The ButteCast with Bill Foley

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  • Podcast No. 211: Mark Shutey

    Podcast No. 211: Mark Shutey

    Mark Shutey is one of the more interesting people you will meet.

    The 1987 Butte High graduate has pretty much done a little bit of everything. He stood out in swimming for the Bulldogs, and he played football at Butte High and Montana Tech.

    He is an engineer, an outfitter, a guide, an entrepreneur, a consultant, a writer and a bit of philosopher. He has so many stories to tell, and he has told them in some major publications around the country.

    Mark has been featured nationally on the Outdoor Channel, Versus Network and Sportsman’s Channel. He has also been highlighted in the pages of a multitude of hunting publications to include North American Hunter, Outdoor Life, Predator Extreme, Cabela’s Outfitter Journal, Peterson’s Bow Hunting, Bow Hunting World and more.

    Listen in as mark talks about the many hats he wears and some of his many adventures in the outdoors. Listen in as he talks his work with the Passback Football, a ball designed to throw like a football and bounce back to you off a wall.

    Listen as he talks about the influence his parents had on him and some of his friends while growing up on the Flats of Butte.

    Listen as he talks about the one last mountain he has to climb before he retires. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

    Today’s podcast is presented by Thriftway Super Stops. Download the TLC app and start saving today.

  • Podcast No. 210: Dave Rathgeber

    Podcast No. 210: Dave Rathgeber

    Dave Rathgeber was born in Sarnia, Ontario, and he grew up in Red Deer, Alberta. So, you guessed it, Dave played hockey.

    He was part of Montana Tech’s highly-successful club hockey team, serving as an Oredigger net minder on a team that was highly successful last decade. That team, you should remember, packed the Butte Community Ice Center full of rowdy fans night after night before it ran into the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The team also picked up some big-time victories before it disbanded.

    Rathgeber, who recently completed his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering, is now in charge of bringing back the Oredigger hockey program. In addition to teaching labs and classes at the school, he is also the team’s head coach and manager.

    Tech will host an alumni game Sept. 20, and then the team will be off and running. You can feel the excitement around town as Butte gets ready to embrace college hockey once again, and the team will play a heavy home schedule in October.

    Earlier today, I sat down with Dave for a fun conversation about him and his plans for the Oredigger hockey program. Listen in to hear him talk about the glory days of Tech hockey. Listen to hear that he is planning a whole lot more than a return to those glory days.

    He has some big-time plans as Tech goes through a hockey reboot.

    Click here for more information on the Orediggers. Click here for sponsorship opportunities.

    Today’s podcast is presented by Leskovar Honda, home of the 20-year, 200,000-mile warrantee.

  • Wall That Heals lives up to its name

    Wall That Heals lives up to its name

    The 1980 movie “9-5” has long been one of my favorites.

    I watched that movie every time it came on our pirated HBO when I was young. In that flick, I learned that Franklin Hart Jr., played by the great Dabney Coleman, was a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.

    To this day, that is one of my all-time favorite movie lines.

    One day, I was home watching that movie when my dad came home. He walked into the front room and saw that Jane Fonda was on his television.

    “Change the damn channel,” he said.

    I was surprised by this demand. The movie also starred Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin. Who in their right mind doesn’t like Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin?

    Plus, did I mention Dabney Coleman?

    It didn’t matter. I was making an unwinnable argument. Jane Fonda was not to be seen on a television in our house.

    When Jane sat next to her husband Ted Turner as the Braves lost World Series after World Series more than a decade later, there was no way you were cheering for Atlanta at our house.

    My dad, you see, is an Army veteran. In 1967, he volunteered for the military draft.

    He figured he was going be drafted someday soon because he was designated 1-A. His parents were not rich, and he was not exactly college material.

    So, while many guys in his situation were trying to find a way out, my dad jumped to the front of the line to get in. There are so many amazing things about my dad. That he stepped up and did that just might top them all.

    He didn’t have bone spurs like Donald Trump. He didn’t have bad knees like Joe Namath. He didn’t go skiing in the Alps like Sylvester Stallone. He didn’t have friends in high places like Bill Clinton.

    Even if he did have such connections, he would have never used them to take the easy way out. That is why my dad has always been my hero.

    After basic training, my dad had orders for Vietnam. But in January of 1968, those orders changed when the North Koreans captured the USS Pueblo, seizing the ship and its 83 crew members. Instead of going to Vietnam, my dad was sent for long stay in South Korea, near the Demilitarized Zone.

    He did not serve in Vietnam, so Jane Fonda wasn’t directly talking about him when she attacked the brave men and women of the United State military fighting in the Vietnam War. He wasn’t even in the Army anymore when Jane visited North Korea in 1972.

    But he still took it personally when the movie star, who rose to fame largely because her father was Henry Fonda, posed for photos while sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun.

    He took it personally when Jane claimed that American prisoners of war were being treated kindly by the Vietnamese, saying that those who claimed they were tortured — like the great Sen. John McCain — were being fictitious.

    He took it personally when Jane told Americans to greet soldiers when they returned home as “hypocrites and liars” instead of heroes.

    Some wounds are just very hard to heal, and some words cannot be taken back.

    My dad never had to walk through the jungles of Vietnam as his government dropped cancer-causing Agent Orange over his head, but he certainly felt the pain of a nation that did not appreciate his service.

    Jane apologized later for her words and actions, but that apology fell mostly on deaf ears. No, she did not invent the hate and discontent for our soldiers in the Vietnam War. But she certainly fanned the flame of ignorance.

    That was an awful time in American history. More than 58,000 young Americans — and many more Vietnamese — were killed in a war that still doesn’t make sense a half a century later.

    During every American war from the Revolutionary War through the Korean War, our troops were welcomed home as heroes, as they should have been.

    Today, our troops are welcomed home as heroes, as they should be. Anybody who puts him or herself in harm’s way to protect others is deserving of praise and thanks.

    It doesn’t matter if you stormed the beaches of Normandy, took part in the Grenada invasion or served in Iraq or Afghanistan, you are a hero for signing up to defend this country

    Our troops during the time of the Vietnam War, though, were treated like villains. They were sworn at and spit on. They were called “baby killers.”

    The soldiers were taking the brunt of the blame for a politician’s war that most were not particularly fond of either.

    That is why so many of the emotional wounds of the Vietnam War have never healed.

    That is why the Wall That Heals is so important. Last week that wall, which is a three-quarter replica of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., was proudly displayed at Father Sheehan Park in Butte.

    The Wall was brought to town thanks to the hard work and determination of Sgt. Michael Taapken, a retired Marine who was too young to fight in Vietnam. He was the host of the Wall, which was visited by thousands of people over five days.

    The Wall includes the names of all the American service men and women who were killed in the war. It is a daunting sight as you approach the wall and realize how many names are on each line and how many lines are on each panel of the wall that stretches more than 100 yards.

    That wall includes the names of 22 men from Silver Bow County. Sanford Kim Archer was from Melrose. The other 21 were from Butte.

    They are Ronald Gregory Babich, Kenneth Sandford Bercier, Robert William Cawley, Lester Allan Doan, Gregory Phillip Helsley, Greg Neal Henderson, Russell James E. Hevern, Raymond Dale Hoerner, Robert Edwin Holton, Daniel John Janhunen, Raymond George Kriskovich, Steven Patrick Murphy, Daniel John O’Neill, Joseph E. Parker Jr., Weston Henry Reece, Marvin Kent Robertson, Raymond Robertson Jr., Richard D. Satterthwaite, Dennis Wayne Sonsteng, Kenneth Peter West and Florian J. Zahn.

    Six men on the wall are from Anaconda. They are David Anthony Anderson, Patrick Jay Fleming, Eugene Floyd McNally, Ronald John Moe, Wayland Dan Stembridge and Robert Joseph Thomas.

    All of those were young men had their futures stolen from them in Vietnam.

    I made three trips to Father Sheehan Park to look at those names on the wall because one trip was not nearly enough. I went with my dad two of those times, and we found some names of the men he knew.

    That included Satterthwaite, a corporal in the Army. When in Korea, my dad opened a letter from his dad to learn that Satterthwaite, a fellow former St. Mary’s grade school student, was killed on March 19, 1969.

    So many people found the names of their loved ones and scratched those names onto a piece of paper. Others left pictures, flags or flowers by their loved ones.

    Someone left a photo of Kriskovich with a flag and a couple of hearts near where his name could be found on line No. 42 of panel 49W.

    Kriskovich served in the Army. He died on Aug. 10, 1968.

    The Wall That Heals is an appropriate name. While it was probably painful to see the name of a loved one on such a beautiful memorial, it had to help the healing process for those who did.

    It also must have helped in the healing process for so many of the Vietnam veterans who stopped by to see the wall. No matter what time of day or night you stopped by the wall, you would find at least a handful of those veterans.

    The five days that the Wall That Heals stood at Father Sheehan Park will go down as five great days in the history of the Mining City.

    Time, they say, heals all wounds. That is not true. It takes more than time, and some of those wounds will never heal.

    The soldier can never forget seeing his fellow soldiers die. He cannot forget being yelled at or spat upon when he came home.

    The wall, though, had to help. At least we can hope it helped.

    Hopefully, seeing that wall comforted the family and friends of the fallen soldiers. Hopefully it proved to them that they were not forgotten. Hopefully it showed the living Vietnam veterans that they really are loved and appreciated.

    Seeing those names on the wall seemed to help my dad, even if just a little.

    However, do not expect to see any Jane Fonda movie his television any time soon.

    — Bill Foley, who was also told to turn the channel when “On Golden Pond” came on, 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.

  • Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week: Jaycee Cleveland and Ryan Peoples

    Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week: Jaycee Cleveland and Ryan Peoples

    This week’s Leskovar Honda Athlete of the Week honors go to Butte High senior Jaycee Cleveland and Butte Central junior Ryan Peoples.

    Cleveland takes home the girls’ honor after leading the Bulldog volleyball team to one win and one loss in matches against Skyview and West Saturday in Billings. The setter tallied two aces, nine kills, three blocks, 31 digs and 50 assists. She registered a 47.4 kill percentage.

    “She led us to one of the best opening weekends we’ve had in the five years I’ve been here,” Butte High coach Shane Jorgensen said.

    The Bulldogs will play their first home matches of the season on Saturday.

    Peoples takes home the boys’ honor after helping lead the BC football team to a 32-22 season-opening win at Ronan. He completed 13 of 21 passes for 164 yards in the victory. Peoples tossed a 36-yard touchdown pass to Aidan Ossello. He added a pair of scores on the ground.

    The sharp-shooting Peoples is also a leader on Butte Central’s basketball team.

    Central will play host to Hamilton Friday on Montana Tech’s Bob Green Field.

    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 courtesy Alycia Holland Photography. Photo of Peoples courtesy BnO Photography.

  • KC basketball schedule

    KC basketball schedule

    Following is the schedule for the first week of the Knights of Columbus Athletic Club’s fall basketball league. Teams can still sign up at the bar or by contacting Dan Boyle at (406) 491-2529.

    Monday 
    No games 

    Tuesday
    7 p.m. — Butte Sports vs. Someday Starters
    8 p.m. — Washington Generals vs. Jellyfam

    Wednesday 
    7 p.m. — Poi Time vs. Butte Sports 
    8 p.m. — Poi Time vs. Cook
    9 p.m. — Cook vs. Someday Starters 

    Thursday
    7 p.m. — Thunder vs. Jellyfam
    8 p.m. — Thunder vs. Washington Generals

  • Vicevich, Zimpel perfect in Week 3

    Vicevich, Zimpel perfect in Week 3

    Dave Vicevich and Kevin Zimpel each broke 50 out of 50 targets to top individual standings during Week 3 of the Butte Trap Club’s Fall League.

    The 50s bring the total of perfect scores on the season to three. Riley Rigby shot a 50 in Week 1.

    Kim McClafferty and Josh Bridgeman each shot a 49, while Jake Taverna, Gillian Clark, Kohlten Fultz, Justin Lerum, Timmy Schrapps and Seth Duclos each shot a 48.

    McClafferty’s 49 led women’s standings, topping Clark by one. Clark’s 48 led wobble scores. Alex Schneider was next at 47.

    Through three weeks, Wolverine Systems leads team scratch standings at 556. Arc Electric is second at 544, followed by Baker Auto at 530.

    Week 3 Standings
    Team Scratch Standings

    Wolverine Systems                          –           556
    Arc Electric                                        –           544
    Baker Auto                                       –           530
    FJBCHO                                            –           523
    St James Hospital                            –           522
    Cooneys Locksmith                         –           519
    S&S Plumbing                                  –           509
    Vicevich Law Girls                           –           506
    Lockmer Plumbing                           –           498
    KR Contracting                                 –           497
    Archibald Co.                                    –           495
    Pro Inspection                                  –           488
    Sundance Plumbing                        –           477
    D-M Ranch                                        –           472
    Doodlebobs                                       –           428
    Superior Title                                    –           427
    Maloney’s                                          –           412
    J3 Construction                                –           411
    WET 2                                                –           376
    Granite Amusement/Oasis             –           370
    CF Plumbing & Heating                  –           357
    WET1                                                 –           348
    Randy’s Boys                                    –           311
    Clay Howery Construction              –           300
    12G Girls                                           –           280
    Hazlett’s Heroes                               –           268
    Daddy’s Girls                                    –           257
    Cooney’s/Vicevich                           –           184

    High Individual Scores
    Kevin Zimpel                         –           50×50
    Dave Vicevich                       –           50×50
    Kim McClafferty                    –           49×50
    Josh Bridgeman                   –           49×50
    Jake Taverna                        –           48×50
    Gillian Clark                          –           48×50
    Kohlten Fultz                         –           48×50
    Justin Lerum                         –           48×50
    Timmy Schrapps                  –           48×50
    Seth Duclos                          –           48×50
    Alex Schneider                     –           47×50
    Scott White                           –           47×50
    Anthony Moritz                     –           47×50
    Jake Dennehy                      –           47×50

    High Lady Scores
    Kim McClafferty                    –           49×50
    Gillian Clark                          –           48×50
    Jen Hislop                             –           42×50
    Lisa Edwards                        –           38×50
    Colleen Fink                          –           38×50

    High Wobble Trap Scores
    Gillian Clark                          –           48×50
    Alex Schneider                     –           47×50
    Seth Duclos                          –           46×50
    Dave Vicevich                       –           46×50
    Dan Radamacher                 –           44×50
    Tyler Denny                          –           44×50

  • Podcast No. 209: Mark Schulte

    Podcast No. 209: Mark Schulte

    Mark Schulte is the most accomplished high school quarterback to ever come out of Butte.

    Butte High players can’t even argue that point because Schulte was 2-0 against the Bulldogs as the quarterback of Butte Central.

    As a sophomore in 1971, Schulte did not get in the game as his Maroons lost to the Bulldogs in the season opener. The next week against Bozeman, BC coach Ron “Swede” Kenison gave Schulte the start, and the Maroons won their next 28 games. That includes those two wins over Butte High and three straight Class A State championships.

    According to Montana sports historian Brian Reed, Schulte’s 28 wins stood as a record as a starting quarterback in the Class A until Dillon great Zach McRae matched it in 2006. Hamilton’s Carson Rostad (36-7) and Whitefish’s Luke May (30-13) since passed the win total, but Rostad and May players started four years. Schulte is the only starting quarterback in the history of the Class A to win three state championships.

    You would have to believe he would have won the Montana Gatorade Player of the Year honor at least one of those years had the award been around back then.

    Schulte, though, will be the first person to tell you that his 28-0 career record as a varsity starting quarterback is thanks largely to his teammates. He’d actually tell you it was mostly due to his teammates.

    He makes a strong point, too. He played with some great players. Several of those teammates went on to play key roles in Montana State winning a national championship in 1976.

    Schulte went MSU to play football, too. But serious injuries sustained in an automobile accident sidetracked his career. After a year off, he went to play for coach Bob Petrino at Carroll College.

    Schulte, who was inducted into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame in 1999, comes from a huge Butte family known for its athletic ability and storytelling. His father, Bob, played in the first Montana East-West Shrine Game in 1947. He scored the first touchdown in the history of the game, and his number 13 is retired.

    Since then, playing in the Shrine Game has been a Schulte family tradition.

    All three of Mark’s sons were standout football players in Great Falls. His boy Rob went on to an outstanding career at the University of Montana.

    Today, Mark is still in Great Falls with his wife Judy. He is retired after a long career as a teacher, coach, official and businessman.

    Listen in to hear his story.

    Today’s podcast is presented by Thriftway Super Stops. Download the TLC app and start saving today.

    Photo of Mark Schulte courtesy Josie Trudgeon Photography.

  • Robert Lester and Braxton Mitchell should be household names

    Robert Lester and Braxton Mitchell should be household names

    If you have talked to me at all over the last couple of weeks, I likely told you about Robert Lester.

    I have been telling everyone about the 27-year-old Butte guy, and a lot of people have looked at me as if to say, “Robert who?” Then I go into a 10-minute explanation about the greatness — and coolness — or Robert.

    I have been talking about him so much that my wife says I have a man crush on him. She says it is like the man crush she accused me of having on the Moreno brothers, Kameron and Kobe, when they played football and wrestled for Butte High.

    She is basically saying I am infatuated with Robert the way George Costanza was mesmerized by Elaine’s cool boyfriend, Tony, on Seinfeld.

    “He’s such a cool guy,” George said of Tony. “You should hear the way he talks to waitresses. He gets free pie.”

    I would venture to bet that Robert gets free pie, too. He should. So should his cousin, Braxton Mitchell.

    Like Tony, Robert is a handsome young man with long hair. They both wear hats, but Robert usually has his hat on facing the front, and he would never tell anyone to “step off” like Tony did. He is way too nice to do such a thing.

    Robert can climb rocks better than Tony, too. He has climbed Mount Rainier multiple times, and stood on the top of Mount St. Helens.

    You see, Robert is a mountaineer who does not seem to be afraid of anything. He climbs up to the top of the highest peaks just to ski down what would have to be considered a triple back diamond run.

    He even skied down one of the black slag piles outside of Anaconda.

    Like George, I would be scared to death if I attempted to climb a rock. Any rock. I don’t even like going on a Ferris wheel, and I once had to be carried down a relatively easy run at Discovery Ski Area.

    If you go to his YouTube page, you can see Robert climbing a wall of ice or swinging on a long rope off Looking Glass Rock in Utah.

    I would never attempt any one the many things Robert has accomplished. Not one.

    But, like George, I could make him a sandwich for his journey — tuna or salmon salad.

    Robert’s latest venture is the “Columbia River Canoe Project” film that will premier Friday at the Original Mine Yard. Gates open at 6 p.m., and the night will include a concert by Butte’s Levi Bloom before the film begins at 8:15.

    Robert is showing the movie to the people of Butte for free — before, as I suspect, the film goes big time.

    When I first heard about the “Columbia River Canoe Project” about a month before the duo got into the canoe, I figured Robert was kind of crazy. I figured it was a journey that was half Evel Knievel and half Lewis & Clark.

    Then I saw the movie. Since Robert was once again a guest on my podcast, the ButteCast, last week, he sent me a link so I could watch the uncut version of the movie before the premier.

    I watched it three times already.

    “Crazy” is not the word to describe Robert. He is courageous and brave. Yes, those words might be the first-cousin of crazy, but there is a difference.

    Robert and cousin Braxton, then 18, hopped into a canoe in Silver Bow Creek, just off of Montana Street in Butte. They floated, walked or paddled that canoe nearly 1,300 miles. They went to the Clark Fork River, the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean.

    They crossed Idaho, went in and out of Canada, and through Washington and Oregon. One of the experts talking in the beginning of the movie called the journey “bad ass,” and it is hard to find a better way to describe it.

    Even thinking about the trip is bad ass. Following through with journey over 52 grueling days and nights is off the bad-ass charts, and the film documents it all.

    The film runs for 1 hour, 1 minute, and it seems like it is even longer. That is not to say that it drags on. Rather, the movie makes you feel that you are a part of a journey that almost seemed impossible. You ride the highs and lows of moral with Robert and Braxton.

    The film is funny, emotional and educational.

    The funny part mostly comes from Braxton, who quickly learns that his calm, cool and collected cousin is also a bit of a drill sergeant. That is because Robert knew that they had to always be on the move if they were going to make it to the Pacific.

    When talking about carrying the canoe through the Alberton Gorge, Braxton said, “I feel like it has been going OK, but it just really sucks.”

    Braxton went on the trip with just 10 days’ notice, and he had never been in a raft or canoe before in his life. He later told Robert that he was afraid of the water.

    Yet he was brave enough to take on such an incredible journey.

    The emotional part comes mostly from Robert’s friend, Ty Stosich of Lima. Ty is quadriplegic, and his conversations with Robert inspired the trip that Robert had dreamed about since he was a young boy.  

    Ty should make the circuit as a motivational speaker. Robert’s good friend just might be the most positive person in on the planet, even when he has all the reason in the world to be negative.

    When you hear him read a letter to Robert late in the movie, you are not human if your eyes are dry.

    Robert, though, is the star of the show. It was his idea, and he was the leader.

    What amazed me most about Robert is his problem-solving ability. He never seems to get fazed, no matter how daunting the problem might have been.

    You see that in the film when the duo dumps the canoe on Day 1. Robert had to figure out a way to get the vessel out of the bottom of the creek.

    When they had to carry the canoe around the Columbia River Gorge because the wind made the water way too dangerous to navigate, Robert shrugged and handled the news like someone who ordered a Pepsi but told that the restaurant only had Coke products.

    He was talking about carrying the canoe all day for four or five straight days, too.

    When the two were thrown from the canoe in a dangerous stretch of river that was a waterfall before a dam was constructed, Braxton was borderline panicked. Robert giggled.

    “Robert was laughing and woohooing,” Braxton said, “and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I just almost died.’

    “Without an attitude like his in charge of this trip, it wouldn’t be possible.”

    The journey and the film also shine some light on the importance of dam removal and cleaning up the mine waste in the watershed from Butte to the Pacific.

    Contamination from 100-plus years of mining should be cleaned up all the way. So should the former Smurfit-Stone Container site outside Missoula.

    As it is now, only a small man-made berm separates ponds of water contaminated by cancer-causing chemicals from getting into the waterway by the Smurfit-Stone site.

    Robert and Braxton brought that fact to the attention of the media as they floated through Missoula. Hopefully the right people pay attention.

    As they stood and look at the ocean, Braxton said something very profound, even though I suspect he never realized it would be so moving.

    “Silver Bow Creek water is in there,” he said. “Crazy. It might just be the dirty film across the top, but it’s in there.”

    It sure would nice if someday we could be proud of that Silver Bow Creek water.

    The movie gets two major thumbs up. Maybe even three. It would be crazy for Netflix — or some other giant streaming service — to not buy the movie. It would be crazy if you do not watch it.

    Not only that, it would be crazy for Netflix to not try to get more content from Robert and Braxton. The duo should go on more adventures around the world to entertain and educate.

    Those two should be household names.

    It would be crazy if they didn’t invite me to join those adventures, too. After all, somebody needs to make the sandwiches.

    Tuna or salmon salad.

    — Bill Foley, who is also the master of PB&J, 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.

  • KC League looks to begin next week

    KC League looks to begin next week

    The Knights of Columbus Athletic Club’s fall basketball league will start Tuesday, Sept. 3 if enough teams sign up.

    The league features four-man teams playing games twice a week, Monday through Thursday from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Felix Madrazo Gymnasium. The league will run 10 weeks with a double-loss tournament at the end.

    Cost is $125 per team, and teams can sign up at the bar or by contacting Dan Boyle at (406) 491-2529.

  • Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week: Will McGree and Dylann Bartoletti

    Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week: Will McGree and Dylann Bartoletti

    Will McGree of Butte Central and Dylann Bartoletti of Butte High are this week’s Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week.

    The honors come after the two opened the high school golf season on a high note.

    McGree receives the boy’s honor after leading the Maroons in the season-opening Butte Central Invitational at the Highland View Golf Course. The junior shot a 78 to place fourth overall in individual standings.

    McGree’s effort led the Maroons to third place in the team standings. McGree also competes in basketball and track for Butte Central.

    Bartoletti takes home the girls’ honor after leading the Bulldogs at the season-opening Great Falls Invitational. The senior carded a 94 at the Eagle Falls Golf Club. The tournament was cut short after a storm on Monday wiped out the first round.

    Bartoletti placed 18th overall in a tournament that featured 15 of 16 Class AA teams. She is also a standout in basketball and track for the Bulldogs.

    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 Bartoletti courtesy Alycia Holland Photography.