George Ferguson column: Another sports year gone but certainly not forgotten

The first day of summer is still a while away. But make no mistake, summer has begun in Havre.

Golf balls are flying, the sound of aluminum baseball and softball bats can be heard all over town, skateboards are out in full force and kids are already on slip and slides and jumping through sprinklers. There's fishing poles and miniature golf, riding bikes and playing tennis. It's here.

George Ferguson

I'm excited as I know so many are because even at my age, summer is a right of passage for us all.

Still, for me, when the calander turns to June, it's also a time for reflection. I need to pause and reflect because I've seen so much in the past nine months. I've seen so much because Havre, the Hi-Line and all its athletes give me so much to see each and every year.

The fall was exciting, to say the least. For a sportswriter, the fall represents a new beginning. It's a new year of exciting things to come, and this fall didn't disappoint.

The Havre High and Montana State University-Northern football teams were so much fun to watch and cover this past year. Both teams played an exciting brand of football and both were packed full of great players and great personalities. The football season as a whole was special with teams like Chinook, Chester/J-I and Big Sandy also making deep playoff runs.

If you like football, as I do, this past fall was one you won't soon forget.

The fall also marked a turning point for head coach Bill Huebsch and the MSU-Northern volleyball team. I need to take this time to once again offer Huebsch and the Skylights a heartfelt congratulations for all that they achieved this past season. I know it has been a building process for that program and this past season really showed how hard work pays off.

The winter sports season had its share of special moments too.

I won't ever forget the wrestling season — thanks to so many spectacular moments. We said goodbye to one of the greats to ever grace the mats at both Havre High and Northern in Evan Hinebauch as he became a four-time NAIA All-American. We watched his youngest brother Eli capture a state championship as did another Blue Pony great in Casey Schaub.

And of that wasn't exciting enough, we witnessed Chinook's Ben Stroh reach the pinnacle of Montana high school wrestling by winning his fourth Class B-C state championship. Stroh has been as prolific a wrestler as I have covered, and I have covered some great ones over the years. And his time in a Chinook singlet will never be forgotten.

This winter also saw the Northern men's basketball team continue its powerful run, sweeping the Frontier regular season and postseason titles and rolling right into another NAIA national tournament. Like Stroh, the two-year run the Lights went on will be forever etched in history.

The basketball season was especially exciting at Northern because the Skylights got on a roll too, and that made the long winter nights a heck of a lot of fun. I think my ears are still ringing from the February and March games inside the Armory Gymnasium.

Spring sports marks the end of another great school year and the North Star girls track team sure knew how to go out in style. The Knights captured the school's first state championship in anything when they dusted the field at the Class C state meet two weeks ago in Butte.

There were great performances like Havre's Sammy Evans and Mason Case, Chinook's Kayla Hanson and Barry Murnion on the track, while Blue Pony Justin Jensen made a great run at the Class A state tennis tournament. The young Blue Pony softball team also made a great push this season and showed they are ready to take the next step.

Yes, those are only a few snippets of what happened over the last nine sporting months on the Hi-Line. I didn't mention everything because quite frankly, my fingers would cramp up from typing that long. That's simply how great the sports are around here. Your moment might not have made this column, but rest assured, it will never leave my mind. That's how special the sports are around here to me and to what I do for a living.

So congratulations to everybody who participated in athletics in one form or another over the last year. It's been a great ride and I thank all of you for taking me on that ride with you.

And like each and every year I do this, the ride starts all over again in just two months and I'll have all new memories to talk about this time next summer.

(George Ferguson is sports editor of the Havre Daily News.)