WHITEFISH — Montana Tech is the 2023 winner of the Frontier Conference's Bandy Memorial All-Sports Trophy, the league announced Monday.
It is the fifth Bandy Award for the Orediggers and their first since 1992-93. Montana Tech have not had a competitive opportunity for the Bandy Award until the recent additions of cross country and track and field.
Tech topped Carroll College for the top spot with the smallest margin of victory in the history of the award with 130 points to the Saints' 129.8.
Montana Tech won regular season titles in men’s basketball, volleyball, and men’s and women’s track and field. The recent track & field championships from last week sealed the Bandy for the Orediggers.
Tech finished third in football and both men’s and women’s cross country this fall. The men’s and women’s golf teams took second and the women’s basketball team finished fifth.
Men’s track and field earned its first conference championship this year and the women’s team won their second straight with just two years as a program. The volleyball team won their third regular season title and first since 2019 under head coach Brian Solomon who just finished his 11th season.
Men’s basketball went back-to-back winning their second conference title in the last two years under seventh-year coach Adam Hiatt. Last season’s title broke a 19-year drought going back to the 1992-93 season for men’s basketball.
“It’s an exciting time for Digger Athletics and I couldn’t be more proud of our department, coaches, but most of all the student- athletes,” said Tech AD Matt Stepan in a press release. “These young men and women have dedicated themselves to excellence in their respective sports, in our community, and most importantly in the classroom.”
Rocky Mountain College finished third with 112 points followed by the University of Providence with 76.8 points, Montana Western, 72.5 points, MSU-Northern 68.3 points, College of Idaho 14.5 points, Southern Oregon seven points and Eastern Oregon with six points.
