Category Archives: Sports

BankWest Chairman, President and CEO Charles H. Burke III recently announced 16 students from across South Dakota were awarded BankWest Scholarships for the 2016-17 school year. Each student will receive a $1,500 scholarship to pursue post-secondary education.
“Awarding scholarships to these students is a sincere pleasure,” Burke said. “These students exhibit strong leadership skills, academic excellence and a passion for their communities. They truly understand the concept of leading by example, and we are pleased to assist with their academic pursuits.”

Among the recipients is Colby Curtis of Winner.

Curtis, son of Craig and Lisa Curtis of Winner, is a senior at Winner High School. He plans to attend the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, where his major course of study will be pre-physician assistant. Colby said his interest in becoming a physician assistant was sparked by his local role model, Chris Snavely, a physician assistant in Winner. His proudest accomplishment to date was qualifying for the state wrestling tournament where he placed fifth.

Winner had four state champions at the AAU tournament this weekend in Aberdeen.

First place winners were Kylah Biggins, Maxton Brozik, Riley Shippy and Kaden Keiser.

Brozik and Keiser are back to back state champs.

Chloe Bartels won the mile run at the Bill Pistulka track meet Saturday in Winner. Bartels took first place in 5:46.9. For the first time, Bartels ran the 300 hurdles and took 5th place in :56.2.

The Bill Pistulka family was in Winner for the meet and Betty Pistulka Sattler sang the national anthem.

The late Bill Pistulka was a teacher and coach in the Winner School District. He was the head track coach and athletic director.

Bill Pistulka’s granddaughter, Kristin Pistulka, who is a senior at Mitchell High School, ran the 200 and 400 at Saturday’s meet. She placed second in both races. As a senior, Pistulka wanted to run in the Winner meet named after her grandfather. Pistulka has a track scholarship to South Dakota State University.

No team points were kept.

Kelly O’Bryan of Colome won the triple jump and Matt Campbell won the shot put at the Bill Pistulka track meet in Winner on Saturday.

The next meet for Colome will be April 14 in Menno.

Winner High School boys track team placed fourth at the Gregory Invitational on March 29.   Gregory won the boys division.

The Winner High School girls placed sixth with Kimball/White Lake taking the championship.

This was the opening track meet of the season for the Winner squads.

Matt Campbell of the Colome track team qualified for the state meet in both the shot put and discus at the first meet of the season.

The Colome junior won first place in both the shot put and discus at the Gregory Invitational on March 29.

Campbell won the shot put with a throw of 50-7 and the discus with a throw of 151-8.

The Cowboys placed sixth with 44 points.

Allison Cox, standout basketball player for the Winner Lady Warriors, has been nominated for the Miss Basketball award.

The Hanson Anderson Mr. and Miss Basketball ceremony will be held May 1 in Sioux Falls at the Ramkota Inn. The luncheon will start at noon followed by the awards presentation.

From the group nominated will come one individual deemed the best male and female prep basketball player in South Dakota.

Cox, a first team all-state selection, helped the Lady Warriors to a runner-up spot in the state basketball tournament.  Also a Miss Basketball candidate is Anna Goodhope, daughter of former Winner residents Sam and Laura Goodhope.

Selected as a Mr. Basketball candidate is Brevin Kaiser, Pierre, son of Bill and Kim Kaiser, formerly of Winner.

Allison Cox of the Winner girls basketball team has been named to the first team Class A all state team.

Cox led the Winner Lady Warriors to victories over West Central and Webster Area in the state tournament before falling to St. Thomas More in the title game.

The 5-8 guard was a consistent all around player who averaged 15.8 points per game shooting 46 percent from the field.

“Allison is a very well rounded and versatile player,” said Winner coach Larry Aaker. “She is able to play all five positions on the floor whether it be playing point guard to break the press or taking advantage of mismatches in the post,” said Aaker.

“One of her strongest qualities is rebounding on both ends of the floor.”

Two Winner basketball players have been chosen to participate in the South Dakota Basketball Coaches Association/Sanford Pentagon all-star games on April 10.

In the girls game, Allison Cox will play on the white team.  Larry Aaker, Winner High School girls basketball coach, will coach the white team.

On the boys side, Devon Leiferman will play for the white team.

The girls game will begin at 1 p.m. in the Pentagon and the boys game will follow at 3 p.m.

There are several lettermen returning on the Winner High School boys and girls track teams.

Returning letterwinners for the girls are: Chloe Bartels, Calah Covey, Hayley Halverson, Sierra Hanson, Gabriel Kocer, Kyran Meek, Alexis Richey, Samantha Schuyler and Tedra Vrbka.

The returning lettermen for the boys are: Kayleb Brozik, Riley Calhoon, Drew DeMers, Luke Engel, John Kludt, Cameron Kuil, Izak Moleterno, Isaac Naasz, Nolan Sachtjen, Jayden Schroeder and Ryan Sherman.