Frenchtown’s Katie Lewis won her third straight state title, capping an undefeated senior season. She finished with a two-day total of 7-over 151 at Polson Bay — nine strokes better than runner-up Anna Lende of Livingston.

Over the past three seasons, Lewis lost just once, that coming during the 2023 regular season. Last month she verbally committed to play golf for the University of Montana on scholarship next fall.

Lewis’ teen résumé will be tough to top. She made history prior to the start of the season by winning back-to-back state and Montana State Junior championships. Now she’s added more to her historic run, with another shot at the Junior title in June.

“When people say things to me about that it just amazes me,” Lewis told 406 MT Sports. “I know I’ve made some accomplishments, but just getting that perspective from others is wild. It makes it seem bigger.”

Lewis didn’t like the score she put up at state, but that’s the perfectionist in her coming out. She did manage to birdie two of the final three holes of her high school career, but she’s used to finishing right around par.

“It’s just a bittersweet moment today because you know this is your last time that you’ll ever be doing this,” she said. “The last two days were full of random weather occurrences and wind and narrow fairways and tough greens.

“I was really just chomping at the bit and getting after it. But I think I’ve grown with my mentality. I can have a bad start and finish much better than I started.”

The Billings Central girls earned their first team title since 2010. The Rams totaled 685, which was 42 strokes better than runner-up Whitefish and 54 better than third-place Frenchtown. The Broncs matched their best-ever team finish from two years ago.

Central’s margin of victory gives the impression there wasn’t any drama on Saturday. Coach Tony Derrig will tell you differently.

“They started out real tight, and I asked, ‘Why are you so tight?'” Derrig said. “They told me, ‘Well we could start playing bad and they could catch up.

“I went around to all of them in a short time and said, ‘Finish the job. Act as if the score is tied and don’t play to lose.’ And they all responded to that, which was fun to see.”

Derrig said Saturday was the culmination of an entire season of playing well under pressure.

“I’m really proud of these girls. They stepped up all year,” he said. “Yeah, they did it when they needed to the last two days, but they’ve been doing this every tournament this year. When somebody is having a bad day, the next girl steps up.”

Medalist honors on the boys side went to Polson’s Max Milton, a 14-year-old freshman whose father, Cameron, is the club pro at Polson Bay. Max posted an 8-under score of 36, which was three strokes better than runner-up Sam Norman of Laurel.

Milton’s lead was just one stroke with two holes to play. That’s when the freshman delivered his best, recording a birdie on the par-3 No. 17 hole.

“Me and my dad looked at the (online) scoreboard and I saw that I was up one,” he said of his mindset prior to stepping on the No. 17 tee box. “We had to wait for a while so I drank some water, ate a snack and then I felt ready to go and made birdie. (Norman) made bogey.

“It was 185 (yards) and I had 6-iron,” he said of the scenario on No. 17. “I was telling my dad I played this hole many times and I was ready. I knew the shot I had to hit and I hit it and it worked out well. I rolled in a long putt and made 2.”

Winning on his home course made Saturday extra special for Milton.

“It was super good having all my family and friends come out and watch,” he said. “It was nice to feel supported in front of everyone. And I definitely couldn’t be here without my dad.”

Laurel took the boys teams title, sending coach Jim O’Neil into retirement with a big smile. The Locomotives totaled 598 to edge rival Billings Central by two strokes. Corvallis took third with 606.

Laurel trailed Billings Central by five strokes heading into Saturday’s action.

“I coached football for 26 years, so the analogy I used was, ‘Guys, it’s halftime and we’re down by a touchdown,'” O’Neil said. “We went with that, but as the day progressed, we couldn’t quite get there. Central is a good golf team.

“It was just patience, perseverance, playing the golf course and not worrying where they were at. There was a big flip with about two holes to play. That flip happened right before (Laurel’s) Royce (Taylor) hit the most amazing 4-iron I’ve ever seen and left himself about 10 feet for eagle and then had a tap-in birdie … But it was hard-fought all day and I’m not going to lie, it didn’t look good at times.”

O’Neil said he felt a little nauseous at times. But in the end, the Locomotives delivered their sixth boys state title in eight years. They’ve also had a second and third under O’Neil and four girls titles in his eight years.

The coach didn’t say much to his players about his retirement on Friday and Saturday.

“I didn’t really believe it would help us win if I reflected on anything until we were done,” he offered.

“(Sunday) morning maybe I’ll take a look at it. But at the moment I’m glad it’s over because I feel old and tired,” he added with a chuckle.

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