The Class AA Montana State Tennis Tournament happened on May 28-29 in Kalispell, and for the Knights it was a great tournament. The Hellgate girls won the state championship as a team and the boys came in fourth place.
The Hellgate Girls got an amazing number of nine girls to state, taking up three of the four spots in both singles and doubles at divisionals. Because of this the girls were able to get a total number of 33 points for the team, beating any other team by at least seven points and becoming the seventh highest score for a team in Montana state history.
Sophomore Weslley Banziger and freshman Emma Duman won the state doubles title together after beating Raena Wilson and Alex Mansour of Bozeman Gallatin in the finals 6-4, 0-6, 6-2. After dominating the first set, Banziger and Duman lost the second; however, they stepped back on the court to soundly win the third set, securing their victory as well as their team’s.
Senior Elliotte Banziger was the Western AA Divisionals champion in girls singles and, up until the state final, hadn’t lost a set all season. In the final, she faced Georgia Pike, a freshman from CMR high school in Great Falls. Banziger and Pike had a close match, but Pike ended up winning 4-6, 1-6, making Banziger the girls singles runner-up.
The Hellgate boys also had a good season as they came up in fourth place as a team with a total of 14 points. The boys got a total of six boys to state. The duo of senior Jack Currie Welch and junior Andrew Duman together were able to make it onto the podium coming in at third place after beating Karsh Wohler and Issac Mosser from Billings Skyview.
Another state sports event was happening at the same time as the tennis tournament. On May 28, the Class AA State Track and Field Championships began in Missoula at the MCPS Stadium. The competition lasted until Sat, May 30.
A total of 25 Hellgate athletes qualified for State: 14 boys and 11 girls. Overall, the Hellgate girls team placed sixth in the state, the boys placed 11th, and individual ranks for Hellgate athletes in the top five from each event were as follows:
Boys
3200 meters: Miles Miller, 4th place (9:36.47)
110m hurdles: Case Procacci, 4th place (14.75)
Javelin: Cannon Clark, 5th place (170 ft, 6 in)
Girls
110m hurdles: Paisley Johnson, 2nd place (15.19)
Discus: Brooklen Kopp, 2nd place (131 ft, 9 in)
High jump: Elly Reed, 1st place (5 ft, 6 in); Paisley Johnson, 3rd place (5 ft, 4 in)
Congrats to all Hellgate athletes at the end of the 2026 spring sports season.
