Area Sports Fans Had Plenty To Cheer About During 2022

Year In Review

Area fans enjoy many sports highlights in the Wolf Point and Poplar areas during the 2022 year. Among the highlights by month were the following: January

Poplar’s girls captured the first-place wrestling title at the Cut Bank Invitational. Leading the way were Jazmin Gorder with a first and Angelina Escarcega with a second.

Wolf Point’s boys fought off Poplar, 52-41, during league basketball action. Top scorers for the Wolves were Kelby Bauer with 28 and Corey Martell with 13 points. Leading the Indians were Dennis Red Eagle with 14 and Joe Bear with 13 points.

The Lady Wolves downed Poplar, 72-28. Josie Kolstad scored 23 and J’Elle Garfield added 15 points in the victory.

Lustre won both the boys’ and girls’ games against Nashua. Lustre’s boys posted a 51-16 win while Lustre’s girls downed Nashua by a 3726 margin.

February

The Lustre Lions downed defending state champion Scobey, 54-45, in boys’ basketball action. Top scorers for the Lions were Jasiah Hambira with 15, Klatt with 11, Kolden Hoversland with 11 and Kaleb Hoversland with 10.

Andrew Williamson of Wolf Point won the boys’ ages 10-11 Elks district Hoop Shoot free throw competition in Glendive held on Jan. 22. He was previously the boys’ 10-11 champion at the Wolf Point Hoop Shoot in November 2021.

Wolf Point’s Mason Garfield won the divisional wrestling title at 205 pounds.

Poplar qualified six wrestlers for the state meet. Placing third were Jacob Berger at 285 pounds and Jase Frederick at 120 pounds.

Wolf Point’s Mason Garfield took second place at the Class B state wrestling meet. He finished the season with a 35-8 record.

Poplar’s Angelina Escarcega and Jazmin Gorder earned state championshps at the girls’ all-class state wrestling meet. Precious Keiser took fifth place. The Indians placed fifth at the team with 88 points. The four teams ahead of them were Class AA schools.

Poplar’s boys’ basketball team lost an exciting 6357 double-overtime game against Glasgow. Allen Russell scored 15 points for the Indians.

Wolf Point’s girls’ basketball team placed second at the District 2B tournament held in Glasgow. The Wolves came from behind to beat Glasgow, 50-45, and then lost to Malta in the championship game.

Poplar’s boys’ basketball team earned a divisional berth by taking third at the district tournament. The Indians surprised Glasgow twice in the tournament.

Wolf Point’s boys’ basketball team lost a controversial heartbreaking 54-53 game against Glasgow to end the season at the district tournament. The Scotties made three free throws with less than a second left to gain the victory.

The Lustre Lions took second place at the District 3C boys’ basketball tourney as they lost to Scobey, 34-33, in the title contest.

March

Poplar’s boys’ basketball team was outscored by Rocky Rocky, 74-48, in the first round of the divisional tournament. The Indians bounced back with a 77-45 win over Conrad before losing to a strong Shelby team.

The Lustre Lions came a victory away from qualifying for the state tournament when they placed third at the divisional tourney. After beating Bainville, 48-42, the Lions dropped a tough 39-38 game against Fairview in a challenge game.

Wolf Point’s girls’ basketball team opened the divisional tournament with a 5842 victory over Conrad, but the Lady Wolves then lost against Harlem and Glasgow.

Wolf Point’s J’Elle Garfield was selected to the All-Conference team. Wolf Point’s Hamyanie Campbell and Poplar’s Morgen Nordwick were second team selections.

Players from Poplar and Wolf Point were selected to the District 2B boys’ basketball All-Conference team. Voted to the second team were Wolf Point’s Kelby Bauer, Poplar’s Delray Lilley and Poplar’s Geordy Medicine Cloud.

Lustre’s Kolden Hoversland, Kaleb Hoversland, Elijah Lenihan, Jasiah Hambria and Cayden Klatt were All-Conference picks for boys’ basketball. Both Hoverslands were All-State selections.

Alexa Reddig of Lustre earned All-Conference and All-State recognition in girls’ basketball. Grace Brown was voted to the All-Conference team.

Two wrestlers from Wolf Point earned first-place honors during the Montana State AAU Wrestling Tournament held in Billings on March 1820. Joli Beston won the title at 138 pounds in the girls’ division. Addison Matejovsky earned first place at 75 pounds in the girls’ bantam division.

Four Wolf Point wrestlers placed during the Montana Open held in Billings. Addison Matejovsky earned first place at 75 pounds in the 8-and-under age division. Gina Reum took second place at 84 pounds in the 12-and-under age division. Annaleigh Matejovsky placed third in the 12-and-under division at 94 pounds. Iyerlee Paulson earned fifth place at 127 pounds in the 10-and-under division.

April

Wolf Point was represented at the state level in April when the Wolves’ cheerleaders compete at the Great Northern Cheer and Dance Championships in Helena.

Eastern Montana Gymnastics won 10 Montana State Xcel Championships at the season-ending Gymnastics Championships. EMG’s Gold Team of six girls represented the Circle gym well by winning the thirdplace team award, out of the 16 teams in that session.

Lustre’s Jasiah Hambira earned first place in the triple jump with a school record distance of 44-3 during the meet in Lambert. He also took first in the high jump, 200 and 400 at the event.

The Wolf Point High School cheerleaders came away with top honors from the Great Northern Cheer and Dance Championships held in Helena. “I was pretty confident because they have been working hard on it,” Wolf Point’s advisor Nellie Garfield said. The competition featured squads from Class B schools.

Two area wrestlers earned All-America honors during the Twin Rivers Girls National Duals held in Des Moines, Iowa, earlier this month. Poplar’s Angeline Escarega posted a 7-1 record and Jazmin Gorder had a 6-2 mark to capture All-America honors.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte presented Poplar’s Jazmin Gorder with the Spirit of Montana Award during an assembly at the school. Gianforte noted that Gorder has excelled both on the wrestling mat and the classroom. She is a two-time state wrestling champion.

May

Point, Poplar, Frazer and Lustre Christian all competed at the 37th annual Norm Girard Top 10 meet in Glasgow on Tuesday. Distance runners Peyton Summers and Ethan Blount highlighted Wolf Point’s efforts at the meet. Summers, a sophomore, earned top honors in the 3200-meter run with a time of 10:09.71. He placed second in the 1600 at 4:38.88.

Ethan Blount, a senior, placed second in the 3200 at 10:19.07 and third in the 1600 at 4:39.85.

Wolf Point’s boys’ distance runners led the pack during the District 2B track meet held in Glasgow. Between Peyton Summers, Ethan Blount and Kholby Spotted-Wolf, the Wolves accounted for 44 points in the 1600 and 3200 meter runs.

Gaige Bushman of Wolf Point qualified for the Class B state golf meet. He placed 15th at the divisional meet.

Wolf Point’s doubles’ teams of Kaleah Miller-Toves and Kaylee Johnson and Mahala MacDonald and Hamyanie Campbell qualified for the state tennis tournament.

The Poplar Indians took fourth place in both the boys’ and girls’ standings during the District 2B track meet held in Glasgow. The Indians captured two first-place honors at the meet. Kaniel Ricker had a mark of 39-0 for top honors in the triple jump. Kameron Reum finished first in the 300-meter hurdles at 45.71 seconds.

An outstanding day by Ryker Ackerman led Frazer to a third-place showing at the District 3C track meet in Glasgow. The Bearcubs accounted for 35 points at the district meet. Ackerman earned first place in the javelin with a best of 120-7, second in the discus with a mark of 101-7 and third in the shot put at 40-01.

The Lustre Lions and Frazer Bearcubs each competed at the Eastern C divisional track meet held in Glasgow. Cayden Klatt led Lustre’s boys by finishing fifth in the 3200-meter run with a time of 12:11.42. Klatt took eighth in the 800 at 2:23.86. Also in the top 10 was Byron Ewing, who took 10th in the 200 at 27.37 seconds. Rebekah Jossart finished eighth in the 1600 at 6:37.28. Highlighting the effort for Frazer’s boys was Ryker Ackerman who took seventh in the shot put at 41-2, eighth in the javelin at 121-4 and ninth in the discus at 108-8. On the girls’ side, Angel Nelligan took 12th in the shot put, 14th in the 100 and 15th in the discus.

Wolf Point’s boys’ track team accounted for 73 points to earn fourth place at the North-East divisional track meet in Great Falls. The Wolves captured the top three spots in both the 1600 and 3200 meter runs. Katelyn MacDonald led the way for Wolf Point’s girls. The junior captured second place in the javelin with a mark of 114-01. She placed third in the shot put with a best of 32-7.

Poplar placed eighth in the girls’ standings and ninth in the boys’ standings during the North-East divisional track meet held in Great Falls. Poplar’s girls 1600-meter relay team featuring Jazmyn CarryWater, Bailey Dupree, Jazmin Gorder and Reinita Irizarry finished in third place with a school-record time of 4:30.08.

Wolf Point’s doubles’ team of Kaleah Miller-Toves and Kaylee Johnson tied for eighth place at the state tennis tournament held in Bozeman.

Wolf Point’s Peyton Summers and Mason Garfield each earned All-State medals during the Class B state track meet held in Great Falls. Summers, a sophomore, led most of the way in the 3200 until Red Lodge’s Brandon Emineth moved ahead during the final lap. Emineth, a senior who also won the state cross-country title, finished with a time of 10:00.03. Summers earned second with a time of 10:02.29. Summers accounted for a strong finish to earn fourth place in the 1600 with a personal best time of 4:37.24. Garfield, a senior, claimed fourth place in the discus with a best of 135-11. His best effort came on his second throw in the event.

Lustre’s Jasiah Hambira returned to action after missing several weeks of the track season due to illness. He placed third place in the high jump and third place in the triple jump at the Class C state meet.

To Be Continued Next Issue