Three members of the Winner volleyball team have been named to the Southeast South Dakota all conference team. Named to the team are Ellie Brozik, Kalla Bertram and Mackenzie Levi.
Community member came together Sunday evening to welcome home the Winner High School volleyball team who played in the state tournament.
The Winner Lady Warriors won the SoDak 16 and qualified for the state meet which was held this last weekend in Watertown. The girls played three matches in the Watertown Civic Arena. They lost to Hamlin and Madison and defeated Hill City.
At Sunday’s celebration, coach Jaime Keiser said the team is fortunate to have been able to get this far due to COVID-19.“This is a special team of amazing girls who never cared who got the stats or the credit, all they wanted to do was win,” explained the coach
Keiser said the play at state was a complete team effort.
“The state meet did not go as we were hoping. We were excited to see Hamlin and everyone on this team wishes we could have that match back,” said the coach. “I know these girls could have played a lot better against Hamlin,” she added. “I know how much potential they have and we did not put that full potential into the Hamlin match.
Keiser was proud of how the girls came out against Madison the next day. She said Winner gave 110 percent. The coach added the girls gave 110 percent against Hill City and came up with a win. “I am very honored to have been able to coach these girls. I would not want to coach any other team.” Assistant coach Jenna Phillips spoke along with the five seniors.
The Winner Area Chamber of Commerce banquet is set for Jan. 14.
The Chamber is looking for nominations for year end awards. Nominations are being sought for: business of the year, volunteer of the year, employee of the year, farm and ranch family of the year and the achievement award.
The Chamber is also seeking three new board members. Nominations may be sent to the Chamber office. Persons can email nominations to thechamber@gwtc.net Going off the Chamber board are: Brent Ring, Lee Chytka and Jean Harter Shutt. The theme for this year’s Chamber banquet is “Survivor.”
The speaker will be Holly Hoffman of Sioux Falls. She is best known for competing on the reality television show “Survivor.” She is a motivational speaker and an author. The Chamber board is looking for a location to hold the banquet.
Mike Scott, executive director of the Chamber, says the date of the banquet could change depending on where Tripp County and the state are with COVID-19. If there are a lot of cases in Tripp County in January the date could change.
Two members of the champion
Winner High School football team have been named to the Sioux Falls Argus
Leader Elite 45 football squad.
Brady Fritz and Sam Kruger
were named to the Elite 45 and Preston Norrid was named honorable mention.
Branded by his coach as one
of the fastest players in the state, Fritz was dynamite for the Winner Warriors
in 2020.
Commanding an offense that
does its damage on the ground, he rushed for 499 yards and eight touchdowns on
68 carries but was also effective when called on to pass. He was 23 of 38 for 504 yards.
At free safety, Fritz
intercepted a pass and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown.
“Brady is a real leader and a
quality person off the field,” said coach Trent Olson.
Kruger was the Warriors
leading rusher and receiver this season. On the ground, he logged 810 yards and
12 scores on 105 carries. Through the air he caught five passes for 89 yards
and four touchdowns.
On defense, Sam played SAM
linebacker. “That is the most difficult position in our defense,” said Coach
Olson.
Kruger logged a team high 60
tackles and two forced fumbles.
“We were very balanced on
both offense and defense, but Sam was
our best all around player,” Olson said.
“He has been instrumental in
our success these past couple of seasons,” said Olson.
Norrid, also a senior, was
included in the list of honorable mention.
Six members of the Winner High School football team have been named to the Class 11B all state team. Winner (12-0) is represented by Sam Kruger, Preston Norrid, Bosten Morehart, Kaden Keiser, Charley Pravecek and Brady Fritz.
Winner defeated Bridgewater/Emery-Ethan in the state 11B football championship 18-14. Both teams were powered by dominate offensive lines so it is no surprise that all state linemen were Warriors or Seahawks.
Norrid and Morehart paved the way for Winner’s rushing attack. The seniors were both three year starters while Norrid also played fullback this season.
“Great leader and very versatile player,” said coach Trent Olson about Norrid. “Extremely physical and hard nosed.” Olson said of Morehart: “Stout player in the middle for us on both sides of the ball.” Olson said Morehart was a big part of why Winner was effective in running the ball and stopping the run.
Kruger paced Winner’s ground game with 810 yards and 12 touchdowns. He added four touchdown receptions and 45 tackles. The 6-2 175 pound senior was chosen as the most outstanding back of the state championship.
Olson said Kruger always got the tough yards for Winner. Keiser was selected to the all state team as an athlete. Keiser had 423 yards rushing and seven touchdowns while posting 29 tackles and four interceptions on defense. The junior speedster had close to 300 return yards.“ He had a great postseason for us,” Olson said. “Played big in the biggest games. He had four interceptions in the last three playoff games and made a bunch of big tackles.”
Pravecek was chosen for the defensive line. He had 25.5 tackles and seven sacks to earn all-state defensive line honors. Pravecek was named the outstanding lineman at the Class 11B championship game.“ Excellent two way lineman,” said Olson. “Our most productive defensive lineman. He has good technique and disciple,” said the Winner coach.
Fritz was an all state defensive back while also orchestrating Winner’s offense from his quarterback position. Fritz finished with seven tackles, two fumble recoveries and one pick six. The senior threw for 504 yards and seven touchdowns. He rushed for 499 yards and had 8 touchdowns.
“Incredible athlete with great speed,” said Olson. “Excellent leader. True dual threat QB. He speed and experience at free safety really prevented a lot of big plays for our opponents,” said Olson.
Tripp County Commissioners
approved the purchase of PPE equipment for the ambulance service at the Nov. 24
meeting.
Co-ambulance directors Kathy
Cole and Sissy Orel explained this would
help when transporting patients who have tested positive for COVOD-19.
The equipment would include
head gear and the air filtration system.
The commissioners approved
renewing the contract for the law library. Via conference call, the commissioners heard from lawyer Sandy Steffen
on the need for the library.
Director of equalization
Janiece Weber and three residents who live along Parvin Road attended the
meeting to discuss an address change.
Weber explained she received
a call from the post office about the addresses in that area. To provide for a
correct 911 mapping two of the homes had
their addresses reversed.
Laura Kahler, 4-H youth
advisor, updated the commissioners on activities in her office. She explained
the Mid Dakota Fair was held with some modifications along with holding a 4-H
recognition night with everyone wearing masks and spacing themselves to provide
for social distancing.
Kahler felt fortunate Tripp
County was able to have a fair amidst a pandemic while some counties in the
state were unable to have a fair.
The local federal bridge
program agreement was signed by the commissioners.
Melanie Levi, IT specialist
for the county, recommended the county purchase a Zoom system. Levi explained she had visited with District
3 and they recommended this would be the best system for the county.
A motion was approved to
purchase the system for $2,500.
Custodian Marty Zeigler
presented the maintenance agreement from Kone for work on the courthouse elevator.
The liquor license for
Smokin’ Barrels was renewed.
A discussion was held on
raises for highway maintenance workers. The commissioners approve setting the
salary at $21 per hour effective Nov. 29.
An excessive session was held
for personnel.
The next meeting will be Dec.
8 at 1 p.m. The commissioners are
meeting in the afternoon due to a training session for all county employees
later that day.
The Winner Regional Health Holiday Festival will feature an online auction Dec. 3 through Dec. 5.
The auction will start on
Dec. 3 at 12 p.m. and go through Dec. 5 at 5 p.m.
Auction items can be viewed
at Charityauctionsonline.com
Normally, a dinner and a live and silent auction are held at St. Mary’s Hall the first Saturday in December. However, due to the current pandemic the foundation board felt it would be best to have an on line auction this year.
Proceeds from the auction will go toward items needed by the healthcare center.
Returning state champions
plus a lot of depth will fuel the Winner Area wrestling team this season.
The Warriors finished runner up to Canton in both the dual and individual state meet a year ago.
Returning lettermen are Aaron Gilchrist, Jude Sargent, Maxton Brozik, Kaleb Osborn, Karson Keiser, Charley Pravecek, Kamryn Meek, Stetson Shelbourn, Preston Norrid, Joey Cole, Sam Kruger, Jack Kruger, Riley Orel, Kaden Keiser, Adam Bohnet, Konnor Osborn and Achilles Willuweit.
Warriors lost to graduation are Trevor Peters, Cailob Week and Landon Debus.
There are 18 athletes on the
team with three seniors—Gilchrist, Sam Kruger and Norrid.
Winner will open the season
Dec. 4 in a triangular in Parkston. The Warriors will wrestle Parkson and
Warner/Northwestern. On the road a lot the first part of the season, Winner
does not have a home match until Jan. 22.
The returning state placers
are Kaden Keiser and Sam Kruger. Riley Orel and Achilles Willuweit took second
place at state while Jack Peters and Norrid took fourth.
Kaleb Osborn placed fifth.
Gilchrist, Pravecek and Brozik all attended state and gained valuable experience. Coach Spencer Novotny says Winner will have a solid team. The strength of the team will be its leadership and depth. Novotny says the team works hard in practice and push each other. “We have a lot of kids who do not like
to loose even in practice so things get competitive in practice,” said Novotny.
“We are fortunate we have
enough kids out and that adds to our depth.”
Practice started Nov. 23 and
the team went right to work. The coach said they did a lot of drills and some
cardio work.
On Nov. 25 they team went live with wrestling for 23
minutes.
Novotny looks at the top teams
in Class B to be Canton. “Everyone is chasing Canton and hopefully we are up
there at the top,” said the coach.
He noted there are a lot of
teams in Winner’s region who will be strong this year.
This will be a different year
for the Warriors as they make their way through a pandemic. A year ago, the
state tournament was able to be completed before COVID-19 hit.
The South Dakota High School
Activities Association has made recommendations on how to conduct winter sports
including wrestling.
Wrestling will be one sport
that will have a lot of changes.
Novotny says the activities
association is recommending that all who attend a wreslting match wear a mask.
Among the mandatory changes
is limiting tournaments to no more
than eight man brackets and 112
wrestlers in a tournament.
Teams are required to have
pods of athletes during practice. This is to limit exposure and help lower the
spread of COVID-19.
Right row Winner has five
pods and only those wrestlers in a certain pod wrestle each other. As an example,
a wrestler in pod 1 cannot cross over and wrestle a teammate in pod 2. “If we
intermingle pods that will give us more exposure to the virus,” explained the
coach.
If a wrestler tests positive
for COVID-19 then only that pod would be considered for exposure and the rest
of the pods could compete. That is the reason for the pods. If there were no
pods and a wrestler tests positive the entire team would be considered for exposure.
Novotny said a wrestler can
only wrestle a maximum of four matches per day.
Also, there can only be two
weigh ins a week.
Novotny added the team bench
is a little different. “We cannot sit in a pile any more we have to spread out
for social distancing.”
Novotny added: “We are
battling some things we have not had to worry about. We are going to keep on
going and hopefully we all stay healthy.”
The Winner area wrestling
schedule includes:
Dec. 4—at Parkston
Dec. 10—Burke/ Gregory and Wagner at Wagner
Dec. 12—Gregory Tournament
Dec. 18—Valentine dual
tournament
Jan. 2—MCM invite in Salem
Jan. 12—at Stanley County
Jan. 16—Tri Valley Tournament
in Colton
Jan. 19—Valentine and O’Neill
in O’Neill
Jan. 22—Kimball/White Lake
and Platte/Geddes in Winner
Diane Rae (Haukaas) Cahoy, 72, of Colome, South Dakota, passed away Monday, Nov. 23, 2020 in Yankton, SD.
Funeral services were held Nov. 27 at St. Isidore Catholic Church in Colome. Burial was in the Colome Cemetery.
Diane was born on Aug. 27, 1948, in Winner, SD, to Lowell and Dorothy (Wales) Haukaas. She grew up on the family farm south of Colome where she attended country school until the eighth grade. She attended her freshman year of high school in San Fernando, CA, while staying with her sister and family. Her sophomore year was spent at the Sunshine Bible Academy near Miller, SD. Diane then went on to attend Colome High School her junior and senior year, graduating in 1966. It was during her junior year of high school, where she met the love of her life, Larry. They were united in marriage on Jan. 28, 1966, during their senior year. After getting married and graduating high school, they lived on the Cahoy family farm along with Larry’s parents. In January of 1967, they tried to be “city people” and moved to southern California. They soon realized they were “country folk” and moved back to the farm south of Colome where they lived a majority of her life until they moved to town in 2000. While on the farm, they were blessed with six children: Thomas, Nicole, Martin, Jennifer, Daniel and Timothy.
Diane always had a big garden and spent many hours canning her produce. She would raise chickens and butcher them with the help from family. She also loved working on the farm along with Larry while she still cooked huge meals for her family and hired help along with any of the kids’ friends that would be at the house. She taught her daughters at a young age how to cook and they would spend countless hours together in the kitchen. Along with her vegetable garden, she loved planting flowers and was very fond of her roses. Diane enjoyed watching the children participate in their many activities and sporting events where she usually had her camera along and was snapping pictures of them and their teammates. She made it to as many of the grandchildren’s events as she was able and enjoyed being able to watch them online when she was unable to attend in person.
Diane fought with many health issues in the latter half of her life with the main ones being depression, fibromyalgia, and Parkinson’s. When she contracted the Covid-19 virus, her health was already compromised and she fought as hard as she was able, but the good Lord took her home where she is no longer in pain.
Those thankful for being a part of her life are her husband of 54 years, Larry; her six children and their spouses: Thomas (Terri Lee), Nicole (Randy Richey), Martin (Erin), Jennifer (Kelly Dougherty), Daniel (Janet) and Timothy (Karen); 26 grandchildren: Will, Wyatt and Westlie Cahoy, Austin (Katie), Emily and Alexis Richey, Amanda (Josh Atanasu), Kennady (Nate Schroeder),Sam, Ty and Tate Cahoy, Kirstin (Jerrel Tyburec), Dakota (Esther), Jamin, Cheyenne, and Devan Dougherty, Eric, Chelsea, Brittany (Taylor Ernster) and Dustin Pravecek, Harley, Brooklynn and Bo Cahoy; eleven great-grandchildren: Adalynn and Lena Atanasu, Hunter Kahler, Maize, Lettie, and Troian Tyburec, Tegan Dougherty, Braxton Pravecek, Tanner Smith and Haevyn Pravecek and Avery Ernster; sisters Joan (George) France of Post Falls, ID, and Carol (Dale) Jackson of Escondido, CA; brother Marlin (Marilyn) Haukaas of Colome, SD; sisters-in-law Nel McCravy of Killen, AL, Pam Haukaas of Colome and Joyce (Virgil) Hagel of Gordon, NE; brother-in-law Bill Bortels along with numerous nieces and nephews and friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents Lowell and Dorothy Haukaas, in-laws Martin and Bernice Cahoy, her brothers Donnie Dean Haukaas and Gary Haukaas, sister Kay Bortels, sisters-in-law Deloris (Cahoy) Johnson Skogen and Marlene Cahoy, brothers-in-law Donald Cahoy, Les Kirsch, Don McCravy, Ray Skogen, Larry Lapour and Dick Johnson, and granddaughter Shauna Pravecek.