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Maroons schedule football camp
The Butte Central Maroons football program has scheduled its 2025 summer football camp for July 28-31.
The camp, which is open to first through 12th graders, will be held on the Torger Oaas Maroon Field at the Maroon Activities Center.
The session for boys entering first through fifth grades will be held each day from 10 to 11:30 a.m. The cost for boys in this age group is $34. The session for boys entering sixth through 12th grades will be held each day from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The cost for boys in this age group will be $50.
A reduced fee of $23 for each additional camper, from the same family will be offered.
The camp will be staffed by the Butte Central football coaching staff. The camp will feature football skill development and fun. All campers will receive an official 2025 Maroon Football T-shirt.
To register for the camp or obtain further information, call the Maroon Activities Center at (406) 723-6706.
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Lee, Stewart named top Bulldogs
Seven Butte High athletes earn Block B Awards
Tocher Lee and Brityn Stewart were the big winners as Butte High doled out athletic awards at the Butte Athletic Council’s All-Sports Banquet Wednesday night at the Butte Civic Center.
The honors come one night before the Butte High Class of 2025 graduation ceremony.
Lee took home the Harry “Swede” Dahlberg Outstanding Boy Athlete Award, while Stewart received the Outstanding Girl Athlete Award.
Lee became just the third Butte High boy to earn 12 varsity letters in his career, joining Ethan Shrader and Tommy Mellott. He did it in four sports, lettering four times in basketball, three times each in football and track and two times in baseball.
He will long be remembered as a clutch performer in all sports. That includes hitting the game-winning 3-poitner to send the Bulldogs to the Class AA State tournament in 2024. This spring, Lee batted leadoff for the Butte High baseball team while qualifying for the State meet in the long jump.
Lee signed to play football at Montana Tech.
Stewart will leave Butte High School with 10 letters. That includes four letters in basketball, three in track, two in volleyball and one in softball. She was a team leader of a Bulldog basketball team that played on Saturday night of the Class AA State tournament in Bozeman this March.
Stewart will be remembered as a player who came up big in big games. That includes a 36-point performance in Western AA Divisional Tournament game in 2023.
As a junior, Stewart won the state championship in the javelin. She placed third in that event this past weekend in Kalispell. She also received the Outstanding Girl Defensive Basketball Player Award and the Bill Hawke Outstanding Senior Girl Track Award. She shared the Outstanding Volleyball Player Award with fellow senior Jaycee Cleveland.
Stewart recently signed to throw the javelin for the Montana Tech track & field team.
In all, seven Bulldogs took home Block B’s, meaning they lettered seven or more times in their career.
Dylann Bartoletti received 12 letters. That includes four each in golf and track, three in basketball and one as a football manager.
Will Stepan, who took the Most Inspirational Student-Athlete Award, earned nine letters — four in wrestling, three in football and two in baseball. Sam Sampson and Torre Tempel each took home eight letters. Sampson earned three in football and track and two in tennis, and Tempel earned three in football, three in basketball and two in track.
Dylan “Bobby” Bache earned seven letters — four in basketball and three in track.
All the awards and scholarships handed out at the All-Sports Banquet follow. Photos of Lee and Stewart courtesy Alycia Holland Photography.
BAC All-Sports Banquet Awards
Most Inspirational Student-Athlete — Will Stepan
Harry “Swede” Dahlberg Outstanding Boy Athlete — Tocher Lee
Outstanding Girl Athlete — Brityn Stewart
Frank Mischkot Memorial Scholarship — Brett Polich
“Sig” Meyer Scholarship — Sam Henderson
Don Tamietti Memorial Scholarship — Will Stepan
Chris Milodragovich Memorial Scholarship — Will Stepan
Tom Tutty Memorial Scholarship — Peyton Trabert
Hard Hat Football Award — Sam Sampson
Head Hunter Football Award — Eli Smith
Outstanding Girl Flag Football Award — Hailey Hotalen
Outstanding Volleyball Player (Offense) — Jaycee Cleveland and Brityn Stewart
Outstanding Volleyball Player (Defense) — Cadence Graham
Outstanding Gir Cross Country Runner — Sophia Houchin
Mike Hotzel Outstanding Boys Distance Runner — Camden Houchin
Outstanding Senior Girl Soccer Player — Elli Quist
Outstanding Senior Boy Soccer Player — Roscoe “Mack” Williams
Outstanding Girl Golfer — Dylann Bartoletti
Outstanding Boy Golfer — Chase Choquette
Bob Rae Boy Basketball Player — Hudson Luedtke
Outstanding Boy Defensive Basketball Player — Torre Tempel
Connie Hogan Memorial Award (Outstanding Girl Basketball Player) — Cadence Graham
Outstanding Girl Defensive Basketball Player — Brityn Stewart
Outstanding Girl Swimmer — Adalie Grochowski
Outstanding Boy Swimmer — Nathan Stone
Tom Renz Outstanding Wrestler — Bode Hazlett and Keegan Hunt
Outstanding Girl Wrestler — Peyton Liva and Mattie Stepan
Outstanding Girl Tennis Player — Murphy Sullivan
Outstanding Boy Tennis Player — Cole Skeel
Pete Schonsberg Newcomer Track Award — Saege Grey
Bill Hawke Outstanding Senior Girl Track Award — Brityn Stewart
Outstanding Boy Track Award — Sam Henderson
Bob O’Malley Memorial Boys Track Award — Sam Sampson and Sam Henderson
Outstanding Softball Player (Offense) — Mattie Stepan
Outstanding Softball Player (Defense) — Ashlinn Mullaney
Outstanding Baseball Player (Offense) — Will Stepan
Outstanding Baseball Player (Defense) — Lucas Harris-HuertaBlock B Winners
Dylan Bache — 7 letters (4 basketball, 3 track)
Dylann Bartoletti — 12 letters (4 golf, 4 track, 3 basketball, 1 football manager)
Tocher Lee — 12 letters (4 basketball, 3 football, 3 track, 2 baseball)
Sam Sampson — 8 letters (3 football, 3 track, 2 tennis)
Brityn Stewart — 10 letters (4 basketball, 3 track, 2 volleyball, 1 softball)
Will Stepan — 9 letters (4 wrestling, 3 football, 2 baseball)
Torre Tempel — 8 letters (3 football, 3 basketball, 2 track)
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Podcast No. 267: Sam Henderson
If Sam Henderson was to walk away from track & field today, we would still be talking about him decades from now.
On Saturday, Henderson won the Class AA State title in the triple jump. His winning mark, which came on his final jump, was 47 feet, 1 ½ inches. That was his fourth best jump of the season. His three best — including his personal record of 48-7 ½ at the Western AA Divisional meet the week before — would have placed fifth at the Big Sky Conference Championships.
He set and reset the Butte High School record several times in the triple jump.
He also placed third in the high jump by clearing 6-4. That came a week after he cleared 6-10 to win the Divisional title. That jump was three quarters of an inch shy of the Butte High record set by the great Jasson McNallie in 1989.
If Sam, who transferred from Butte Central after his sophomore year, was to walk away now, he’d go down as one of the all-time great Bulldogs.
The thing is, Sam is not done with track & field. Not even close.
Sam, who will graduate from Butte High on Thursday, will take his talents to the University of Montana, where he will chase championships for the Grizzlies.
He signed with the Grizzlies before he began his senior season for the Bulldogs. Then, Sam set the world on fire.
In one six-day stretch, Sam competed in the Harry “Swede” Dahlberg Invitational, the Russ Pilcher Top 10 Meet in Missoula and the 129th Penn Relays in Philadelphia. He won the triple jump Dahlberg and Top 10 before triple jumping to fifth place while competing with the best in the world in Philly.
He is believed to be the only high school athlete from Butte to compete in the prestigious event.
Listen in to this podcast, which was recorded in the Coaches’ Corner at the Metals Sports Bar & Grill, as Sam talks about winning the triple jump on his last attempt, and how he really wasn’t sweating in that much. Listen to what it is like to clear 6-10 in the high jump and soar that far in the triple jump.
Listen to why Sam started triple jumping in the first place, and what it was like to rub elbows with the very best at the Penn Relays.
Listen in to hear his plans for Los Angeles in 2028.
Today’s podcast is presented by Casagranda’s Steakhouse. Eat where the locals eat.
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Dr. Farren and his smile will be missed
Dr. Daniel J. Farren passed away last week.
Not every guy will be as sad as I am about the passing of his longtime optometrist, but Dr. Farren was special. Dr. Farren was so much more than an eye doctor.
The good doctor came into my life in 1983, when I was 9. I remember the day we met like it was yesterday. It was also one of the most important days of my life.
I started wearing glasses before I turned 3 years old. That meant that I had to go to the eye doctor at least once every year, though it seemed like it was every month.
I did not like my first eye doctor, and it was pretty apparent that the feelings were mutual. Even my mom, who almost always sees the best in every person, told me recently that she thought the doctor was mean to me.
The worst part about going to that eye doctor was that he basically had one style of eyeglasses for me to pick out. The “throw-the-ball-at-my-head” model. They are the kind of glasses my friend Pat Ryan would call “birth control glasses.”
As if the lazy eye didn’t put me behind the 8 ball enough.
My lasting memory of going to my first eye doctor was a couple of members of his staff holding me down to a table so he could get an eye drop in my second eye. He must have figured that if glasses were not going to fix my amblyopia, then he would scare that eye straight.
The first drop stung, so I was not about to let him land a drop in my other eye. I won that fight, too, because I learned at a young age that no doctor can beat an effective kicking-and-screaming tantrum.
When he decided he would charge my family extra to make monthly payments — right after the mines closed in Butte and my dad lost his job — my mom finally decided we needed a new eye doctor.
That is when I met Dr. Farren. I immediately liked him because, well, he was just such a likeable guy. He always had a joke, and he was always smiling.
Literally every single time I saw Dr. Farren, he was smiling.
He was also much, much better at his job than my old eye doctor. Dr. Farren actually offered an explanation as to why my left eye always liked to stare at my right eye, and it was not because of a lack of stinging eye drops.
Both of my eyes worked, but not at the same time.
I remember staring at the giant E on the chart across the dark room. Dr Farren held his big spoon to cover my right eye. Then he switched it to my left, and then back again. I thought I was outsmarting the good doctor by switching my eyes as he moved his spoon.
That first appointment seemed like it took forever as Dr. Farren figured out what was up with my eyes and explained it to my mom. He said he could fix it.
With that, we started some pretty intensive therapy. I went to Dr. Farren’s office a couple of times each week to work on training my eyes to work together. I remember sitting in a dark room for hours, staring at a screen while trying to make the off-kilter L and the R lineup.
To almost every other person on the planet, the L and R just automatically lined up. Not for me.
Dr. Farren also got me a pair of glasses that were a little more fashionable. Not much, but a little.
As I went through the months of therapy, Dr. Farren and I hoped that it would work well enough that I would be able to hit a baseball. Well, at least I hoped it would. I am sure Dr. Farren probably knew that was a lost cause, but he never told me that.
It did help me hit a little better, though. Instead of striking out every time, I started to foul off the ball. Occasionally, I would even get a hit.
One time years later, though, I helped Dr. Farren’s grandson hit an inside-the-park grand slam. That should count for something.
I wrote about that in a column for ButteSports.com in May of 2015.
Taylor Farren was on the Centerville Fire Department team in the Northwest Little League’s Triple-A league in 1999. I was an assistant coach on that team, and I worked hard to get Taylor to swing the bat during games.
One game, late in the season, Taylor was our 10th batter of the inning. Under league rules, the inning ended after 10 batters if the defense did not record three outs.
So, with the bases loaded, Taylor came up and watched the first three pitches come nowhere close to the plate. I called time out.
“Listen,” I told him, “if you walk here, you are just walking back to the dugout because you’re the last batter. So, I want you to swing at the next three pitches no matter where they are.”
The next pitch was high and outside, but Taylor smashed it over the center fielder’s head and to the fence. Taylor sprinted around the bases as his mother honked her horn and then jumped out of her minivan to race to the fence to scream and cheer for her boy.
Had I ever hit the ball like that, Dr. Farren would have been the one screaming and shaking the fence. He worked so hard to get my eyes straight. They never made it all the way, and I still cannot not get that L and R lined up.
But Dr. Farren never gave up on me. He also made it so my left eye has not crossed uncontrollably. In fact, today you would hardly be able to tell that I ever had such a problem.
As I got older, those appointments with Dr. Farren got even more fun. They were long appointments, too, because we would talk so much. His stories were still funny, and his jokes were even better.
My three kids thought he was a riot, too. They will never forget how he told each one of them about the phone call he made to Mickey Mouse the day before the appointment, asking “Mick” to send a special video to show the kids as he examined their eyes.
Then, Dr. Farren would put on a video of a Mickey Mouse cartoon that had to be at least 70 years old on his 1980s model TV/VCR combo.
When it was my turn for an appointment, it was always apparent how badly Dr. Farren wanted me to see 100 percent straight. He would almost try to will me to see the shape that was supposed to jump off the screen in the depth perception test.
Since my eyes still aren’t totally lined up, I never did see it.
One time, I figured I would have my wife tell me what the shape was so I could get a rise out of Dr. Farren. I just wanted to see the look on his face.
The Doc, though, got to Kim first. He made her promise not to tell me, and she held true to that promise.
I never did make the big leagues in baseball. I never even made the Babe Ruth league. Of course, that was not just about my eyesight. I also lacked just about every other quality an athlete needs to be a good baseball player.
But it was not because Dr. Farren did not try. He even offered to help me when I tried to take up playing handball in my late 20s.
This time, though, Dr. Farren did not bring me back for therapy to try to line up the L and R. Instead, he suggested writing me a note to explain to my opponents why I could not hit a handball. It would have been like a doctor’s excuse for losing.
Then, like he always did, Dr. Farren smiled.
— Bill Foley, who wishes he would have taken Dr. Farren up on that offer to write a handball excuse note, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. 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: Jaeger Hansen and Peyton Trabert
Butte High track athletes Jaeger Hansen and Peyton Trabert are this week’s Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week.
The honors come after the Bulldogs impressed during the Class AA State meet in Kalispell.
Hansen, a sophomore, receives the boys’ honor after placing second in the javelin at Legends Stadium with a personal-best throw of 172 feet, 1 inch.
That came one week after Hansen broke his previous record by 17 feet to qualify for State with a fourth-place throw of 163-9 at the Western AA Divisional meet in Butte.
Hansen, who ran the 100- and 200-meter races for the Bulldogs during the regular season, also lettered in football and wrestling for the Bulldogs during the 2024-25 school year.
Trabert, a senior, takes home the girls’ accolade after placing seventh at State in the pole vault. Three days after receiving the Mariah’s Challenge Scholarship, Trabert matched her personal best by clearing 9 feet, 6 inches. That capped a solid senior campaign that also saw Trabert compete in the 100-meter dash for the Bulldogs.
In the fall, Trabert contributed as an outside hitter for the Butte High volleyball team.
For the third 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 to encourage more children to get up, get out and try all kinds of sports and activities.
Photo of Trabert courtesy Alycia Holland Photography.
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Sam Henderson triple jumps to title; Hansen second, Stewart third in javelin
Sam Henderson is a state champion.
One day after the Butte High senior placed third in the high jump, Henderson pulled off a clutch leap to win the Class AA triple jump title Saturday at the Class AA State meet at Legends Stadium in Kalispell.
The Class A meet was held in conjunction with the Class AA for just the second time this century. The first time came in Butte in 2022. (Results)
Henderson saved his best jump of the meet for last. That is also when he needed it most. He jumped 47 feet, 1 1/2 inches for the win. That moved him past Kalispell Flathhead’s William Hollensteiner, who was leading at 46-10 ¼ heading into the final round. Dylan Garcia of Billings West took third in 45-7
The title closed the book on a remarkable career by Henderson, who also placed sixth in the 110-meter hurdles Saturday with a time of 15.12 seconds.
On Friday, Henderson cleared 6-4 in the high jump. That was good for a tie for first with Jaxan Lieberg of Helena High and Porter Gibbs of Missoula Big Sky. But Lieberg and Gibbs placed first and second based on jumps.
Henderson competed at a State meet all four years of his career, with his first appearance coming at the Class A meet in Butte. He transferred from Butte Central to Butte High after his freshman season, and he will go down as one of the all-time great Bulldogs.
He owns the school triple jump record with a mark of 48-7 ¼ set at the Western AA Divisional meet last week in Butte. His best mark of 6-10 in the high jump, also set last week, is just three quarters of an inch shy of the school record set by the great Jasson McNallie in 1989.
Henderson’s senior year also included a podium finish at the prestigious Penn Relays in Philadelphia.
Like McNallie, Henderson ended his prep career standing on the No. 1 on the podium. He will continue his career at the University of Montana.
Asa team, Butte High scored 25 points to place ninth. Kalispell Flathead won with 88 points. The Braves were followed by Helena High at 81 and Kalispell Glacier at 56.5.
Sophomore Jaeger Hansen might just be beginning another remarkable Bulldogs. Hansen, who made a huge jump in his personal record to place fourth and qualify for State in the javelin last week, popped off with another huge throw Friday.
Hansen launched the javelin 172 feet, 1 inch, his second PR in as many weeks, to place second in the event. Tyler Crum of Helena Capital took the gold with a PR of 186-1.
The mark by Hansen is the seventh best at Butte High since the javelin was changed a few decades ago.
Junior Camden Houchin placed seventh in the 3,200-meter race for the Bulldogs. He finished with a personal-best time of 9 minutes, 37.53 seconds. That beat his previous best by 19 seconds.
Houchin also ran to 20th place in the 1,600-meter race, finishing in 4:34.74.
Senior Brett Polich closed his career with a seventh-place performance in the shot put. The future Montana Western football player posted a mark of 50-10.
Senior Dylan “Bobby” Bache, who first rose to fame as a freshman playing on the varsity basketball team, placed third in the long jump. He busted loose for a personal best of 21-8 ¼. Also in that event, junior Cohen Andrews placed 18th (20-3 ½) and senior Tocher Lee took 22nd (20-1).
Junior Ryan Hanson placed ninth in the high jump, clearing 6 feet, and classmate Levi Wiltsie took 28thg in the 3,200 with a PR time of 10:24.11.
Butte High ran to 11th place in the 400-meter relay and 12th in the 1,600-meter relay. Xavier Jory, Sam Sampson, Preston Jensen and Jacob Galle ran the short relay, while Bache, Sampson, Raeder Grey and Houchin ran the long relay.
On the girls’ side, senor Brityn Stewart did not defend her title in the javelin. She still brought home a medal, placing third in the event with a throw of 127-2. That mark was 7 inches shy of her season best and just 3 feet, 5 inches off last year’s championship mark.
Senior Rae Smart of Billings Skyview, captured gold by breaking the all-class record with a throw of 162-11. She beats the record of 156-11 set by Columbia Falls’ Angellica Street in 2019.
Billings West junior Elsa Johnson took second at 134-4. Smart, who had one of the all-time great performances, also won the discus and shot put title.
Butte High senior Peyton Trabert cleared 9-6 to placed seventh in the pole vault, and classmate Mylee Demarais took 14th in the shot put with a mark of 30-7. Cadence Graham finished 18th in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 48-84.
Butte High placed 12th in the 400-meter relay and 13th in the 1,600-meter relay. Autum Clary, Graham, Saege Grey and Dylann Bartoletti ran the short relay, while Wakely Burelson, Sophia Houchin, Grey and Graham ran the long.
That 1,600-meter relay team, by the way, might have set a record for the youngest team. Graham is a sophomore, Burelson is a freshman, and Houchin and Grey are eighth graders.
Gallatin won the girls’ team title with 100 points. Helena High took second at 83, followed by West at 56. Butte finished 15th with six points.
McCarthy, McGree place fourth
Sophomore Danny McCarthy and Keefer McGree put up some impressive performances for Butte Central on the Class A side.
After running to fifth in the preliminary round of the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.52 seconds, McCarthy posted a PR of 11.39 to take fourth place.
Cole Zeigler of Frenchtown took gold in 11.14 seconds. Jack Phelps of Columbia Falls was next at 11.34, followed by Solomon Morgan of Corvallis in 11.37.
McGree also posted a PR, running to fourth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 40/47 seconds. Brody Hardy of Frenchtown won the race in 39.09. Bigfork’s Austin Savik was second in 20.24, and Laurel’s Isaiah Burt was third in 40.30.
McGree ran to 10th in the 110-meter hurdles in 16,73.
Corvallis captured the team title with 76 points, edging second-place Frenchtown by one point. Laurel was third at 64. The Maroons placed 14th with the eight points from McCarthy and McGree.
On the girls’ side, Whitefish won with 74 points. Havre took second at 60, and Hamilton placed third at 56.
Butte Central’s girls did not score a point, but the super-young Maroons figure to be a factor in the coming years.
McPartland impresses on court
Butte Central senior Owen McPartland will go down as one of the greatest BC basketball players in history.
Over the last couple of weeks, McPartland also turned some heads on the tennis court. One week after winning the Central A Divisional title, McPartland won two matches at the Class A State meet in Billings. (Results)
McPartland beat Riccardo Slanzi of Stevensville in a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 battle in the opening round. In the quarterfinals, eventual runner up Jack Oehlerich of Whitefish downed McPartland 6-0, 6-4.
The Maroon battled back with a 6-2, 6-0 consolation victory over Landon Orthman before bowing out with thrilling 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 loss to Whitefish’s Owen Erickson.
McPartland was the lone high school tennis player from Butte still playing on the final week of the season.
Bulldog baseball celebrates seniors
Rain wiped out Butte High’s Senior Night baseball game against Missoula Sentinel on May 15. The game was non-conference, and the schedule was too tight to make it up.
The Bulldogs, though, will still make sure their five seniors will get the proper sendoff.
Butte High will hold a special ceremony at 6 p.m. Tuesday at 3 Legends Stadium to recognize seniors Tocher Lee, Will Stepan, Matthew Donaldson, Karsen McEwen and Lucas Harris-Huerta and their parents.
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Wombold, Vicevich perfect in Week 5
John Wombold and Dave Vicevich shot perfect scores, breaking all 50 targets, to lead Week 5 shooting at the Butte Trap Club’s Spring League.
The perfect score was the second in as many weeks for Vicevich.
Gilliam Clark, Rayelynn Brandl, John McIntosh and Kaden Hafer each shot a 49. Seth Duclos and Doug Rentz shot a 48.
Clark and Brandl led the women’s standings. Mindy McClernan was next at 49. Vicevich also shot a 49 to lead all wobble scores, topping Rentz by one.
The Week 5 leaderboard and team handicap standings follow:
Butte Trap Club – 2025 Spring League – Week 5 Standings
Team Handicap Standings
AA
Baker Auto – 909
Lost Art Builders – 870
Arc Electric – 857
Wolverine Systems – 749
Peterson Electric – 716
Anaconda Trap Club – 703A
WET – 865
S&S Plumbing/Northwest Pipe – 856
Cooney’s Locksmith – 846
Timberline Security – 842
Edward Jones/Walt McIntosh – 833B
Northwest Clay Busters – 82
St James – 822
Lisac’s/Jim Lynch State Farm – 814
Lockmer Plumbing – 809
Superior Title – 609C
Archibald Co. – 789
Pro Repair – 777
Q-Stains – 766
Clay Howery Construction – 761
Air Tight Solutions – 761
Nick’s Casino – 759D
Maloney’s/Harrington’s Pepsi – 702
Daddy’s Girls – 666
Eastridge Enterprise – 636
B Squared Pest Control – 626
12 G Girls – 612High Individual Scores
John Wombold – 50×50
Dave Vicevich – 50×50
Gillian Clark – 49×50
Rayelynn Brandl – 49×50
John McIntosh – 49×50
Kaden Hafer – 49×50
Seth Duclos – 48×50
Doug Rentz – 48×50High Lady Scores
Rayelynn Brandl – 49×50
Gillian Clark – 49×50
Mindy McClernan – 45×50
Denise Andersen – 37×50
Tammy Gordon – 37×50High Wobble Trap Scores
Dave Vicevich – 49×50
Doug Rentz – 48×50
Jake Taverna – 47×50
Seth Duclos – 46×50
Les Andersen – 45×50 -
Podcast No. 266: Dom Tibbetts
During his two years covering sports for KXLF-TV in Butte and KBZK-TV in Bozeman, we could tell that Dom Tibbetts was going to be off to bigger and better things.
I used to joke with him that he was headed to SportsCenter because of his world-class hairdo. He does have nice hair, too. He made all of us jealous.
The truth is, though, we knew Dom was going places because was doing a really good job. If there ever was a guy built for prime time, it was Dom.
That is why he was picked to be a contestant on The Price is Right. It is why he made it on stage.
Dom left the Mining City for a job in WTXL-TV in Tallahassee, Florida, in 2020.
Two years later, Dom started working at WKBW-TV in Buffalo. Now, the Upstate New York native gets to cover the Buffalo Bills, the team he grew up rooting for.
He covers everything else sports in Buffalo, too.
Dom, though, never forgot his first job. He never forgot his Butte barber, Dave Isakson of the Leisure Way.
He will never forget covering a national championship run by the Montana Western women’s basketball team. He will never forget the 2019 Butte High football team and the great cast of characters of the team that made a run to the championship game. That includes the great Tommy Mellott, now of the Las Vegas Raiders.
Listen in to this podcast as Dom talks about heading to Butte straight out of Ithaca College. Listen as he talks about some of the great sports teams and moments he covered.
Listen to hear how he covered some stories that weren’t quite as fun, like Max Demarais’ battle with a tumor that cost him one of his eyes.
Listen to hear Dom tell the story of his appearance on The Price is Right and how he thinks Drew Carey is a good guy.
Listen in to hear how he remains professional while covering the team he has loved for so long.
Today’s podcast is brought to you by Thriftway Super Stops. Download the TLC app and start saving today.
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Henderson making history as Bulldogs head to State track meet
Future Grizzly will hunt State titles this week in Kalispell
When your performances start bringing up names like Butte High Class of 1989 stars Scott Hemmert and Jasson McNallie, you know you are doing some great things in the arena of track & field.
That is certainly the case for Butte High senior Sam Henderson, who reached the height and length of legends last weekend as the Bulldogs hosted the Western AA Divisional meet on the Charlie Merrifield Track inside the Gene Fogarty Complex. (Results; Class AA and A State meet schedule)
Henderson had already surpassed Hemmert for the school record in the triple jump. On Saturday morning, he blew past the Bulldog great again with a personal-best leap of 48 feet, 7 ¼ inches to win the event by more than 2 and a half feet. William Hollenstein of Kalispell Flathead took second at 46-0.
Hemmert held Butte High’s record from May 27, 1989 until Henderson popped off a jump of 48-0 ¼ April 18 at the Harry “Swede” Dahlberg Invitational. (He beat the meat record set by Marc McGree’s 28-year-old record of 47-0 in that meet.)
Henderson also went 48-4 ¾ at the Top Ten Meet four days later in Missoula. He went 46-10 two days after that at the 129th Penn Relays in Philadelphia.
Henderson, a future Montana Grizzly, brought McNallie’s name into play on Friday when he cleared 6 feet, 10 inches in the high jump. That incredible leap by Henderson fell just three quarters of an inch short of McNallie’s school record.
McNally, who was inducted into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame with the 1988-89 Butte High basketball team last summer, cleared 6-10 ¾ to set the state record at the Class AA meet May 26, 1989. That was the same day Hemmert went 22-11 in the long jump to set a Bulldog record that still stands.
At last year’s State meet in Great Falls, Henderson placed second in the triple jump with a mark of 47-2 ¼. Great Falls High senior Scott Klinker won at 48-0 ½. Henderson placed third in the high jump at 6-4.
Henderson will head to the Class AA meet Thursday and Friday in Kalispell as the No. 1 ranked Montana athlete in those two events. He will also compete in the 110-meter hurdles. He placed seventh in that event at divisionals after previously reaching the qualifying standard.
He heads into the final meet of his prep career with state records in the triple jump and high jump at least in the conversation.
Mathew Tokarz of Flathead set the triple jump record of 48-9 ½ in 2013, and Trey Tinteger of Helena High set the high jump mark of 7-1 ½ in 2017. The high jump mark seems less likely, but Bulldog fans have learned to not doubt Henderson, who transferred from Butte Central after his freshman year.
Henderson was not the only Butte High athlete to bring some former Bulldog greats into play last weekend. Sophomore Jaeger Hansen let go with a throw of 163-9 in the javelin. He beat his personal record by 20 feet, 1 inch to place fourth in the event.
Helena Capital senior Tyler Crum won with a mark of 183-1. He was followed by Missoula Big Sky’s Adam Guajardo at 168-10 and Helena High’s Auston Rowe at 164011. Guajardo and Rowe are juniors.
Hansen’s impressive throw not only sends him to State. It put him the top 10 of Bulldogs all time since the javelin was changed in the late 1980s. Hansen now ranks No. 10 on the Bulldog list, knocking out Bryce Gallagher, who threw 161-2 in 2016.
Ryan Richardson owns Butte High’s record with a throw of 190-6 in 2003.
While Henderson is competing in three events, Butte High junior Camden Houchin will run in four. In addition to the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter races, Houchin will run a leg of Butte High’s 1,600-meter relay along with senior Dylan “Bobby” Bache, senior Sam Sampson and sophomore Raeder Grey.
Bache took fourth place in the lone jump with a mark of 21-1 ½, and he will compete in that event along with classmate Tocher Lee. Lee did not compete at the divisional meet because he was busy playing shortstop for the Butte High baseball team. He qualified in the event during the season.
Junior Levi Wiltsie will run the 3,200 at State after placing fifth last weekend. Senior Brett Polich placed fifth in the shot put, an event he previously qualified for.
Also for the Bulldog boys, Ryan Hanson will compete in the long jump, and Jacob Galle will run the 110-meter hurdles.
Sampson, Bache and Grey will run the 1,600-meter relay with Houchin, while Xavier Jory, Preston Jensen, Sampson and Galle will run legs of the 400-meter relay.
On the girls’ side, Butte High senior Brityn Stewart heads to Kalispell looking to defend her title in the javelin. She placed second at the divisional meet with a mark of 120-8. Junior Kaelyn Saari of Capital won the event.
Last year in Great Falls, Stewart captured gold with a throw of 130-7. That mark bumped Rebecca Robinson, who threw 126-0 in 2008, for second place on Butte High’s all-time list since the javelin was changed.
Kalli McCloskey still holds the Bulldog record with a throw of 136-2 in 2007.
Sophomore Cadence Graham will run in four events for Butte High. She qualified in the 100 hurdles by placing seventh. She previously qualified in the 300 hurdles. Graham will also run a leg in each relay for Butte High.
Eight grader Saege Grey will also run each relay, as well as competing in the 100-meter dash.
Senior Dylann Bartoletti qualified for State by placing seventh in the 100 and eight in the 200. She posted a personal-best of 13.06 seconds in the 100.
Senior Peyton Trabert cleared 9-6 to place fourth and qualify in the pole vault. Classmate Mylee Demarais qualified in the shot put with a PF for 32-7 and fifth place.
Autumn Clary will run the 400 relay along with Bartoletti, Grey and Graham. Wakely Burlson and Sophia Houchin will run the 1,600 relay with Grey and Graham.
Maroons send 10 to State
Butte Central will not have a huge contingent of athletes in Kalispell for the Class A side of the meet. The Maroons, though, will be well represented.
Senior Keefer McGree will lead the way for the Maroons. He qualified in both hurdles races at the Western A Divisional meet in Polson. (Results)
McGree placed fourth in the 300-meter hurdles in 40.94 seconds and fifth in the 110 hurdles in 15.89. Both are personal records. Freshman Parker Kellicut will also run the short hurdles after placing 10th at divisionals.
Sophomore Danny McCarthy is the only other Maroon competing in and individual event. He will run the 100-meter dash after placing seventh in 11.76.
The Maroons will also have a 400-meter relay team, but coach Clay McQueary said he is not sure who will be running it just yet.
Central placed ninth in the event at divisionals. Their original team is McGree, McCarthy and seniors Justus McGee and Patrick Stimatz. McGee, though, missed divisionals because of a family wedding, and Stimatz suffered a leg injury while running the 100.
McQueary said Stimatz would have qualified in the 100 if he was not injured.
So, Kellicut and sophomore Teghan Sparks ran legs in Polson. McQueary said he will not know until Friday which runners will compete.
On the girls’ side, the Maroons qualified in the 400-meter relay, Caden Tippett, Evyn Tippett, Isla Bengston and Lexa Thompson will each run a leg.
McPartland wins divisional title
Butte Central senior Owen McPartland is the only Mining City tennis player still in the state title hunt as the prep season comes to an end this week.
McPartland will represent Butte Central at the Class A State meet after rolling to the singles title at the Central A Divisional meet last week at East Helena.
After earning a first-round bye, McPartland cruised to three wins to capture the divisional crown. He beat Callen Stoner of Havre 6-2, 6-0 in the championship match.
Jim Bradshaw and Karter Lindau also completed in singles for BC. Bradshaw won his first match before dropping out with two losses.
In boys’ doubles, Aidan McPartland and Connor Hardy advance to the semifinals before eventually falling one win short of qualifying for State.
Joe Bradshaw and Conan Holmes won one match before bowing out. James Holmes and Emmett Foley also represented the Maroons.
For the BC girls, Mackenzie Cupp and Arwen Regester competed in singles. Presli Smith and Logan LeProwse teamed up in doubles.
Bulldog tennis season ends
Butte High’s tennis team will not send any athletes to the Class AA State meet, but a few Bulldogs made a strong run at the Western AA Divisional meet in Missoula.
On the girls’ side, Murphy Sullivan came within one win of moving on. That came after she won two singles matches to advance to the semifinals.
Avery Blue won a consolation match before bowing out of the tournament in singles play. Carleigh Donaldson and Alissa Pennock also competed for the Bulldogs.
In doubles, Ayva Gerry and Reena Hubber won three consolation matches before ultimately falling one win shy of a berth at State. The teams of Chloe Jewell/Sienna Bradley, Emily Allred/Jordyn Yelenich and Rory Trafford/McKenzie Reed also played for Butte High.
For the Butte High boys, Josh Shrader won a first-round match, while Matthew Weldon and Tashi Hanley each won consolation matches. Bryce Gratton also played singles for the Bulldogs.
In boys’ doubles, the teams of Drew Hanson/Jaxon Jonart, Archer Adams/Jason Johns, Hutner LaPier/Kanyon Flynn and Max Peraston/James Pearston competed for the Bulldogs.
Spartans close out Bulldog softball
Butte High’s softball season came to an end Thursday with when Missoula Sentinel swept a best-of-three playoff series with the Bulldogs in Missoula.
The Spartans pulled out a 3-2 in in the opener before closing out the sweep with a 9-5 victory. Game 2 went nine innings.
Sentinel heads to the Class AA State tournament in Great Falls. Butte High closes the season at 7-15.
Ally Godbout scored when Ashlinn Mullaney worked a bases-loaded walk to tie the game at one in the top of the third inning of the opener.
Moments later, however, Nina Sammoury belted a two-run home run to put the Spartans on top for good. Kendallyn Schad singled in Mattie Stepan with a run in the sixth, but the Bulldogs could not get the one more run they needed.
Stepan doubled to lead the Bulldog offense, which mustered five hits. Godbout, Mullaney and Reese Johnson joined Schad with a single. Mullaney worked two walks, and Gracie Ferriter and Stepan each worked one.
Mullaney pitched the distance, taking the hard-luck loss.
In Game 2, Brooklyn Wright and Payton Taylor hit solo home runs, and Haley Sellers added a two-run blast in the top of the ninth inning.
Butte High had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the eight, but Mullaney was thrown out at home by Wright, the center fielder, to end Butte High’s threat.
Taylor pitched eight innings of relieve to get the win.
Gracie Jonart went 3 for 5 with two doubles and a run scored to lead the Bulldogs. Mullaney doubled, while Ferriter and Johnson each hit two singles. Stepan, Schad, Madisyn Swanson, Allie Becker and Brea Henderson each added hits for the Bulldogs. After Mullaney started and went three innings, Henderson, an eighth grader, pitched six innings of relief.
Butte High baseball qualifies for play-in, but falls at West
Butte High won its final five regular-season games to qualify for the play-in round of the Montana High school baseball season.
The Bulldogs, though, saw that streak and their season come to an end Saturday with a 11-1 loss to Billings West in Billings.
West took advantage of five unearned runs as the Golden Bears pulled away for the win that was called by the run rule after six innings. Owen Schneider pitched the distance for West, striking out seven.
Gavin Schwend drove in three runs, and Jaxon King and Colton Bush each knocked in two.
Senior Tocher Lee went 2 for 3 with a stolen base to lead Butte High in his final game in a Bulldog uniform. Classmates Will Stepan, Karsen McEwen and Lucas Harris-Huerta added singles, as did Logan Carden.
Stepan drove in Lee for Butte High’s lone run, which came in the top of the first. West, though, took the lead for good with three runs in the bottom of the first.
The loss came less than 24 hours after the Bulldogs went to Livingston and clinched a play-in appearance with a 5-0 victory.
Harris-Huerta, pitching on three day’s rest, went the distance for the victory.
Stepan went 3 for 4 with a double to lead the Bulldog offense. Lee singled and walked twice, while senior Matthew Donaldson and freshman Kodye Kjersten added singles. Sophomore Evan McEwen walked twice.
Tegan Duffy and Gunnar Bushman joined Donaldson with an RBI.
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A half million reasons to be proud
Tomorrow night, Mariah’s Challenge will reach a milestone when it hands out its 500th scholarship.
That will bring the total money handed out in 17 years to $500,000.
That total might surprise some of the many doubters and naysayers who spoke up so forcefully when Mariah’s Challenge was launched in 2008, but it was not surprising at all to me. I stood in the back of St. Ann’s Church and saw the look on Leo McCarthy’s face when he made the promise that turned out to be Mariah’s Challenge.
I did not doubt it for a second.
Mariah’s Challenge rose from the ashes of an unspeakable tragedy that occurred early in the morning of Oct. 28, 2007. That is when an underage drunk driver ran over three 14-year-old girls as they walked on a path next to Blacktail Lane in Butte.
Mariah McCarthy was flown to a hospital in Missoula, where she was pronounced dead. Her friends, Valerie Kilmer and Kaitlyn Okrusch, were badly injured, but survived.
On Nov. 1, a stunned community packed St. Ann’s for Mariah’s funeral. During the eulogy Leo delivered for his daughter, he turned to the friends of Mariah and her sister Jenna and made a promise.
He said if they do not drink while underage and never got into a vehicle with someone who had been drinking, he would make sure they had some scholarship money.
“Mariah’s Challenge is be the first generations of Butte kids to not drink,” he told them.
He thought he was talking to just a small group of friends. Little did he know, the whole community was listening, and Mariah’s Challenge turned out to be something bigger than anyone could have imagined.
Now, 17 and a half years after the tragedy, Mariah’s Challenge is still going strong.
In 2007, the tragedy that took Mariah shook Butte and the entire State of Montana. Never have I seen where a community turned to the father the victim of a tragedy for comfort and healing.
It was a horribly unfair position to be put into, but Leo delivered in a big, big way.
With help of many, Leo moved forward. He said he struggled to breathe some days, but he somehow kept getting up and making each day count. He set out to change a dangerous culture and mindset that accepted underage drinking and drinking and driving as something we all just do sometimes.
On Feb. 8, 2008, Butte High and Anaconda met for a basketball girls-boys doubleheader at the Butte Civic Center. The gym was packed for the nightcap that pitted the Bulldogs girls, the No. 1-ranked team in the Class AA, against the Copperheads, the top-ranked team in the Class A.
Before the girls tipped off, Leo addressed the crowd to officially launch Mariah’s Challenge. Hundreds of boys and girls wore Mariah’s Challenge T-shirts with the words “Butte Against Drunk Driving” on the front and “I Accept Mariah’s Challenge” on the back.
In April of 2009, the first 31 recipients of the Mariah Daye McCarthy Scholarship were honored. Leo was blown away with the number of students who applied for the scholarship.
More importantly, he was so moved by the essays the applicants wrote, baring their souls to show the impact Mariah’s Challenge made in their young lives. So, instead of handing out a handful of scholarships, he decided to give $1,000 to all the applicants.
There was no way, he said, to distinguish between them.
This year, 17 recipients bring the number of “Mariah’s Messengers,” as Leo calls them, to 500.
The 2025 scholarship winners are Tirzah Bergren, James Bradshaw, Kyle Kinsey, Audrey Kish, Chelsi Lyons, Justus McGee, Kolbe Michaud, Michael Peck, Ryan Popovich, Sam Sampson, Kieran Scarff, Macy Seaholm, Murphy Sullivan, Peyton Trabert, Brea Wagner, Jordyn Yelenich and Carter Barsness.
Michaud will graduate from Jefferson High School in Boulder. The rest are from Butte.
Like with the first 31 honorees, this year’s scholarship winners melted hearts with testimonials as to why they accepted Mariah’s Challenge and how they, despite some stacked odds, lived up to that promise.
Each one is touching in its own way.
That illustrates why the number 500 is more important than the $500,000. When you put names and faces to those numbers, 500 somehow seems like the bigger number, and it is a number worth celebrating.
The celebration is about the 500 lives that have been shaped, at least in small part, by Mariah’s message. That message has reached far beyond the borders of Silver Bow County and the Treasure State, too.
The message was so strong that it led to Leo being named one of the “All-Stars Among Us” by People Magazine. It is why was voted to represent the Seattle Mariners at the Major League Baseball All-Star game in St. Louis in 2009, when the stars from the American League and National League marveled over Leo and his fellow heroes.
Three and a half years later, Leo was on national television as a CNN Hero.
“I think Mariah’s Challenge is something that makes people think a little bit more to say, ‘We can be better,’” Leo said on CNN in December of 2012. “Mariah is forever 14. I can’t get her back, but I can help other parents keep their kids safe. If we save one child, we save a generation.”
He has saved so much more than that. By 2014, Mariah’s Challenge had been adopted in more than 40 high schools around the country. In addition to the scholarship winners or the many other students who accepted the challenge, adults were paying attention, too.
“It was time to look in the reflection and say, ‘We can be better,’” Leo said on CNN.
We have done better. The culture has changed. It has not changed enough, but we have made significant strides when it comes to drinking and driving.
When it comes to drunk driving deaths, you can only count the losses. We cannot possibly count which lives that were saved. We cannot accurately measure the victories.
But do not be mistaken. Those victories are there.
There will be the 17 of them on display Wednesday when the Mariah Daye McCarthy Scholarship is awarded during a ceremony that starts at 6 p.m. at the Montana Tech Library Auditorium.
The number 17, though, is only the beginning. Even more people have been watching as these incredible young men and women set an example. The little brothers and sisters. The younger cousins. The neighborhood kids.
They will all learn from watching the 2025 Mariah’s Messengers.
Like with Leo and Mariah’s Challenge, these 17 have made a difference. They have changed lives. They have saved lives.
When we lose someone young, like we did with Mariah in 2007, we lose everything that person could become. We lost her children and her grandchildren. We lost their children and grandchildren.
But that works the other way, too. When we save lives — even the ones we do not know we saved — we get so much more back.
That is what Mariah’s Challenge has done. Even if the challenge went away tomorrow, it has already impacted generations to come.
This movement, however, has not been easy. Leo, his wife Janice and their daughter Jenna relive the tragedy over and over every year that they hand out scholarships in a quest to reach as many people as possible.
None of the scholarship winners are old enough to remember. They were babies when Mariah was taken from us. But it will hit home with them.
For those of us old enough to remember, we will be taken back to that tragic day and the sad days, weeks and months that followed.
I have no idea how they are strong enough to do it, but we should all be thankful that they do. This is something they feel must be done, and our community — and beyond — is better because of it.
Back when he was on CNN, Leo said he will continue with Mariah’s Challenge until we no longer need it. Unfortunately, that day had not arrived, so the mission moves forward.
Leo will continue to lead the painful fight because the future generations need him to. Mariah’s Messengers need him to.
“They’re worth it,” Leo said of those Messengers last week as he looked toward the 17th scholarship ceremony. “They’re worth every tear and every smile.”
— Bill Foley can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
The ButteCast with Bill Foley 