2009 sports remembered

For Whitefish sports fans, 2009 featured a plethora of individual champions engraving their signature into local sports lore.

Names like Drew Coco, Matt Harris, Kelsey Schmid-Sommer and Colt Idol ruled the headlines with their displays of total domination from the slopes to the hard court.

Team titles were celebrated, too.

Whitefish High School brought home championships in golf and cross country, while the boys soccer team took fans for a thrilling ride deep into the playoffs.

Here is what sports fans will remember most about the year that was.

Is it in you?

Whitefish's Drew Coco was named the 2008-09 Gatorade Montana Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year. Now in its third decade, the award has become one of the most prestigious accolades in high school sports. Leading up to the award, he easily won the 2008 Montana Class A cross country meet in Missoula and notched 17th place at the Nike Cross Nationals Northwest Regionals. Coco — who graduated from Whitefish High School in 2009 and now attends the U.S. Naval Academy Prep School — may go down as the most dominant distance runner in Bulldog history.

A basketball Idol

Colt Idol set the Whitefish High School record as the all-time leading scorer with 1,486 points, surpassing Steve Kastella's 38-year-old record (1970-'71) of 1,368 points. Idol led the league in scoring both his senior and junior years by averaging more than 20 points per game. He averaged 371 points per year over the course of his high school career. The highly recruited 6-foot 3-inch guard currently is on the Montana State University Bobcats basketball team.

Free-heel four-peat

Whitefish telemark skier Kelsey Schmid-Sommer claimed the women's U.S. National Telemark Champion title for the fourth year in a row. At the national championship races, held in Steamboat Springs, Colo., Schmid-Sommer beat out 16-year-old Lorin Paley by a slim 2.05 second margin. "2.05 seconds isn't very much in skiing," Schmid-Sommer said. "It was very dramatic. It was absolutely the closest race I've ever had at nationals." The 2010 national championships will be held at Whitefish Mountain Resort on March 18-21, where Schmid-Sommer will have home-slope advantage as she looks to continue her remarkable streak.

All in stride

The Lady Bulldogs cross-country team won the Class A state championship in Missoula in October. Jessica Sagen led the team with a fifth-place finish, followed by Bailey Eaton in sixth and Loni Hanson in seventh. All three were named All-State runners. The team titled marked the third consecutive championship for the Lady Bulldogs who have become a juggernaut among Class A harriers.

Par for the course

The Whitefish boys golf team capped a great season with another state championship in frigid conditions at Whitefish Lake Golf Club. It was the team's fifth state title in the last six years. The boys finished 40-plus shots ahead of a talented Hamilton squad. Sophomore Reed Platke claimed a three-shot victory over teammate Joe Blakemore, who finished second. Zach Maassen, another senior on the team, finished fourth while Joel Mallams took sixth.

King of the net

Whitefish's tennis star Matt Harris went unbeaten in Class A play and captured the state singles title with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Ben Nearpass, of Billings Central. It was Harris' third state singles title. He also won four divisional tennis titles over his career. "It's been an amazing four years," Harris said. "I can't ask for anything more."

Sprinting to gold

Whitefish High School junior Stella Holt won the 2009 Junior Olympic National Cross Country Ski Championship in Truckee, Calif., by easily winning the sprint competition in a time of 2:24:25. The sprint consists of a 1-kilometer race over a hilly course on which competitors had to race four times in a single day. Holt also claimed third place in the 5-kilometer classic race and seventh place in freestyle.

Coo-coo for Coco

The Bulldogs track team, led by a distance sweep from Drew Coco, took third place at the Class A state track meet in Butte. Coco won the 800, 3,200 and the 1,600 meter races. "Drew was unbelievable," coach Derek Schulz said. "He ran an intelligent and strategic race." Bulldog Aaron Tkachyk defended his state title in the long jump by taking first at 22 feet and half an inch.

Stepping down

Whitefish High School had three head coaches leave their posts, most notably Lini Reading, the girls soccer coach.

Reading took the helm of the Lady Bulldogs in 1994 and captured state championships in 2001 and 2006. The Lady 'Dogs were state-champion runner-ups in 2005, 2007 and 2008. There was only one state tournament that the Whitefish girls soccer team did not compete in under Reading's watch. "(Stepping down as coach) is the hardest decision I've ever made," Reading said. "It took me two months to write my 'resignation) letter to the girls. I just need more time with my family." Erin Morrison took over as the Lady Bulldogs coach and led the team to the second round of the Class A state playoffs this year.

Comeback kids

After a tremendous set of nail-biting playoff wins, the Bulldog boys soccer team came up short in the state Class A finals against Billings Central — losing 5-1 in soggy conditions at Smith Fields. The 'Dogs tallied two consecutive come-from-behind wins in the early rounds of the playoffs, against Livingston and Corvallis respectively, to claw their way into the title match. "(The team has' got to have some character and discipline to overcome those scenarios," Bulldog coach O'Brien Byrd said. Seniors Matt Danczyk and Travis Adams led the team as captains, with each being named to the All-State roster.