HELENA — There were no shortage of championships in the Queen City during the 2022 sports seasons.
Helena Capital
Helena Capital took home three team state championships in 2022.
With a perfect postseason record, the Bruins boys basketball team won the Western AA divisional title and the Class AA State title on back to back weekends.
In the fall, the boys golf team was able to snag a championship of their own, their first in 35 years.
Most recently for the Bruins, their historic state championship over the Bozeman Hawks where they won 35-14. Kyle Mihelish's first state championship at the head coach position, and their first state title win in 11 years, putting an end to their longest title drought in school history.
Helena High
The Bengals nabbed a team state championship of their own in 2022. The girls track and field team took home the hardware thanks to strong performances from star runners Odessa Zentz, Kylie Hartnett and Logan Todorovich. The Bengals came out on top for the first time in over two decades for their second-ever team title finishing with 144 points.
Carroll College
At the collegiate level, the Carroll College Fighting Saints put together exciting seasons.
In the spring, the Carroll men’s track and field team were crowned Frontier Conference champions with a score of 250. 13 Saints went on to compete in the NAIA National Outdoor Championship where Lee Walburn came out a national champion for the second straight year.
In the fall, Carroll's football program went 8-3 overall in the 2022 season by beating the College of Idaho Yotes on the road in the final regular season game. The win gave the Saints a share of the Frontier title, but more importantly a win of the tiebreaker for an opportunity to make a postseason run. The Saints came close in the opening round of the NAIA playoffs against the second seeded Grand View Vikings but ultimately fell 17-14.
Carroll College’s mens and womens cross country programs also snagged Frontier titles in the fall, which earned them an automatic bid to the NAIA National Cross Country Meet where the women placed 22nd and the men 25th.
Helena Bighorns
The Helena Bighorns also found themselves to be Frontier Division regular season champions in 2022. They then went on to defeat the Gillette Wild in three games, two which went into overtime, to become Frontier Division champions, and to advance to the NA3HL Fraser Cup Championship Tournament where they made a deep postseason run before falling to the Rochester Grizzlies in the semifinal game.
