Category Archives: Sports

Winner volleyball team defeated Lyman in three sets on Sept. 12. The scores were 25-7, 25-13 and 25-12.

Gracie Littau and Abby Marts were 100 percent in serving.

Alexis Richey had 3 ace serves and Littau, 2.

Abby Marts had 17 kills and Morgan Hammerbeck, 12 kills.

Littau had 30 set assists.

Hammerbeck was 100 percent in serve receive and Richey was 90 percent.

Richey had 12 digs and Marts had 11 digs.

Sam Marts had 1 solo block and 1 block assist.

As a team, Winner was 93 percent in serving with 6 ace serves, 38 kills and 34 assists. They were 82 percent in serve receive with 53 digs and 2 blocks.

“We came out ready to play from the start,” said coach Jaime Keiser.

“We did a great job of serving and attacking the ball which kept Lyman out of system. We lost focus in set 2 and 3 and gave Lyman too many unearned points. I was proud to see us battle back and play together as a team and not keep playing at their level. We did a better job of serve receive which has been our weakness,” said Keiser.

Winner High School girls softball team lost two games in Pierre on Sunday.

In the first game, Winner lost 15-2 to Dell Rapids.

Kenndal Turnquist was the losing pitcher.  Leading hitters were Emmy Kaiser, Turnquist and Delanie Nelson.

In the second game, Winner lost 10-4 to Aberdeen.

Elisabeth Duffy was the losing pitcher.  Leading hitters were Kaiser, Duffy, Alex Bohnet and Nelson.

Winner will play in Pierre on Sunday, Sept. 24 at 12:30 p.m. as they will play Pierre in a double header.

Winner Area girls cross county team took first place in both the Chamberlain Invitational and the Big Dakota Conference Thursday in Chamberlain.

For the girls varsity, Sidda Schuyler took second place. Also placing were Jaclyn Laprath, 6th; Aryn Meiners, 22nd; Melanie Brozik, 28th; Meagan Blare, 41st and Madison Thieman, 45th.

The boys varsity team was led by Kade Watson, 8th followed by Dawson Phillips, 23rd and Wyatt Turnquist, 50th.

In the girls junior varsity race, Katherine Jankauskas placed 16th, Gabriel Kocer, 17th, Nanette Eagle Star, 18th and Joselin Kludt, 39th.

In the junior high boys race, Joseph Laprath placed fifth. Ci Ci Watson placed 9th in the junior high girls race.

Chamberlain won the Winner High School boys golf invitational on Sept. 12 at Winner Country Club.

Chamberlain’s Cameron Caldwell was the medalist.

Winner golfers were led by Gage Watson who placed 23rd with a 109. Jayd Whitley placed 26th at 111 and Nathan Monk placed 31st with a 115.

The boys golf regional will be Sept. 25 a Pierre.

Winner High School volleyball team defeated Bennett County in three sets on Sept. 5. The Lady Warriors won 25-10, 25-12 and 25-15.

Sam Marts, Abby Marts and Gracie Littau were all 100 percent in serving.

Morgan Hammerbeck had 9 kills, Sam Marts, 6 and Abby Marts, 5.

Littau had 15 set assists and Daesha Klein 4.

Alexis Richey was 72 percent in serve receive. She was also the leader in digs with 14 and Hammerbeck and Abby Marts had 12 each.

Sam Marts had a solo block and 2 block assists. Hammerbeck had 1 solo block.

As a team, Winner was 93 percent in serving with 13 aces, 27 kills and 20 set assists. They were 50 percent in serve receive with 61 digs and 4 blocks.

“We came out ready to play from the start,” said coach Jaime Keiser. “We did a great job of serving and attacking the ball which kept Bennett County out of system. We struggled in serve receive getting the ball to target which is something we need to keep working on. We did a great job of talking and playing together as a team,” she said.

The next action for the Lady Warriors will be Sept. 16 in Ft. Pierre at the Big Dakota Conference meet.

On Sept. 18, Winner will host Mobridge/Pollock.

The fall high school softball team from Winner lost two games when they played Sunday at Dakota Valley.

In the first game, Dakota Valley won 15-7.

Losing pitcher was Hallie Hollenbeck.

Leading hitters were Delanie Nelson and Keyleigh Stands.

In the second game, Winner lost to Tri Valley 13-7.

Kenndall Turnquist was the losing pitcher.

Leading hitters were Alex Bohnet, Turnquist, Mary Calhoon and Nelson.

The next game will be Sunday, Sept. 17 in Pierre when Winner takes on Aberdeen at 2:30 p.m.

Winner middle school fall softball team played two games on Sept. 10 in Sioux Falls.

The girls were defeated by Pipestone, Minn., 13-3 and then defeated Brookings Twedt 10-3.

In the Pipestone game, Josey Kludt and Aleya Miller each had an RBI. Rylee Root took the loss on the mound.

In the game with Brookings, Libbie Petersek and Root led the team with 2 hits each. Kelbi Meiners and Melanie Brozik each had 1 hit and an RBI. Karlee Brozik also had a hit.

Faith Covey pitched for the win.

Next action is Sunday, Sept. 17 at Dunham Park in Sioux Falls.

Winner Area golf team had three golfers place at Pierre on Sept. 7.

Gage Watson placed 11th, Jayd Whitley placed 12th and Nathan Monk placed 16th.

The pre-regional will be held Sept. 19 in Pierre.

Winner area girls cross country team won first place at the Scotland Invitational on Sept. 5. The Winner area boys team took second place.

Sidda Schuyler won the girls division as she took first place in 19:56. Jaclyn Laprath placed 4th in 21:01; Meagan Blare, 7th, 21:31; Saige Schuyler, 11th, 21:35; Aryn Meiners, 16th, 22;26; Madison Thieman, 22nd.

Kade Watson led the Winner area boys as he took 4th place in 17:49. Also placing for Winner were Dawson Phillips, 8th, 18:32; Wyatt Turnquist, 19th, 19:36; Atlas Willuweit, 36th.

In the girls junior varsity race, Melanie Brozik placed 3rd followed by Katherine Jankauskas, 11th; Charlotte Shopene, 12th; Gabriel Kocer, 14th.

CiCi Watson placed 6th in the girls junior high race.

Defense was a big part of Winner’s 14-0 win over West Central Friday night in Hartford.

Big stops were huge for the Warriors who are 2-1 on the season.

Winner has not beaten West Central since 1987 and the Trojans have beaten the Warriors nine consecutive times.

On the road, Winner remains undefeated as they have not lost a road game since 2007.

“For us to stop them gave us the confidence and spark that we needed,” said Winner coach Dan Aaker.

West Central had a big punt return and got to the Winner 20 yard line and then picked up a first down. The Trojans were first and goal at the 9 and the Warriors held them to one yard in four plays.

“Stopping them was huge,” said Aaker . “That was a big confidence boost for our guys and they showed some toughness,” explained the coach.

Then, Winner built on that momentum and went on a 92 yard scoring drive in the second quarter. Carter Brickman threw a 30 yard touchdown pass to Riley Calhoon for Winner’s first score. Phillip Jorgensen added the 2 point conversion and Winner was up 8-0.

“Carter did an excellent job of getting the pass off because he had a West Central guy in his face,” said Aaker.

Winner led 8-0 at the half.

The Warriors stopped West Central on fourth down three different times. The Warrior forced West Central to jump off sides three times in the game.

One of the plays of the game was when West Central drove to the Winner 36 yard line in the third quarter and had a third and 2. Winner stopped them.

Winner regained control of the ball and had five successful running plays by Phillip Jorgensen who picked up 7 to 8 yards at a crack. Jorgensen was back in action after being injured in the first game of the season against Sioux Falls Christian.

As Jorgensen moved the Warriors closer to the goal line, Brickman took the ball in from 2 yards out for a touchdown. Trevor Peters ran the ball in for the 2 point conversion and Winner led 14-0.

Aaker said the team felt good knowing they were up by two touchdowns but knowing they had to finish the game.

“Our defense continued to step up after West Central had a drive inside the Warrior 30 late in the fourth quarter. We were able to stop then on fourth down,” said Aaker.

The Warriors had a total of 227 yards of offense including 201 rushing yards.

Jorgensen was the leading rusher with 102 yards followed by Calhoon with 34 and Ty Bolton with 33.

Shea Connot and Matt Smither both had 15 tackles. Levi McClanahan added 12, Bolton, 7; Oscar Pravecek and Colton Schroeder, 6 each and Justus Gregg, 5.

“Overall, it was exactly what we needed. This team needed to prove to themselves they can refocus and play every play. To go into West Central and get a win is not easy,” said Aaker.

“It was not so much the win but the way we played and responded to pressure moments. This is the first time for 48 minutes our guys focused on every play. This is something we have to build on as we move forward.”

The Warriors will have a bye week next week and will not play on Sept. 8. The next game for Winner will be Sept. 15 when they host Valentine, Neb.

Aaker likes having the bye week at this time in the season. “We had to rush through a lot of fundamentals to get ready for the first game. We can take a step back and build on the fundamental aspect of what we are doing. It is a break between two really big games, West Central and Valentine.”

The coach says Valentine is good team and Winner was their only loss during the regular season last year.

“This will be a another great challenge for us.”

The coach says the bye week also sets up great for the junior varsity team. They played a game on Tuesday and they will play on Saturday and Monday.

“We need to take advantage of this bye week in multiple ways,” said Aaker.