MISSOULA — It was a year ago, not long after Princeton ended its season in the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament and a few months before she would earn her degree in economics from the Ivy League school, that Jen Estes entered the transfer portal.

She had one year of eligibility remaining if she chose to use it. She wanted to but only if she could find the right landing spot.

Her playing resume – six goals, six assists, competing in a pair of NCAA tournaments — ensured she would have plenty of suitors. Her experiences with all things college soccer gave her a discerning eye as she navigated the programs that showed interest.

“The goal was to have fun and enjoy playing,” said Estes, who was named second-team All-West Region on Tuesday by the United Soccer Coaches, the only Grizzly to be honored by the organization this season.

That Estes led Montana in both goals (7) and assists (4) this past season, that she was voted the unanimous Big Sky Conference Newcomer of the Year, the co-Offensive MVP and first-team all-league isn’t what brought her happiness.

Rather, those things emerged naturally, the end result of rediscovering the joy that can come from playing soccer once again.

“We put her in different positions and kind of used her wherever she was needed,” said assistant coach Ashley Herndon, who coaches the team’s forwards and knows that pigeonholing a talented player is the best way to watch those skills go unrealized.

“One of the things her mom told me was that (Jen) just loves playing soccer here. You could tell by the way she was playing that she was enjoying it again. That was the most fun thing for us to watch her do.”

It was tricky arriving in the summer, joining a team with a pair of returning all-region forwards in Skyleigh Thompson and Delaney Lou Schorr. Estes would need to navigate the situation with intentionality.

“When you come in as a grad transfer, you’re one of the oldest on the team but new to the program,” she said. “I was excited to get to know the girls and form relationships with them both on and off the field. That was something I focused on a lot, especially at the beginning of the season.

“Those relationships then translate onto the field. I can’t thank the team enough for accepting me into the team they had built and the senior class for welcoming me in.”

She had a pair of assists through the season’s first four matches but took only eight shots, starting two of those matches, coming off the bench in the other two, a new player finding and making her way.

“She was always the same person, the same leader, but we had a conversation early on that if she wanted it, she could take it and be a starter,” said Herndon.

“It felt like she was holding back a little bit, like she didn’t want to step on any toes. Then she got released and was playing free and it all clicked for her.”

She scored at Fresno State, in the season’s fifth match, then scored the game-winner in Montana’s 1-0 home win over IU Indianapolis in the very next match. And she was off.

That the Grizzlies ended the season on a 14-match unbeaten streak, going 9-0-5 in September, October and November, was no coincidence. It matched up with Estes’s emergence as a playmaking threat.

“She was recruited for that very reason, to be an all-conference, all-region player. She came in and really proved herself,” said coach Chris Citowicki. “She was looking for a place where she could play and impact. If you do that, you tend to get recognition.”

She scored two goals at Wyoming and painted her masterpiece in a Thursday afternoon home match against Idaho, the Big Sky’s top two programs going head-to-head at South Campus Stadium with so much on the line, both for this season and for next.

She opened the scoring against the Vandals in the ninth minute, then added the game-winner in the 15th to help Montana take hold of the conference race.

The Grizzlies would go 6-0-2 in league, unbeaten in the Big Sky for the second consecutive season, the first time that’s ever been accomplished.

Montana came up a play short of advancing to the Big Sky championship match, of Estes getting an opportunity to make her third NCAA tournament appearance, but as the season recedes in the rearview mirror, that matters less and less compared to everything the season as a whole provided.

Given time, the totality of the experience tends to eclipse the particular details.

“It lived up to the expectations I had and exceeded them in the sense I had so much fun with the team,” Estes said. “I’m very happy I was able to come here and that the coaches took a chance on me.

“I can’t say thank you enough to Chris, Ash and (associate head coach J. Landham). I had a great experience throughout the whole season.”

One familiar face is the leaving the Montana Senate, one familiar face will take her place.

Longtime Yellowstone County leader and state Sen. Kathy Kelker, D-Billings, submitted her resignation last week to the Yellowstone County Democratic Central Committee. Kelker has been a leader at the city, county and state levels having served on the Billings Public Schools Board as well as in the Montana Legislature and with the area Head Start program.

On Tuesday morning, the Yellowstone County Commission met to interview and select Kelker’s replacement from a list of three candidates whom the Democrats forwarded for consideration. They unanimously chose Montana State Rep. Emma Kerr-Carpenter, who had just won re-election to the Montana House, representing the central core of the state’s largest city, Billings.

By state law, if a vacancy for the Legislature occurs, the central committee from that political party, in this case, Democratic, forwards three candidates for the selection by the commissioners. In this particular case, the Yellowstone County Commissioners are all Republicans selecting a Democrat, but all three admitted after the interviews that they couldn’t have made a bad decision.

“The advantage she has is her legislative experience,” said Commissioner Don Jones. “If we select Emma Kerr-Carpenter, she’s familiar with the issues and ready to go.”

The commissioners said that it was Kerr-Carpenter’s previous legislative experience and her openness in communication that would help get her up to speed with just about a month remaining until the opening of the Legislature. The process of replacing Kelker has ended, but the process to replace Kerr-Carpenter in the House will likely follow a similar path with a quick turnaround ending up back in front of the Yellowstone County Commission.

In her interview with the Yellowstone County Commission, Kerr-Carpenter spoke mainly of two issues, crime and public safety, as well as the cost of living. Both of those issues seemed to resonate well with the commissioners, who are in the process of trying to figure out how to handle an exploding jail population, and low reimbursement rates from the state for the prisoners it houses at county facilities.

“These are big hairy issues that take partnerships up and down the line, from state to county to city,” she said.

Her previous experience in the Legislature, which she’s been a part of since 2019, include serving on appropriations for public safety. She said that has helped her understand the complexity of the problems. She said that in addition to addressing issues like reimbursement rates for prisoners, the lawmakers must also consider more judges and public defenders.

She also said the 2025 Legislature must look at more ways to bring down the cost of living.

“We’re just pricing people out of their homes,” Kerr-Carpenter said.

Other candidates

The county commissioners seemed pleased with the other two candidates, and may see them back if they decide to seek Kerr-Carpenter’s House seat. Dr. Mark Nicholson, who ran unsuccessfully for the Legislature last month, as well as former U.S. Navy intelligence officer Rudolf Haden, who was beat out by Rep. Sherry Essmann, R-Billings, applied for Kelker’s open seat and are likely candidates.

Nicholson said that his background as a physician handling complex problems can help steer the Legislature through Medicaid reauthorization, a process expected to be contentious in the upcoming session. He pointed out that in addition to understanding the nuances of healthcare from a provider perspective, he also understands that to Yellowstone County, it’s the largest business sector.

He said as he door-knocked more than 5,000 homes during the campaign season that he heard about healthcare, property taxes and crime. He pointed out that the average per-capita crime rate in Billings is about 98% higher than most places in America.

“Billings does have a problem,” Nicholson said. “We need more jail space, we need more judges. But we also need to give people better alternatives and that means better schools.”

He said that the state continues to dump prisoners and parolees in Billings and it is not paying its fair share.

“Billings is sometimes being treated as the ATM of the rest of the state,” Nicholson said.

He also said that property taxes are a matter of simply lowering the taxation rate, as the Montana Department of Revenue had recommended.

“There are all these Rube Goldberg ways of adjusting property taxes that are being talked about,” Nicholson said, “but there is a simple, certain way to reduce the taxes that is straightforward, and that’s by reducing the multiplier.”

Haden, who served for several decades in the U.S. Navy as an intelligence officer, stressed that communicating back and forth among constituents is something that he’s literally trained for because of his background in the military.

He said that the top issue he heard while campaigning in Billings Heights was the cost of living.

“Since I’ve been back, I have seen my taxes go up,” Haden said. “And the cost of groceries: My refrigerator is a black hole.”

He said that one of the ways that the Legislature could help would be to encourage more housing and different types of housing. Driving around the core of Billings, there are buildings and spaces that are in need of transformation.

After the commissioners selected Kerr-Carpenter, Yellowstone County District Court Judge Collette Davies swore her in immediately. Kelker’s term runs through Jan. 4, 2027.

Montana’s general hunting season wrapped up over the weekend and, according to numbers reported at Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) check stations, hunters in this corner of the state had increased success in the field when compared to last year.   

More than 10,800 hunters stopped at northwest Montana check stations this season, and about 10 percent of them had successfully harvested game, compared to 9 percent a year ago. A total of 954 white-tailed deer, including 745 bucks, were reported at the four weekend check stations. Last year hunters checked 761 white-tailed deer, including 567 bucks. Check station results showed a slightly smaller mule deer harvest, ­92 deer checked this year compared to 97 a year ago. And the elk harvest was slightly above last year, 62 harvested this year compared to 51 a year ago.

This season, check stations were open on weekends during the general hunting season from 10 a.m. to approximately 1.5 hours past sunset. The regional stations were located at U.S. Highway 2 west of Kalispell, Montana Highway 83 north of Swan Lake, Highway 200 west of Thompson Falls, and Highway 93 near Olney.

Hunters are required to stop at any check station they encounter whether they harvested an animal or not. The counts at the stations represent a sampling of the harvest and do not represent the complete number of animals taken.

There are still opportunities to hunt this winter. Certain areas have continued elk hunting opportunities, and there is also Montana’s Muzzleloader Heritage season for deer and elk from Dec. 14 through Dec. 22.

As the season wraps up, Montana hunters can thank landowners for access and share stories through an online portal. FWP is offering this opportunity to say thank you to landowners who have provided access and helped to make it a successful hunting season. FWP will collect these expressions of gratitude and share them with the specific landowners at the end of the season. Notes can be submitted online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/thank-a-landowner-2024.

2024 General Hunting Season Numbers for Northwest Montana