Category Archives: Sports

Sully Buttes defeated the Winner girls basketball team 58-45 on Saturday.

Morgan Hammerbeck led the scoring for Winner with 13 points. Gracie Littau added 9 and Gabby Kocer, 8.  The Lady Warriors shot 29 percent from the field and made 6 of 15 free throws for 40 percent.

Hammerbeck pulled down 8 of Winner’s 21 rebounds and had 7 assists.

Parkston nipped Winner 38-37 in girls basketball action on Friday night.

Gabby Kocer led Winner with 19 points and six rebounds. Morgan Hammerbeck added 10 points.

Up next for the Lady Warriors is the Snowball Classic on Dec. 28 in Winner. The Winner girls will play Canton at 5 p.m.

Colome boys basketball team opened the season with a 58-45 victory over Gregory on Dec. 14 in Colome.

Jackson Kinzer led the scoring for Colome with 24 points and Kolton Salonen added 15 points. Layton Thieman and Calvin Ringing Shield both added 8 points.

The Cowboys shot 48 percent from the field and made 12 of 19 free throws for 63 percent.

Colome out-rebounded Gregory 27-24. Layton Thieman pulled down 8 rebounds, Kinzer 6 and Calvin Ringing Shield, 5.

Colome boys basketball team defeated Cody-Kilgore 69-47 Saturday night in Colome.

Kolton Salonen led the Cowboys with 23 points followed by Layton Thieman with 16 and Jackson Kinzer with 14.

The Cowboys shot 43 percent from the field and at the free throw line made 15 of 26 shots for 57 percent.

Colome out-rebounded Cody-Kilgore 27-24.   Kinzer pulled down 9 rebounds, Salonen had 7 and Thieman and Calvin Ringing Shield, 6 each.

Winner boys basketball team suffered two losses in back to back games this weekend.

On Friday, Winner hosted Miller and the Rustlers came away with a 53-41 victory.

Brady Fritz scored 13 points and Brandon Volmer, 12 with Joren Bruun adding 7 and Shea Connot, 5.

The Warriors were 9 of 25 from the 2 point range, 3-18 three pointers and made 14 of 18 free throws.  Volmer pulled down 7 rebounds and Phillip Jorgensen, 5.

On Saturday, Winner lost to Sully Buttes 63-49.

Shea Connot scored 14 points, Volmer 13, Fritz, 11 and Bruun, 9.

From the 2 point range, Winner was 12 of 28 and made 6 of 20 three pointers.  At the line, Winner was 7 of 13.  Volmer and Fritz each pulled down 5 rebounds.

Winner Lady Warriors basketball team used balanced scoring as they defeated Burke/South Central 58-44 Thursday in Burke.

Four Winner players were in double figures—Madyson Frazier, 16 points; Gabby Kocer, 14; Morgan Hammerbeck, 13 and Maggie LaCompte, 11.

The Lady Warriors short 42 percent from the field. At the line, Winner made 5 of 9 shots for 56 percent.

Hammerbeck pulled down 20 rebounds, Kocer, 16 and Abby Marts, 10.

Colome girls basketball team defeated Cody-Kilgore 54-37 Saturday in Colome.

Rayne Hermsen led the way with 14 points and five rebounds. Saydee Heath added 13 points and 8 rebounds while Kaydee Heath and Abby Kortan scored 11 and 10 points respectively.

Colome assisted on 12 of their baskets and 10 steals in the contest.

Colome girls basketball team was held to nine points in the second half and were defeated 60-23 by Corsica-Stickney on Dec. 11.

Makayla Shippy, Saydee Heath and Sara O’Bryan each had 4 points for Colome. Rayne Hermsen had 6 rebounds.  Colome shot 20 percent from the floor.

Winner Area wrestling team had two champions at the Valentine Invitational this weekend.

Atlas Willuweit (120 pounds) and Wyatt Turnquist (126) both won titles.

Turnquist was named the outstanding wrestler of the tournament. This award is voted on by the coaches. He beat a Valentine wrestler that was a state champion last year and had never lost a varsity match.

As a team, Winner took fourth place. Valentine won first place with Broken Bow taking second and Alliance finishing third.

Winner coach Spencer Novotny says Valentine is a pretty tough tournament. “It has been the toughest tournament we have attended to this point,” said the coach.

Two members of the Winner High School football team have been named to the class 11B All-State team.  Named to the team are Levi McClanahan and Riley Calhoon.

The All-State team consists of 20 seniors, five juniors and three sophomores.

McClanahan is a linebacker on the all state team. “A true run stopper with a real nose for football,” said Winner coach Dan Aaker.   McClanahan had 89 tackles and five for a loss and was the Warriors defensive MVP. The 5-9 190 pound linebacker made 159 tackles and four sacks in his career while serving as the defensive captain as a senior.

Calhoon is a defensive back on the all state team. The 5-8 145 pounder was not deterred by his smaller size playing as Winner’s best cover and run support defensive back. He had 35 tackles and an interception for the Warriors while adding big play threat on offense.  “He is small in stature but makes up for it with his natural athletic ability and physical play,” said Aaker.

Six seniors at Winner High School have been named to the football academic all state team.

Winner High School students honored are Riley Calhoon, Levi McClanahan, Zach Lapsley, Nick Lantz, Dalton Baker and Madyson Morehart.

Requirements for academic all state are to be a senior, have a grade point average of 3.5 or above, have played high school football for at least three years or been a student helper for at least three years.

The Winner Area wrestling team won the Kimball/White Lake tournament Saturday in Kimball. The Warriors racked up 232 points.

Trevor Peters was named the outstanding wrestler of the tournament.

The Warriors had five champions: Kaden Keiser (106), Atlas Willuweit (120), Wyatt Turnquist (126), Trevor Peters (138) and Sam Kruger (145).

In the championship match, Keiser won 12-3 over Riley Whitley of Redfield/Doland.  Willuweit won 4-3 over Lance Soukup in the championship match.  Turnquist won the championship 5-0 over Jackson Nockels of Kimball/White Lake.  Peters won 3-0 over Carsten McNeil of Redfield/Doland in the title match.  Kruger pinned Dylan Whitley in 1:42 to win the 145 pound match.

“We wrestled well for the first tournament,” said coach Spencer Novotny.  “We saw some things that we need to work on. We need to get better from the bottom position. We wrestled well on our feet and on top.”

Several other Winner wrestlers placed at the opening tournament of the season.
Jack Kruger (113) placed third; Riley Orel (113) placed fifth; Aaron Gilchrist 132) placed third, Joey Cole (152) placed fifth, Preston Norrid (170) placed fifth, Landon Dubus (182) placed sixth, Achilles Willuweit (195) placed fourth, Elijah Blare (220) placed fourth and Jamin Dougherty (285) placed third.

Novotny said some of the things Winner needs to work on going into a triangular with Wagner and Burke/Gregory are staying in good position and working on the edge of the mat. Bonus points are going to be huge in these duals. It was nice to see plethora of Winner area fans at this tournament this weekend,” said Novotny

Winner Area team will compete in a triangular Dec. 7 in Wagner. At 5:30 Winner will wrestle Wagner followed by Winner vs. Burke/Gregory and then Wagner vs. Burke/Gregory.

Winner will compete in the Gregory tournament on Saturday, Dec. 9. Wrestling will start at 9 a.m.

Winner High School boys basketball team will open the season on Dec. 8 at home when they host Wagner.

The five returning lettermen are Justus Gregg, Joren Bruun, Shea Connot, Brandon Volmer and Phillip Jorgensen.
There are 34 athletes out for basketball. The only senior on the team is Gregg.  The rest of the team is made up of 8 juniors, 13 sophomores and 12 freshmen.

The Warriors lost seven seniors who saw a lot of playing time in their career at WHS. The seniors who graduated are Drew DeMers, Cameron Kuil, Trevor Bertram, Isaac Naasz, Chase Kingsbury, Wyatt Ewing and Luke Engel.

Winner’s record last year was 12-10 and they made it to the Regional Semifinal, falling to Little Wound.

Coach Brett Gardner says this will be a different year due to the team’s youth. There are no returning starters. 
“We have a lot of depth and a lot of basketball athleticism. We have a bunch of young guys who are competing with each other for a spot on the team,” said Gardner.  “This year is totally different which is an exciting thing. We are hard works, play the right way, the Warrior way and get after it,” said Gardner.

The Warriors will have to defend against teams that are bigger than they are. “We will have to use our quickness and basketball athleticism to help us defend and the offense will take care of itself,” said the coach.  “We will pride ourselves for the fourth straight year of taking care of the defensive end.” The goal of the Warriors is to hold teams under 50 points.

The Warriors have nice guards who can shoot and competitive posts.

Gardner says practice has been competitive with players getting after it.  In practice, the coaching staff has put in the defense. For Winner, the defense comes first and the the coaches slowly work in the offense.

The team has been working on skill sets, fundamentals and footwork—finishing a layup with the correct feet.

What Gardner likes about this year’s team is that they are competitive but they also like each other and hang out together.
“Once players develop their role and buy into that role we can get better and play our best basketball,” explained the coach.
The team’s goal every year is to be playing the best basketball by region and make it to the Sweet 16.

This is the second year for the Sweet 16 in Class A. “I like the Sweet 16,” says Gardner. “I was kind of torn on it but the more I thought about it and watched games it brought the best out of everyone. It does take away from the regionals but it will get the best eight teams to the state tournament.”

The WHS coach says the top teams in Class A will be Tea, returning state champ; Madison Sioux Valley, Red Cloud and Pine Ridge.

The Warriors play in the Big Dakota and SESD Conference.

This is Gardner’s fourth year as head coach in Winner and sixth overall.

Trent Olson will be the assistant coach and is starting his 14th year as the assistant coach.

The 2017-2018 schedule includes:
Dec. 8—Wagner, home
Dec. 15—Miller, home
Dec. 16—at Sully Buttes
Dec. 21—Bon Homme, home
Dec. 22—at Parkston
Dec. 28—Snowball Classic in Winner
Jan. 2—at Chamberlain
Jan. 5—at Bennett County
Jan. 6—at Gregory
Jan. 9—Valentine, home
Jan. 13—At Garretson
Jan. 18—Pine Ridge, home
Jan. 23—at Todd Co
Jan. 26—at Mt. Vernon/Plankinton
Feb. 3—CEB, home
Feb. 6—at St. Francis
Feb. 9—McLaughlin, home
Feb. 13—at Platte/Geddes
Feb. 16—at Mobridge/Pollock
Feb. 19—Crow Creek, home
Feb. 27—Region
March 2—Region
March 6—Sweet 16
March 15-17—State A in Rapid City