Butte's Crew O'Connor, Mattie Stepan are Intermountain Health Athletes of the Week

The Montana Standard has partnered with Intermountain Health to honor a Butte area boys and girls high school athlete of the week each week throughout the 2025-26 high school sports season.

This week’s Intermountain Health Boys Athlete of the Week is Butte’s Crew O’Connor.

O’Connor reached the final match at the all-class wrestling state tournament this past weekend in the 103-pound weight class. The eighth-grader went through the bracket of a strong Class AA pool, but his hardest test was the final match. Not only was he vying for the state title, but he was vying for the state title against his fellow Bulldog, freshman Renzy LeProwse.

In the end, O'Connor ended up notching the 7-1 victory via pin in four minutes, 59 seconds.

Not only did O’Connor end up getting the state title at 103 pounds in the Class AA division, he also became the first Bulldog to win a wrestling state title, making Butte history.

Butte’s dominance throughout the weekend was on full display. After the second day of semifinals heading into the championship bracket, Butte was in third place as a team with 136 points. The Bulldogs were behind Class AA wrestling powerhouses Billings West and Kalispell Flathead.

In the end, Butte ended up earning fourth with a score of 183.

For his historical showing on the mat for Butte at the state wrestling tournament, Crew O’Connor is this week’s Intermountain Health Boys Athlete of the Week.

Butte’s Mattie Stepan is this week’s Intermountain Health Girls Athlete of the Week.

The senior finished fourth overall at the state tournament in the 155-pound weight class, ultimately falling to Ronan’s Leona Dodson Howe. Stepan earned 20 points overall for the Bulldog girls throughout the weekend.

Stepan battled through a tough Class AA girls bracket, securing wins against Great Falls CMR’s Kailynn Kramer, Shepherd’s Brooke Werth and Billings Senior’s Soraya Shirley.

The Butte girls ended up earning 19th place overall, with Stepan notching 20 of the Bulldogs’ total 54 points.

Stepan wraps up her high school wrestling career which saw her place all four years of high school: fourth place as a freshman, sixth as a sophomore, fourth as a junior and now fourth as a senior.

For her highly successful high school wrestling career coming to a close on a high note, Mattie Stepan is this week’s Intermountain Health Girls Athlete of the Week.