BILLINGS — Libby senior Ryan Beagle repeated as the Class A boys single tennis champion Friday by beating Whitefish’s Jack Oehlerich in the state final.
Beagle went through his four matches in the bracket without dropping a set. He defeated Oehlerich, a junior, by a 6-3, 6-1 score.
Beagle reached the final with a win over Miles City’s Florenz Keller 6-4, 6-1 in the semifinals, while Oehlrich had to come from a set down to topple Angus Trangmoe of Stevensville 5-7, 6-1, 6-4.
Trangmoe went on to beat Keller 7-5, 6-1 for the third-place medal.
Whitefish edged Stevensville 21-20 for the boys team title. Libby and Havre tied for third at 16 points each. The title is the first for Whitefish since 2022, when the Bulldogs finished in a tie at the top with Billings Central.
Hamilton’s Ciara Hanley, a runner-up last season, took the extra step and defeated teammate Tallulah Pinjuv for the girls singles title. Hanley, a senior, won over Pinjuv, a sophomore, by a score of 6-4, 6-1.
Pinjuv reached the final with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 win over Kinzie Brimmer of Miles City. Both players had lost just one game in the tournament prior to their semifinal meeting.
Hanley had an easier go of it in the semifinals, dispatching Corvallis’ Ava Wilcox 6-1, 6-0. On her way to the final, Hanley dropped just two games over her quarterfinal and semifinal wins.
Brimmer bounced back from her semifinal loss to claim third place in an up-and-down 7-6 (1), 0-6, 6-4 win over Wilcox.
In boys doubles, Havre juniors Max Spangler and Carter Chagnon won their first state championship. The Blue Ponies’ duo outlasted Glendive seniors Carter Amsler and Dylan Joliffe 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the final.
For Spangler, it was his second consecutive appearance in the doubles championship match. He finished runner-up last season along with his brother, Max, who graduated last spring.
Amsler and Joliffe didn’t have an easy path in the tournament. Three of their four matches went the distance, including a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 semifinal win over Corvallis duo Emmett Allsop and Brannon Fehr.
Spangler and Chagnon, conversely, swept aside Jake Gavlak and Silas Siebert with a 6-0 win in the second set, which followed up a hard-fought 7-5 victory in the first set.
The third-place medal in boys doubles went to William Noteboom and Adrian Taganahan of Hardin. The Bulldogs' duo won four straight matches after losing in the second round, including the final victory over semifinalists Gavlak/Siebert 6-4, 6-0.
Hardin’s Taiya Guptill and Johanna Limberhand won the girls doubles title, whipping past Brylee Hager and Clea Rapson of Miles City in 6-0, 6-2 straight-set fashion.
Miles City's depth, though, helped the Cowgirls claim the team title with 34 points. It's the second title in the past three years for the Cowgirls, who finished five points better than Hamilton. Whitefish finished third with 20 points.
Guptill and Limberhand reached the semifinals last year as juniors. Limberhand was also a doubles semifinalist in 2023. Rapson and Hager finished in fifth place last year.
Both girls doubles finals tandems advanced from the semifinals with straight-set wins. Guptill/Lumberhand got past Janelle Taylor and Abby Hauer of East Helena 6-1, 6-2. Hager/Rapson needed a second-set tiebreak to put away Maggie Mercer and Camry Kelch of Whitefish 6-4, 7-6 (5).
The Whitefish doubles team of Maggie Mercer and Camry Kelch took the third-place medal with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Maggie Morris and Annaleis Sloan of Miles City.
