Category Archives: Local

Two men were charged with assault after allegedly jumping another man in Winner.

Sammuel Old Lodge, 19, and Brennan Tunnissen, 21, both of Winner, were charged with two counts of aggravated assault.

According to court documents, a Winner police officer was flagged down by two men, one of whom had a bloody face.

Enroute to the hospital, the man allegedly told the officer he was jumped by Old Lodge and Tunnissen outside a Fourth Street residence in Winner.

The man said Old Lodge placed him in a choke hold while Tunnissen punched him in the face until the man became unconscious, court documents state.

The alleged victim suffered a laceration and fractured bone near his left eye, as well as bruising and swelling on his head and face.

Old Lodge and Tunnissen were both charged with two counts of aggravated assault, a Class 3 felony, punishable upon conviction by up to 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine. Old Lodge has since pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The second weekend of the regional high school rodeo was held in Ft. Pierre June 9, 10 and 11.

All contestants who have accumulated three points advance to the state finals to be held in Belle Fourche.

In Ft Pierre, the all around cowboys was Blasius Steffen of Gregory and Myles Kenzy of Iona was the runner –up.
The team trophy was won by Kadoka High School.

Results of area cowboys and cowgirls on Saturday include:

Boys cutting—Wiley Heath, Colome, 1st, 70; Blasius Steffen, Gregory, 2nd, 69; Myles Kenzy, Iona, 5tha, 64 Trayer Schmidt, White River, 6th, 62
Goat tying—Lainee Schonebaum, Burke, 8th, :10.6
Reined cow horse—Kenzy, 1st, 145; Steffen, 2nd, 143; Heath, 4th, 138; Schmidt, 5th, 137; Dawson Phillips, Winner, 6th, 125
Saddle bronc—Kolton Salonen, Gregory, 3rd, 66
Team roping-Beau Dean and Wiley Heath, 1st, :14.08; Kenzy and Steffen, 5th, :25
Tie down—Steffen, 1st, :11.52
Results of the Sunday rodeo include:
Barrel racing—Savannah Krogman, White River, 8th, :17.345
Breakaway roping—Krogman, 1st, :2.930
Boys cutting—Kenzy, 1st, 72; Wiley Heath, 2nd, 70; Schmidt, 5th, 64
Reined cow horse—Steffen, 1st, 146; Kenzy, 2nd, 143; Heath, 4th, 140; Schmidt, 5th, 138; Phillips, 6th, 129
Saddle bronc—Salonen, 1st, 75
Team roping—Phillips and Kade Starr, 2nd, :11.55; Kenzy/Steffen, 5th, :29.610
Tie down—Kenzy, 3rd, :12.77; Heath, 4th, :13.5; Steffen 5th, :14.74

Greg Sherman, teacher at Colome High School, was recently featured in a Mitchell Daily Republic special section honoring 2017 Teachers of the Year.

Sherman, who recently retired, taught 7-12 social studies.

He has taught school in Colome for 43 years.

Sherman said the one thing that he has enjoyed the most about teaching is the daily interaction with students. “Students are fun to interact with as they provide a daily challenge to myself and to every educator. I can honestly say I’ve never had a boring day teaching as no two days of teaching are exactly alike. Teacher-student interaction keeps me young, driven and excited to teach.

Supt. Ryan Orrock said “Sherman is one of those teachers that every student wants to have. He brings the passion into his teaching and holds them accountable for their learning. The biggest thing is that he is consistent and genuinely cares. That goes a long way with students.”

By Dan Bechtold, Editor

Lesley Soles is the new summer assistant at the Tripp County 4-H office.

Soles is no stranger to Tripp County 4-H as she is a hometown girl. Soles is the daughter of Shawn and Russ Soles of Winner and the college student graduated from Winner High School in 2015.

Soles attends South Dakota State University in Brookings where she is an ag education major.

She wanted to work this summer in her hometown. When her college advisor told her about the opening Soles applied and was hired.

She started work the end of May and will work until Aug, 15.

So far this summer, she has been doing a little bit of everything. There are a lot of workshops planned for the summer and Soles is either conducting the workshops or assisting the instructors.

So far she has helped with a grilling workshop where youths learned the basics of meat science and food safety and how they apply to grilling the perfect steak.

On June 8, Soles assisted with a cupcake decorating workshop. The summer assistant will conduct a workshop on growing crafts, making coasters and making bath mats out of old towels.

For 11 years, Soles was a member of the Clovervale 4-H Club and says this will help her when she is instructing youth. “I like working with kids and seeing how they progress,” she said.

Her experience in 4-H included showing animals and she is looking forward to helping with this year’s Mid Dakota Fair in Winner.

This summer, she is helping the local 4-H office staff get ready for the horse show and the fair.

While in high school, Soles was active in Future Farmers of America and is a member of the collegiate FFA. She is also a member of the Sigma Alpha sorority, a professional agriculture sorority.

Soles will graduate from college in May of 2019. After she graduates, she would like to be an ag teacher for a couple of years. “I want to show people the importance of agriculture and why it is so important in our community,” she said.

The variety of work will keep Soles busy this summer.

Dr. Mary Carpenter of Winner was elected as a delegate to the American Medical Association at the annual meeting of the South Dakota Medical Association.

Winner/Colome high school trap team took sixth place at the state meet in Aberdeen on June 10.

Individual placers were Katie Welker, placing third in the junior varsity female division.

In the conference in the male division, Chet Bryan was second and in the female division Jaynee Gregg was first and Welker, 2nd.

Tawny Barry of Carter has been named to the dean’s list at Eastern New Mexico University for the spring semester. Tawny Barry of Carter graduated from Eastern New Mexico University on May 13.

Area students have been named to the dean’s list at Chadron State College.  Named to the list are Jessica Olson of Ideal and Rylee Rutten of Colome.

Kirby Bertram of Winner graduated from the University of North Georgia.  She earned a master of science in health and physical education.

Tripp County authorities responded to a call of a shooting in the northwest part of the county on June 10.

Three prairie dog hunters from Iowa were hunting in a pasture. A 17 year old was accidently shot in the head and died from the injuries he sustained.

Responding to the accident were Tripp County Ambulance, Tripp County Sheriff’s office, South Dakota Game Fish and Parks and South Dakota DCI.

Brad Schramm received the Friend of Baseball award at the state Class B tournament in Sioux Falls on May 29.

Schramm has been the life blood of South Dakota High School Baseball since its inception, serving on the original committee that brought baseball club status in this state.

He was responsible for helping form the Winner-Colome Royals in high school baseball’s inaugural year. He has been an active member of Winner baseball his entire life.

In 2004, the South Dakota High School Baseball Association formally organized, electing Schramm as its first president and executive director. He served in that role for 12 seasons before retiring this past fall. During his time at the helm, he was instrumental in instituting a pitch count limit and transitioning from aluminum to wood bats, two of the most significant changes to high school baseball since its inception in 2001.

Under Brad’s leadership, high school baseball flourished with over 52 teams representing 80 different schools across the state.

For all of the time and effort given to the advancement of South Dakota High School Baseball, the SDHSBA board of directors named Schramm the 2017 SDHSBA Friend of Baseball.

“Thank you Brad for all you have done. It is greatly appreciated by more people than you will ever know,” said a board member.

With great success comes lofty expectations.

For Winner, its 85-5 record since joining 11B in 2009 has raised the bar to the “downright implausible” range.

“Quite honestly, I think some of the expectations were very unrealistic at times,” coach Dan Aaker said in November. “Some people think that you just show up and that’s all you have to do. Our guys know better than that… That’s probably what I’m proudest of this group for is how they’ve handled that and just focused on having a good season.”

But no matter the standard you set for the Warriors, their performance in 2016 was nothing short of remarkable.

In claiming its second consecutive state title, Winner, which has won 24 consecutive games, surrendered a total of 35 points, whilst allowing fewer than 100 total yards per game.

But that’s not to say there weren’t challenges.

In late October, the Warriors lost a teammate, junior offensive lineman/linebacker Taylor Watzel, to an accident on the family farm.

“We had some tough things to deal with these last couple weeks,” senior Cameron Kuil said following the state championship game in November. “It brought us together as a team and as a community. We knew what we were playing for and who we were playing for. Taylor Watzel was a teammate and a friend.”

Though it paled in comparison to the heartbreak of losing a teammate, Winner faced adversity on the field, as well.
In the 11B semifinals, Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan became the first team in two years to take a lead on the defending state champs, kicking through a field goal early in the first quarter.

Six minutes later, the Warriors retaliated with the first of three unanswered touchdowns.

“We’ve definitely had a tough road to get back and that’s what we needed – to get challenged, to see the best,” Aaker said. “I think our guys have embraced that, too. They’re the type of crew that wants a challenge. They’re not going to back away from competition.”

At the DakotaDome, the Warriors put the final exclamation point on their phenomenal season, racking up 438 total yards in a 54-0 dismantling of Groton Area.

“We tried to stay humble all the time,” said senior running back Cameron Kuil, who caught three passes for 105 yards and ran nine times for 59 yards in the finale. “We know we have a great football team. People hold us to a higher level and we wanted to reach that level.”

Kuil was one of nine Warriors to crack the 11B All-State team. He was joined by Drew DeMers, Jayden Schroeder, Jordan Turgeon, Wyatt Ewing, Isaac Naasz, Krockett Krolikowski, Chase Kingsbury and Kayleb Brozik.

Kuil and Krolikowski, both of whom are headed to SDSU next season (Kuil for track), were also Elite 45 selections.

“That’s just a great 11-man football team, it doesn’t matter what class you’re talking about,” Groton Area coach Shaun Warner said following the 11B championship. “At least one division up and probably more, they’d be a great team.”