
WET – 1001
Pro Inspection – 989
Lisac’s/Jim Lynch State Farm – 988
Pro Repair/Sundance – 971
Archibald Co. – 965
Timberline Security – 961
D-M Ranch – 957
…..w/Guns – 951
Pizzer’s Palace – 945
Pioneer Technical – 941
S&S Plumbing/Hitching Post – 935
KR Contracting – 934
Clay Howery Construction – 900
Lockmer Plumbing – 884
J3 Construction – 884
12 G Girls – 765
Daddy’s Girls – 734
East Ridge Scrappers – 704
Maloney’s – 620
Trap – Tastic – 534High Individual Scores
Dave Vicevich – 49×50
Jim Holodnick – 49×50
Kohlten Fulton – 48×50
Tim Cassidy – 48×50
Mark Hislop – 48×50
John McClernan – 48×50
Nate Farley – 47×50High Lady Scores
Mindy McClernan – 42×50
Gillian Clark – 42×50
Jen Hislop – 38×50
Kim McClafferty – 35×50High Wobble Trap Scores
Tim Cassidy – 42×50
Bob Gambrel – 41×50
Ed Peretti – 37×50
Randy Maynard – 37×50High Gun Male
Champion Dave Vicevich – 287×300
R-U Jim Holodnick – 280×300High Gun Female
Champ Gillian Clark – 266×300
Runner-Up Mindy McClernan – 257×300High Junior – Chase White
Team Division Winners
Class AA – Cooney’s/Vicevich Law – Dave Vicevich, Scott White, Robert Edwards, John Wombold, Mark HislopClass A – St. James – Jake Dennehy, Tanner Tregidga, Anthony Moritz, Ty Harney, Kaden Hafer
Class B – Pro Inspection – Ted Phillips, Will Davey, Ian Smith, Wade Malyevac, John McClernan
Class C – Pisser’s Palace – Josh Bridgeman, Riley Rigby, Todd Miller, Shane Miller, Josh Bridgeman
Class D – 12 G Girls – Colleen Fink, Denise Anderson, Ciana Dale, Annie Boyd, Jen Hoerauf
Annie Oakley Winners
- 1st – Kohlten Fultz 2nd – Ryan Miller
- 1st – Kohlten Fultz 2nd – Justin D’Arcy
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Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week: Butte High’s baseball team
The Butte High Bulldogs baseball team members are this week’s Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week.
The Bulldogs placed fourth at the State All-Class baseball tournament in Missoula. Butte High opened the tournament with a 6-3 victory over 2023 champion Polson.
After falling to Hamilton in the semifinals, Butte bounced back to beat Eureka 11-6 to advance to the third-place game.
Columbia Falls downed the Bulldogs in the third-place game, and the Bulldogs close the season with a 12-8 record.
The 2024 Bulldog State team was made up of seniors Mason Armstrong, Derek Dunmire, Gavin Trudgeon, Alex Jorgensen, Quinn Cox, Kaden McGillen and Zack O’Connoll; juniors Colby Gordon, Tocher Lee, Matthew Donaldson, Lucas Harris-Huerta, Will Stepan, and Karsen McEwen; sophomores Cayde Stajcar, Jaxon Williamson, Gunner Bushman and Logan Carden; freshman Cole Solomon; and eighth grader Tegan Duffy.
Jim LeProwse is the head coach of the Bulldogs. His assistants are Luke Stajcar, Shane Jorgensen and Dyllan “Kruk” Lane.
For the second year, Leskovar Honda, home of the 20-year, 200,000-mile warranty, is teaming up with the ButteCast to honor the finest student-athletes from the Mining City in an effort to encourage more children to get up, get out and try all kinds of sports and activities.
The team photo is courtesy Josie Trudgeon Photography.
