Category Archives: Sports

Reed Harter and Holden Thieman of the Colome boys basketball team have been named to the SCC Conference all-conference team.

Winner High School boys basketball team made history when they took third place at the State A tournament Saturday in Rapid City.

The Warriors defeated Little Wound 60-54 in the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in the third place game.

Two members of the Winner team were named to the all-tournament team. Chosen for the honor squad were seniors Brendan Harter and Nathan Galbraith.

In the first quarter, Little Wound bolted to a 17-9 lead. However, in the second quarter Winner scored 27 points and limited the Mustangs to just seven points to take a 36-24 lead at halftime.

“We were able to get some steals on our press that led to buckets and we were able to get some points that were key and a big lead at halftime,” said coach Brett Gardner.

After Winner stretched its lead to 41-27 in the third quarter, Little Wound came roaring back and cut the Warriors lead to five 48-43. Sam Naasz  scored two baskets to extend the Winner lead to 52-43. Little Wound rallied again drawing within three 55-52 with 1:20 remaining in the game.

A basket by Lattrell Terkildsen gave Winner a 57-54 lead with 50 seconds remaining.

With 17 seconds left both Brendan Harter and Terkildren made the two biggest free throws of their lives.

Harter hit  the front end of  two shots and Terkildsen was at the line with 7 seconds left making the first of two shots to seal the victory.

The huge Winner crowd was on hits feet in the final 23 seconds cheering on the home town team.

“We did not play as well as we should have in the second half but we won the game and that is what matters,” said senior Nathan Galbraith.

The senior said the key to Winner’s victory was that they were able to box out Little Wound’s 7 foot player.

Sam Naasz added after the game that the Warriors were not going to settle for fourth place. “We were not going to step off the  court without getting a third place trophy,” he said.

Leading the scoring for Winner in this game was Harter with 16 points, Galbraith, 14 and Sam Naasz, 12.

Harter had 9 rebounds and Galbraith, 7. Galbriath had 5 assists with Nick Hossle and Naasz added 3 each.

“My team trusted me to guard the seven footer and I went out and did my best to try and stop him,” said Harter.

“All year our saying was that our offense would come if we take care of the defensive end,” said coach Brett Gardner.

“We are so proud of the boys for what they have done. We wanted to end with a win,” said Gardner. “We have a great group of boys who would not quit. They wanted this so bad, especially the seniors.”

The coach said this team will leave a legacy at Winner High School.

The Warriors entered the state tournament as the Region 6A  champions after defeating Cheyenne-Eagle Butte in overtime.

In Winner’s first game of the state meet on Thursday they defeated St Thomas More 54-42. This is the first time Winner has won a first round game in a state tournament.

The Warriors outscored the Cavaliers 20-9 in the third quarter to take care of the game.

Harter led the Warriors in scoring with 17 points and Galbraith added 14.

Winner led 20-17 at the half. The second half of the game was all Winner on both sides of the ball.

Winner shot 40 percent from the field and 50 percent from the free throw line.

“We defended the whole time. If you can hold a team like St. Thomas More to 44 points you are doing a good job,” said Gardner.

The coach said Harter did what he had to do and played a monster game. Gardner added Galbraith went to the rim and got the Warriors some points. Sam Naasz defended their best player and chipped in 12 points.

The coach added Terkildsen, Hossle and Devon Leiferman played valuable minutes.

The coach said the team really stepped it up in the second half playing right way, the Warrior way.

Harter said after the St. Thomas More game that this team wanted to do something that no other Winner team has every done and that is to win a first round game.

Galbraith added the key to the victory was defense.

The senior was excited as the points added up on the Winner side of the scoreboard. “Holy cow, we are going to win this game and do something that no other Winner team has every done,” said Galbraith.

But with four minutes left in  the game, Galbraith knew that the Winner could not let up. “We kept playing as  hard as we could.”

Friday morning the Warriors had a shoot around at the South Dakota School of Mines gym to get ready for the semifinals where they faced Dell Rapids.

In a hard fought game, Dell Rapids edged Winner 52-47 Friday night.

A tight game throughout, the Quarriers biggest lead was seven points in the second half after trailing by four at the end of the first period.

The game went down to the wire with Winner having a final shot to possibly tie the game, only to turn the ball over in the finals seconds.

Dell Rapids led 25-21 at the half and it was close at the end of three quarters with Dells on top 35-32.

Galbraith led all scorers with 22 points and Leiferman added 11 points. Harter had 8 points and Terkildsen, 6.

Galbraith pulled down 10 rebounds and Harter, 8.

Winner was 17 of 55 from the field for 33 percent and 7 of 12 for 58 percent from the line.

In the fourth quarter, Winner cut the lead by three (41-38) with 3:44 left on a Galbraith three pointer and a free throw by Harter.

It was still a three point game before Dells made a three point shot and extended its lead to six. Winner cut it to 3 again on a Galbraith 3 pointer.

Trailing by five later in this period, Terkildsen made a pair of free throws with 23 seconds left.

The Warriors got the ball back when Dell Rapids was called for a foul on an in-bounds pass.

Winner missed a short jumper and then missed a three pointer to tie the game.

Galbraith said the loss really hit the Winner team in the heart.  “We picked each other up with the help of the coaching staff and moved forward. We knew we had another game to play,” said the senior.

Jayd Docken of Winner, an Augustana College wrestler, added to his list of accomplishments by placing sixth at the NCAA Division II wrestling championships.

The senior 195 pound wrestler became an All-American for the second time. In his career, Docken was a four time national qualifier and had a record of 95-33.

“He’s done a lot for our program,” said coach Jason Reitmeier. “It’s extremely difficult to do what he’s done. Even getting out of our region is touch. What he has done is pretty impressive,” said Reitmeier.

The coach said at the national tournament in St. Louis, Docken was able to put a string of good matches together. “Once you get so far into the tournament it’s really difficult and tense,” said Reitmeier. “One takedown decides the match and we weren’t able to get that.”

In Docken’s sophomore year, a season that he also earned All-American, he also took sixth.

“Jayd’s been one of those guys who leads by example,” said the coach. “You can’t replace him and he’s going to do a lot in the future.”

Reitmeier noted Docken has done wonders for the wrestling program at Augie in terms of recruiting.

“It helps having South Dakota kids doing well and it just shows how good South Dakota wrestling really is,” said the coach.

The first track meet of the season will be held March 27 in Winner as the Warriors host the  Bill Pistulka Invitational track meet.

The field events will start at noon and the running events at 2 p.m. This is a state qualifying meet.

Teams invited to the meet are: Chamberlain, Colome, Todd County, Bennett County, Kadoka, Philip, Wall, Jones County, Stanley County, White River, Crazy Horse and Kimball-White Lake.

The University of Sioux Falls baseball team dropped a doubleheader to Concordia-Irvine, Calif. The game was played on March 17 in California.

The Cougars trailed 1-0 early before taking a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning on a two run double by Austin Richey of Winner.

The Cougars lost the first game 4-3 and lost the second game 14-11.

In the second game, Richey had a RBI single to score a USF base runner.

Excitement was on the faces of the Winner High School boys basketball team as Brendan Harter powered his way to the basket to give the Warriors a 63-62 overtime victory over Cheyenne-Eagle Butte in the Region 6A championship last Tuesday in Pierre.

The victory propelled the Warriors into the State A tournament which starts March 19 in Rapid City.

Winner, the No. 2 seed, will play the No. 7 seed St. Thomas More at 7 p.m. on March 19 in the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. The Warriors take a 21-1 record into the state tournament.

The Region 6A championship was an electrifying atmosphere in the Pierre Riggs gym.

The Warriors had a 10 point lead with 6 minutes remaining in the game but CEB clawed their way back to tie the game at 57-all at the end of regulation.

The Warriors continued to battle in the overtime and it stated off with two free throws by Lattrel Terkildsen.

“We are so proud of our student athletes for showing some guts and coming away with a tight victory in one of the most exciting games and atmosphere in a  long time,” said coach Brett Gardner.

“Our seniors, juniors and sophomores all stepped up and made plays when they needed to be made,” said the coach.

The winning basket was made by Harter who powered his way to the basket with 9 seconds left in the game. CEB took the rebound and took two shots that did not fall into the hoop. The Warriors fans were ecstatic since the team was bound to the state tournament.

Harter led Winner in scoring with 26 points followed by Nathan Galbraith with 11, Terkildsen, 9 and Devon Leiferman, 9.

Winner led 18-14 at the end of the first quarter and at the half led 35-32.

Late in the third quarter, CEB took the lead 42-41 but Winner came up with key shots to lead 49-44 at the end of the third period.

The Warriors were 22 of 37 from the two point range and 4 of 19 from the three point line.

At the free throw line, Winner connected on 7 of 16 shots.

Harter pulled down 12 rebounds, Galbraith, 11 and Leiferman, 4.

Galbraith had 6 assists.

Gardner said the team gave up too many points but still made the stops when needed.

The coach said after Harter’s shot in the final seconds then the Warrior defense got the biggest stop of the year. “We are excited to be the Region 6A champs,” said Gardner, who will be going to the state tournament for the first time as a head coach.

Augustana College wrestler and Winner native Jayd Docken will make his fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Division II championships which was held Friday and Saturday in St. Louis, Mo.

Docken, wrestling at 197 pounds, finished third at the NCAA Super Region III championships in Mankato, Minn., on March 1.

Docken lost in the semifinals to second ranked Julian Smith of McKendree by a 3-2 decision. Docken then pinned Dylan Windfield of Upper Iowa to earn a spot at the NCAA Division II championships.

Docken battled against Joe Gomes of Northern State for the third time this season, taking the third place match by a 3-2 decision.

At 27-4 on the season, Docken’s only Division II losses have come to Kenny Breaux of Lindenwood and No. 3 Julian Smith of McKendree.

Austin Richey of Winner had two hits in four at bats including a RBI double as the University of Sioux Falls dropped an 8-2 decision to Cal State University, San Marcos.

The  Winner sophomore also had a stolen base  which gives USF 15 for the season.

Richey helped USF to a win in an earlier game in California. Richey had a run scoring double in this game.

Darbi Gustafson, a senior on the Ethan basketball team, won the Spirit of Sue award at the State B tournament in Huron this weekend.

Darbi is  the daughter of Jeff and Janet (Bertram) Gustafson, formerly of Winner. Janet grew up in the Colome area.

Ethan won the state title with a 31-28 victory over Sully Buttes. This was Ethan’s first state tournament in 34 years.

Sully Buttes also has a Winner connection. Sully Buttes is coached by Mark Senftner, who is married to Lynn (Daughters) Senftner. Lynn grew up in Winner and is a graduate of Winner High School.

Several youths  competed in the regional AAU wrestling tournament Saturday in Mitchell.

There are 27 Winner youths who made it to state.

Results include:

6 and under—Ellison LaDeaux, 1^st; Roukyn Robbins and Legend Benedict, both 2^nd and Hudson, Peters, 3^rd

7-8—Hunter Kahler, Ryken Orel, Kylah Biggins, all 1^st; Rylan Robbins, Brody Calhoon, both 2^nd.

9-10—Karson Keiser, Konner Osborn, Maxton Brozik, all 1^st; Landon Calhoon, Parker Mathis and Coy Assman, all 4^th

11-12—Kaden Keiser, Joey Cole, both 1^st; Riley Orel, Owen Duffy, both 2^nd; Kamryn Meek, 5^th

13-14—Kaleb Osborn, Trevor Peters, both 1^st; Aaron Gilchrist, 2^nd; Landon Debus and Xavier Cadotte, both 3^rd and Adam Cole and Cailob Week, both 4^th

15 and 16—Wyatt Turnquist, Jaikob Week and Jamin Dougherty, all 2^nd

The state tournament will be held in Brookings March 28 and 28 at the Swiftel Center.

The wrestlers advancing to state are: Ellison LaDeaux, Roukyn Robbins, Rylan Robbins, Legend Benedict, Wyatt Turnquist, Hudson Peters, Trevor Peters, Hunter Kahler, Brody Calhoon, Landon Calhoon, Ryken Orel, Riley Orel, Kylah Biggins, Karson Keiser, Kaden Keiser, Konner Osborn, Kaleb Osborn, Parker Mathis, Coy Assman, Maxton Brozik, Owen Duffy, Joey Cole, Aaron Gilchrist, Xavier Cadotte, Landon Debus, Jaikob Week and Jamin Dougherty.