So nice, they did it thrice.
The C.M. Russell High boys’ tennis team earned its third straight Class AA team championship on Friday, May 29, at Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell, while freshman Georgia Pike topped the singles’ field for the championship as the Rustler girls took third.
The CMR boys of mentor Byron Boyd have now not only completed the three-peat but have won or shared four of the last five, tying Bozeman for first in 2022 while also taking second in 2023.
“I told them the first varsity practice that we were going to do this,” Boyd said in a phone call with the Tribune. “They bought in and put the work in and couldn’t be prouder or couldn’t have a better group of guys.”
Doubles tandem Eli Crist and Howard Daniel earned their way to the finals with three victories in straight sets before falling to Bozeman High’s Harrison Rotar and Collin Gross in the title round.
The senior Crist has now been in the doubles finals three years in a row, winning it all with Josh Stimac in 2024. Crist was also a state qualifier in singles as a freshman on CMR’s second-place team.
“I think our effort was through the roof,” Howard Daniel said of the team. “We gave 11 out of 10. We went for every ball. We tried our hardest and were sweating like crazy, and I think the other teams did very well as well. Our team did super well, we all contributed. We all were cheering for each other, even though it was 90 degrees (in Kalispell). All of us were sitting in the sun trying to hype each other up so we could get this state title.”
Pike defeated three-time defending girls’ champion Elliotte Banziger of Missoula Hellgate in two sets, 6-4, 6-1, to come out on top in her inaugural prep season.
Pike was dominant at state, losing only one game in three matches before the victory over the three-time champion senior Banziger.
“It feels pretty good,” Pike said in a call. “It makes me really excited for the future and and we have such a great team, and so that makes everything like 10 times better too. It’s really exciting.”
The CMR girls, coached by Val Scheevel, finished third as a team as Quincy Weymouth and Lola Habel also rallied in the consolation bracket to take fifth with a 6-4, 6-2 victory.
Fleming Daniel placed fourth in singles for the second time in his career, falling to Cooper Laslovich of Helena Capital in the consolation finals. Daniel dropped a semifinal matchup with defending champ Mason McCarty of Bozeman Gallatin after two straight-set wins.
The CMR boys racked up 26 teams points for the title, with Wiwo Batungbacal also taking sixth in singles. Gallatin took second with 18 and Capital third with 16.
Missoula Hellgate took the girls’ team championship with 33 points, with Gallatin taking second with 26 while CMR had 20.
This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: CMR boys tennis 3-peats, Pike wins girls’ title