Sports

#1 – BCHS Girls Track and Field State Class A champions

The Dillon Lady Beaver track and field team rode the strength of an elite group of sprinters and inspired performances from other team members to score key points and seize

#2 – UMW Women’s Basketball Final Four at NAIA National Tourney

The Lady Bulldogs won three games at the NAIA Division 1 Women’s Basketball Championship tournament in Billings before going down gamely in a semifinal showdown. The Lady Bulldogs fell, 61-50,

#4 – UMW Men’s Basketball Elite Eight at NAIA National Tourney

The University of Montana Western men’s basketball team last week capped its historic season with a surge into the Elite Eight at the NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship tourney

#5 – Dale Royer, USA Shooting National Trap Shooting champion the ’ side and ’

On the Men’s Trap side, there was a sense of déjà vu to this year’s competition at the National Junior Olympic Shooting Championships (NJOSC) for Shotgun in the Trap discipline

#9 – Mindy Kaufman, UMW Frontier cross country champ, NAIA All-America runner

It took UMW cross country runner Mindy Kaufman just over 18 minutes last week to officially achieve her penultimate goal as an NAIA All-American college cross country runner. Her time

Lady Dawgs stay undefeated with 3 wins in AZ

A long way from home with some formidable obstacles in its path, the University of Montana women’s basketball team last week just kept rolling to three wins in three days in Arizona.

The UMW Lady Bulldogs overcame no. 12 Our Lady of the Lake on Wednesday, overwhelmed Benedictine University at Mesa on Thursday, and then completed their perfect run at the Frontier Challenge Tournament in Chandler, AZ, with a win Friday over no. 14 Menlo College.

The victories improved the Bulldogs to 9-0 on the season and solidified their no. 9 ranking in Division 1 of the NAIA.

Beavs ratchet up defense Plutt offensive the with 17 and 16

A week ago, Dillon Hall of Fame coach Terry Thomas identified defense as a weakness after the team’s first loss of the season. That problem was corrected as the Beavers hounded Livingston and Corvallis into submission with a soul-crushing defensive effort. Livingston fell, 40-34, and Corvallis, 57-33, at Dillon on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Corvallis edges Lady Beavers 39-37 for league lead

The Dillon Lady Beavers traveled to Corvallis Friday with first place in the Southwestern A Conference on the line. The odd thing was that Dillon’s only win on the season, happened to be a league game. Corvallis (4-2) had won both of their league games. The rest of the league had at least one conference loss.

On paper, Dillon didn’t have a chance, but with 5 seconds to go in the game, Dillon trailed by a single point and had a shooter at the free throw line with two charity shots to attempt. Unfortunately for Dillon, both missed and Dillon lost a heartbreaker, 39-37.

UMW football signs 13 recruits

The Montana Western Football team has signed 13 recruits during the early signing period. The Bulldogs stayed local with ten recruits hailing from the treasure state four of whom reside in southwestern Montana.

“This first group of new Dawgs really highlights where we are at as a program,” head coach Ryan Nourse said. “We are a young team, two-thirds of our roster is made up of freshman and sophomores, and we return 10 starters on offense and eight on defense, we are in a position where we are adding talent to an already very talented pool.”

Dillon wrestlers compete at Stevi

The Dillon Beaver wrestling team traveled to Stevensville last Tuesday night for a mixer with the host squad and Frenchtown. Most of Dillon’s wrestlers were able to get at least two matches on the evening.

“I thought we wrestled tough,” said assistant coach Donovan Hucke, who took on an interim head coach role on a day when head coach T.J. Nelson underwent knee surgery. “We had some guys really going after it.”