Category Archives: Sports

Winner places sixth at state

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By Dan Bechtold

Editor

For any athlete playing in a state tournament is a highlight of their season and something they will always remember.

This season the Winner boys took a 22-1 record into the state tournament which was played in Rapid City.

Not only were they playing on a bigger stage before huge crows, they were also part of history. This Winner boys team will always be remembered for playing in the first state meet at the new Summit Arena at The Monument. 

The Warriors opened tournament play playing Sioux Valley.

After trailing by as many as 14 points Winner roared back and came close to defeating Sioux Valley. The Warriors lost the game 58-54.

Winner outscored the opposition 16-8 in the fourth quarter and cut its deficit to 54-52 on a pair of free throws by Blake Volmer with 11.6 seconds to play.
Winner cut the score to 56-54 with 5.3 seconds left on a Volmer layup but another foul send Sioux Valley to the line to put the game on ice.

The Warriors shot 41 percent from the field and were 7 of 18 from the free throw line.

Volmer was the leading scorer with 22 points. Ethan Bartels and Jackson Vesely each added 8 and Aiden Barfuss, 7.

Volmer pulled down 9 rebounds. Shawn Hammerbeck had 7, Bartels, 4 and Slade Cournoyer, 3.

Bartels and Cournoyer each had 3 assists.

Barfuss had 3 steals.

Volmer and Vesely each had a man maker.

Coach Brett Gardner said the state tournament  is such a fun and exciting experience.
“Our guys battled till the very end. We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole but never gave up. We had the ball down to one possession with less than 10 seconds to go after being down 14 in the fourth quarter,” said the coach.

“We are so proud of our guys for not giving up and continuing to give ourselves a chance in the fourth quarter.”

The loss put the Warriors in the afternoon session.

Friday Winner played strong and defeated Lakota Tech 60-53.

Volmer scored 14 points and Barfuss, 13. Also scoring were Bartels, 9; Hammerbeck, Elijah Peterson, Cournoyer and Vesely all had 6.

Big on the boards, Volmer pulled down 15 rebounds. Cournoyer and Hammerbeck each had 6, Bartels, 5 and Barfuss, 3.

Peterson had 3 assists.

   “We were able to pull out a nice victory. We always say losing the first round is so hard on the student-athletes and that round  2 is all about character. Our guys were able to show pride and come out on top against a good Lakota Tech team.”
In the consolation finals on Saturday, Winner fell to Sioux Falls Christian 67-52.

Winner shot 35 percent from the field and 41 percent from the free throw line.

Volmer scored 19 points, Cournoyer, 13 and Bartels, 7.

Volmer had 9 rebounds, Cournoyer, Bartels and Barfuss, 4 each.

Coming in with two assists were Volmer, Cournoyer and Hammerbeck.

Bartels had 3 steals.

Vesely had 1 manmaker.

“We came up short in the consolation championship but it wasn’t for lack of effort. Our guys put up maximum effort. We are so proud of the way we represented the program, the team and the community. We played with heart and pride all three games,” said Gardner.

Blake Volmer was named  to the all tournament team.

Campbell wins second straight weight throw title

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Colome High School graduate Matthew Campbell, a thrower for Doane University, claimed the NAIA indoor weight throw national championship for a second consecutive year on March 4 on the campus of South Dakota State University.

Campbell, who now calls Ainsworth, Neb., home, was seeking to become the first repeat champion in the men’s NAIA weight throw since 2017.

Campbell won the event with a throw of 68 feet-7.25 inches to open the final round. The throw was his third personal best of the day.

Campbell, who previously competed for Dakota Wesleyan University, won the national title in 2021 with a throw of 66 feet, 7 inches.

Campbell’s victory gave Doane their first two time champion in the weight throw and gave the Great Plains Athletic Conference its 11th weight throw national title.

Competing on March 5, Campbell was also in the shot put posting a throw of 53 feet, 7 inches, missing out on All-American honors by one place with a ninth place finish.

Late game push falls short for Lady Warriors

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In a defensive battle, Wagner took a narrow 36-33 victory over Winner girls basketball team in a SoDak game played in Mitchell on March 1.

Behind  a strong third quarter effort, the top seeded Red Raiders built a 13 point lead it used to hold off a late rally by the Lady Warriors. Winner came on strong making the final push to punch their ticket to the state tournament.

Winner cut the lead to four points (32-28 Wagner) on two free throws by Ellie Brozik.
With 1.3 seconds left in the game Wagner hung on to that three point lead.

The game was tied at 8 at the end of the first quarter.  In the second quarter, Winner was held to 3 points and six points in the third quarter.

Bella Swedlund scored 18 points. Kelsey Sachtjen and Ellie Brozik each had 6 points.

Winner shot 20 percent from the field and Wagner shot 41 percent.

At the free throw line, Winner made 11 of 16 shots for 68 percent.

Sachtjen pulled down 8 rebounds and Swedlund, 3.

Brozik led the team with 5 steals and Swedlund had 3.
Winner won the turnover battle giving the ball away eight times.

Winner ended the season with a 14-9 record.

Cowboys end season

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Colome boys basketball team was defeated 49-40 by Tripp-Delmont/Armour/Andes Central-Dakota Christian in post season play on Feb. 28.
The loss ended the season for the Cowboys.

Joseph Laprath scored 21 points to lead the Cowboys.

Billy Looking Cloud added 10 points and Caden Munroe, 6.

Colome shot 33 percent from the field and made 7 of 13 free throws for 54 percent.

Colome was outrebounded 33-27. Munroe pulled down 10 rebounds and Alec Thieman, 7.