Category Archives: Sports

Kaden Keiser of Winner has been named the Mitchell Republic wrestler of the year.

Keiser is a four time state placer and just recently won a national folk style title in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Keiser is Winner’s only four time state placer.

The Winner senior has had the determination and drive to reach each of his wrestling goals.

Keiser will continue to wrestle in college. He will wrestle at Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina. He plans to major in exercise science.

Blake Volmer of the Winner boys basketball team has been considered  for Mitchell Republic boys basketball player of the year.

Chosen as the player of the year was Mitchell’s Caden Hinker.

The 23-3 Warriors placed sixth at the state A tournament in Rapid City and Volmer was a big part of the success of the team this year. Volmer averaged 16.3 points, 8.9 rebounds along with 3.6 assists and 1.8 steals per game posting a season high 31 points.

Volmer is a junior and will return to the team next season.

Bella Swedlund of the Winner girls basketball team has been chosen for the Class A girls all-state team as chosen by the South Dakota Basketball Coaches Association.

This is the fourth all state selection for the Winner senior. She’s making three straight first team  selections and was a second team honoree in 2019.

She finished as the state’s 15^th all-time leading scorer with 2,256 career points. She is the first WHS girls player to score over 2,000 points in her career.

Swedlund will continue her basketball career at the University of Kansas.

Joseph Laprath of the Colome Cowboys basketball team has been named to the honorable mention list of the South Central Conference all conference team.

On the girls side in the Great Plains Conference, Toree Ringing Shield of Colome has been named to the all-conference team.

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.