There are over 180 high schools in Montana. By definition, in any given season, most of them do not win a state championship, or even come close. That’s the brutal calculus of sports: The vast majority go home without trophies and, as they say, wait ‘til next year.
So, what to make of Jefferson High School? In the past academic year, its teams won two Class B state championships, and picked up two second-place plaques, one third, and one fourth. Its football squad made the state semifinals. Panther athletes scored a raft of individual honors in cross-country, wrestling, track and field, and golf.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a year like this in the history of the school,” said Dan Sturdevant, who would know. He is retiring as Jefferson’s athletic director after 13 years in that post, and he’s covered Panther sports for The Monitor since 1990.
You could see this coming, up to a point. The Class of 2022 featured an unusual talent bulge; “I would say you’d be hard pressed to find a more athletic all-around class in recent JHS history,” observed Kyle Eckmann, outgoing president of the JHS Booster Club.
There were, first of all, the boys (who, over time, nicknamed themselves, “The Boys”) who started playing flag football and basketball together in fifth grade. “You could just see from an early age” that there was potential for something special, said Kevin Harrington, who coached the group in basketball. Their parents hatched a plan aimed at keeping the kids together into high school – laying the foundation for Jefferson High’s football and basketball programs seven years later.
The girls’ success wasn’t as premeditated. But many of the 10 seniors on last fall’s volleyball squad had, in fact, played together, or against each other, for years in club programs – as had the four seniors who formed the core of the basketball team.
Then, there were some unanticipated arrivals. Renae Parker, who had run competitively in grade school, joined the Panthers’ cross country and track teams in the wake of legislation allowing home-schooled students to compete with their district school. Celi Chapman, an all-state golfer at Helena High, transferred to Jefferson in the middle of the 2020-21 school year. Brynna Wolfe, twice an all-state basketball selection at Whitehall High, came to Boulder for her senior year.
All that set the stage. But what put the magic in motion, many say, was the boys’ somewhat unexpected track and field championship last May, their first since 1998. The Panthers may have won that meet in part because Huntley Project’s all-around star Noah Bouchard was injured. But no matter: The title was an important marker – a sign that winning a state championship was possible. “It was a huge confidence booster” for the rest of the school, said Tyler Harrington, a Panther football and basketball player. “We started thinking, this is something we can do.”
Harrington and other Panther athletes say they started bringing a different sort of energy to their sports, putting in more hours in the weight room and approaching practices with greater seriousness and discipline. “There’s a big difference in the attitude of this team,” said quarterback Braden Morris during pre-season football work-outs. “This year, everyone’s working hard.”
Said Joey Visser, who along with Morris and Wade Rykal had sparked the track and field championship: “This is going to be a special year for all Jefferson sports. One to remember, I think.”
Football: State semifinals
The footballers did, in fact, have a memorable run. They dropped a tough, close match-up with Columbus, at the time ranked second in the state, then swept through the rest of their in-conference schedule before meeting Broadwater in the last game of the regular season. Then came heartbreak: Broadwater scored on a last-second bomb to break a tie and take the win – and Morris seriously tore up his angle defending the play.
The Panthers won their first two play-off games without him. But in the semifinals, they ran into Florence – undefeated, top-ranked, with five seniors headed to college football programs. It wasn’t close: Florence triumphed, 51-7, and the Panthers were done.
Volleyball: 2nd place
Jefferson’s volleyball squad, though, was still rolling. It had some unfinished business: The year before, the Panthers had gone through their regular season and district tournament undefeated – and then had, shockingly, failed in the South Division tournament.
Early last fall, senior Rachel Van Blaricom had promised: “We’re going to have an undefeated season again this year. We’re not going to lose a set in our district. And we’re making it out of Divisionals, no matter what.”
She wasn’t far off. The Panthers dropped an early-season match to Broadwater, then rolled through the rest of their conference rivals. They took second at the divisional tournament, including a revenge victory over Broadwater.
And at the state tourney, they overcame a first-round loss to Choteau, winning three matches the next day – including another marathon with Choteau — to make the final against Huntley Project. That’s where the dream died: Huntley, a long-time volleyball power, swept the match in three sets, and the Panthers settled for second place. Frontline hitters Van Blaricom and Dakota Edmisten were named all-state.
Cross country
Meanwhile, Parker — who hadn’t run competitively since fifth grade — established herself as an elite cross-country athlete, with top finishes in several meets before a knee injury slowed her down. “She’s kind of a beast,” said her coach, Karson Klass.
At the state meet in Missoula, she was in the zone, neck and neck with a Broadwater runner (yes – Broadwater, again) with half a mile left. And then: A searing pain in her right foot. “It felt like my foot was exploding every time it hit the ground,” she said later. She had broken a bone, and she couldn’t make a final push. Still: Second place, and a personal best time.
Wrestling: 3rd place
Coach Troy Humphrey entered the season thinking, “we we’re looking at a special season.” The year before, the Panthers had sent eight wrestlers to State, and six of those were returning, including all three medalists: Leo Anderson, Dylan Mikesell, and John Armstrong. “It’s neat,” Humphrey said, “when you have this much talent in the room.”
The squad didn’t disappoint. It won its second straight Western B/C Division crown, and this time sent 11 athletes to the state meet. There, it took third, the first time since 1998 it had finished that high. And six wrestlers placed sixth or higher, qualifying them for all-state. For Anderson, the Panthers’ all-time win leader, it was his fourth all-state honor.
Girls’ basketball: 2nd place
Morris’ football injury, and another sustained by Visser earlier in the season, cost the boys’ basketball squad two of its top scorers. The remaining players, led by Harrington, four-year starter Trent McMaster, Jake Genger, and Luke Eckmann, were strong — but they lost twice at the division tournament and missed its chance for State.
The girls were another story. The addition of Wolfe gave the lady Panthers an extra gear, and as the team took shape, “I knew we could be in the championship,” said Sarah Layng, in her third season as coach.
They almost weren’t. After losing just once in the regular season, Jefferson hit a stunning cold spell and lost in the second round of the division tournament. Then, in the third-place game they had to win to make it to State, they went cold again; it took a wild second-half comeback and a last-second, overtime shot by Izzy Morris to take the breathless victory.
So the team made its first state tournament since 1994. It cruised through the first two games, then found itself up against top-ranked Colstrip. The Fillies had both speed and height, and in the end, the Panthers couldn’t keep up. Still: They had reached the school’s first-ever girls’ final. “That’s nothing to hang our heads about,” said Van Blaricom.
Golf: State champion
In 2021, the Panther boys’ squad qualified for the State tournament for the first time in school history. This year, seniors Eckmann and Preston Field were joined by reinforcements — two sophomores and two freshmen who knew their way around a course. In fact, the boys all have been playing at Helena’s Green Meadow Country Club since they were young.
The result: The squad won all but one of its regular-season meets, then finished second at the division tournament. And at the state tournament at Fairmont Hot Springs, it wasn’t close: The Panthers took the team title by 12 strokes over second-place Columbus. Colin Field, Preston’s younger brother, placed seventh individually, and Eckmann tied for 12th.
The girls finished fifth, a year after not having enough players to qualify for a team score. And Chapman overcame her nerves to take the girls’ title, with two rounds of 81.
Track & field: State champion
This year, the Panther boys entered the state meet as favorites, having dominated most of the season and easily winning its district and division meets.
State was no different. Morris, returned from his injury, won the 110 and 300-meter hurdles and the javelin, and took second in the long jump. Rykal won both the shot put and discus. The 4×100 relay team took first, as well.
All told, the Panthers racked up 92 points in Bozeman, easily besting second-place Loyola. The girls finished fourth, with Parker winning the 3200-meter race and finishing third in the 1600; and Kai Taylor taking second in the discuss with a school-record throw.
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What now? Some will play in college; at least seven grads have signed commitment letters. For underclassmen, it’s back to the weight room and to summer club competition. And Jefferson High’s coaches will contend with the inevitable ebbs and flows of a small school population. The loss of so many talented seniors will drain the football, volleyball, and basketball squads. But wrestling likely will contend again next winter: Of the 11 athletes who went to State this year, nine are expected back. Most of the golfers will stay for another two years, and the track and field teams will return solid cores.
As he closes out his long run as athletic director, Sturdevant is finding space in the school’s display cases for 16 new team plaques. It’s quite a haul. And everyone is wondering when the next best year will come along.
