Category Archives: Sports

The Colome High School boys basketball team will open the season on Dec. 13 when they host Marty.

The Cowboys have eight returning lettermen—Isaac Kortan, Kelly O’Bryan, Will Cahoy, Andrew Laprath, Jackson Kinzer, Holden Thieman, Layton Thieman and Beau Bertram.  The only loss from last year is Reed Harter.  Added to the team this year is Kolton Salonen who played last season for Gregory.

There are 21 athletes on the team this year. The seniors are: Holden Thieman, Kortan, Garrett Salonen, O’Bryan, Cahoy and Tristan Munroe.  The juniors are : Laprath, Jeremiah Yeaman, Salonen. The sophomores are Beau Bertram, Kinzer, Wyatt Cahoy and Calvin Ringing Shield.  Jacob Beckers is the only freshman.  There are five 8th graders on the team: Rhett Bertram, Allen McKenzie, Nathaniel Hanson, Mike Supik and Linkyn Petersek.

Last year the Cowboys were 16-7 and won the district for the first time since 1978. The Cowboys lost to Corsica-Stickney in the region championship.  Coach Drew Weber says the Cowboys have a deeper and more experienced team this year.

Two seniors are injured and will return to the team later in the season. Weber says when Kortan and Holden Thieman return they will provide more depth to the team.  According to Weber, one thing the team needs to improve on is shooting. “We have to have someone step up and knock down some outside shots,” he said. Last year that outside shooter was Harter.  “Offensively our goal is to move the ball, be quick with a lot of movement,” said Weber.  On defense, Colome will play man to man.  What the team has this year and lacked in others is more height and length.

The Cowboys will play in several classics this year in addition to the Jones County Tournament. Colome will be in the Snowball Classic in Winner, the Highmore Classic and the DSU Classic in Madison.  Derek Graesser is the assistant coach.

The Colome boys schedule includes:
Dec. 13—Marty, home
Dec. 15—at Gregory
Dec. 17—at Cody-Kilgore
Dec. 30—Snowball Classic in Winner
Dec. 31—Wessington Springs, home
Jan. 3—at Lyman
Jan. 9—Crow Creek, home
Jan. 12-14—Jones County Tournament
Jan. 17—at Jones County
Jan. 24—Kimball/White Lake
Jan. 27—at Platte
Jan. 28—at DSU Classic
Feb. 3—AC/DC
Feb. 4—at Highmore Classic
Feb. 7—at North Central
Feb. 11—at Menno
Feb. 14—at Burke/South Central
Feb. 23—Tripp/Delmont/Armour, home
Feb. 27-28—Districts
March 7—Regional

Nine returning letter winners will lead the Winner Lady Warriors basketball team as they open the season Dec. 9 at Wagner.  This will be a girls and boys double header.

The Lady Warriors finished second last year at the state tournament as the fell to St. Thomas More in the championship game.
Winner finished the season with a 21-5 record.  Gone from last year’s team are Allison Cox, Bailey Volmer, Sydney Fritz, Kylie Horstman, Haylay Halverson, Calah Covey and Edith Eagle Hawk.

The nine letterwinners are: Gabby Kocer, Samantha Schuyler, Alexis Richey, Abby Marts, Chloe Bartels, Madyson Frazier, Kyren Meek, Rachel Sherman and Sidney Hollenbeck.  Last year Sherman did not play due to a torn ACL.

Even though Winner does not have any returning starters coach Larry Aaker says there are five to six girls who have seen significant playing time. “They came into the game a lot and played a reserve role,” he said.  There are 26 girls out this season including 6 seniors, 3 juniors, 8 sophomores, 8 freshmen and 7th grader Bella Swedlund.

Aaker says in the line up is a good mix. There are a couple of guards, couple of post players. Some of the older girls are good defenders and are scrappy. Some of the younger girls have good offensive skills. “Hopefully they can progress on the defensive side. By the end of the season if we can get a good mix we will be in good shape,” explained Aaker.  In practice the girls have been working on the press, defense and shooting drills.

Aaker looks for the Lady Warriors to play an up tempo game. “The key for us is shooting layups and not spend too much time in the half court.”  Aaker looks for some good shooters this year and feels the Lady Warriors will shoot more 3 point shots than they have in the past.

Winner is a member of both the Big Dakota and SESD Conference. The Lady Warriors were the Big Dakota champs and placed second to MVP in the SESD.  As he looks at the Class A teams in the state, Aaker says there are a lot of good teams with probably St. Thomas More being the favorite. According to Aaker, other top teams will be Webster who Winner played in last year’s state tournament, West Central, McCook Central/Montose and Hamlin.  Assistant coaches will be Sam Olson with Rob Cox as a volunteer assistant.

The 2016-2017 schedule includes:
Dec. 9—at Wagner
Dec. 15—South Central, home
Dec. 17—Sully Buttes, home
Dec. 22—Parkston, home
Dec. 27—at Bon Homme
Dec. 30—Snowball Classic in Winner
Jan. 3—Chamberlain, home
Jan. 5—at Todd County
Jan. 7—Gregory, home
Jan. 10—at Valentine
Jan. 14—at Dakota State Classic
Jan. 17—Bennett County, home
Jan. 19—Pine Ridge, home
Jan. 23—at Miller
Jan 27—MVP, home
Feb. 2—Crow Creek
Feb. 4—at CEB
Feb. 9—at Platte-Geddes
Feb. 10—at McLaughlin
Feb. 17—Mobridge-Pollock, home
Feb. 21—Region
Feb. 23 and March 3—Region
March 9-11—State A in Brookings

The Colome girls basketball team will have four letterwinners returning.  They include Callie Heath, Kaydee Heath, Rayne Hermsen and Jaclyn Laprath.   The Cowgirls have only one returning starter in Callie Heath.

Lost from last year’s team are Taylor Hrabanek, Morgan Hofeldt, Mariah Kinzer and Destinee Noteboom.

Colome girls opened the season Dec. 6 at home against Corsica-Stickney.

Coach Lori Kalenda says the Cowgirls will be a young team with 6 high school girls, six 8th graders and a 7th grader.
Kalenda said three sophomores who saw a lot of playing time as freshmen are: Kaydee Heath, Hermsen and Laprath.
Kalenda says the team will be quick by not as tall as in the past. “The girls are excited as they have been in practice for two weeks and are ready for a game,” said the coach.  The assistant coach will be Laura Windsperger.

The Cowgirls play two games the opening week.

The Colome girls schedule includes:
Dec. 8—at AC/DC
Dec. 13—Marty, home
Dec. 17—at Cody-Kilgore
Dec. 30—at the Snowball Classic in Winner
Dec. 31—Wessington Springs, home
Jan. 5—at Kimball/White Lake
Jan. 7—Todd Co., home
Jan. 10—at Jones County
Jan. 12—Burke/South Central, home
Jan. 19-21—Southern Plains tournament
Jan. 27—at Platte
Jan. 30—Lyman, home
Feb. 4—at Highmore Classic
Feb. 7—at North Central
Feb. 10—Kadoka, home
Feb. 11—at Menno
Feb. 13—at Gregory
Feb. 20-21-24—District
March 2—Region
March 9-11—State B

The Winner Area wrestling team is rated No. 3 in the first poll of the season.

Rated wrestlers are Kayleb Brozik (170) 1st; Tre Doren (285), 1st; Kaden Keiser (106), 8th; Wyatt Turnquist (113) 3rd; Atlas Willuweit (120) 4th and Jayden Schroeder (195) 5th.

Nine players from the Winner High School football team have been named to the Class 11B all-state team.

The Warriors won back to back state championships and finished with two perfect undefeated seasons for a 24-0 record.

The nine players on the all state team are: Drew DeMers, Jayden Schroeder, Cameron Kuil, Jordan Turgeon, Wyatt Ewing, Isaac Naasz, Krockett Krolikowski, Chase Kingsbury and Kayleb Brozik.

“To get nine players named shows the respect the other coaches from around the state had for our team,” said coach Dan Aaker. “They are all very deserving of this recognition. Post season awards come when you have success on the field and these guys certainly had success.”

A new season will start soon for the Winner Area wrestling team.  The Warriors will open the season at the Kimball tournament on Dec. 3.

The Warriors have a new coach as Spencer Novotny has returned to his hometown to guide the wrestlers. The last six years Novotny was the wrestling coach in Mobridge.  Novotny graduated from Winner High School in 2004 where was a four year wrestler for the Warriors. His freshman year he was a state qualifier, his junior year he placed fourth and his senior year he was state runner-up.
His junior year, the Warriors were the state dual champs and his senior year Winner was the team champion.  Novotny went to college at Dakota Wesleyan University where he wrestled for three years and was a national qualifier.  Novotny student taught in Lead-Deadwood and helped coach wrestling.

The returning letterwinners are Wyatt Turnquist, Trevor Peters, Atlas Willuweit, Damian Bingen, Tristan Watzel, Tre Doren, Jayden Schroeder, Kayleb Brozik, Avery Gilchrist and Riggin Shippy.  Others on the team are Payton Antoine, Nick Blare, Chet Bryan, Noah Cerv, Landon Debus, Jaikob Week and Caileb Week.

The Warriors have five returning state qualifiers. Turnquist and Schroeder both placed 8th; Brozik, 4th; Doren, 2nd as he was then wrestling for Lake Andes and Willuweit.

Novotny says the team will be strong at the upper weights and the lower weights. In the middle will be a lot of younger wrestlers.
The coach says the team has been working on technique as well as live wrestling. “I use live wrestling as conditioning,” explained the coach.

Novotny says he has three goals for the team: Want to go undefeated in duals, win regions and be in the top 4 at state.

He says the Warriors have a tough schedule and will see some of the top teams in the state every week. The schedule allows the Warriors to get around the state. ”It will be a new challenge each week and that will benefit our team at the end of the year.”
Novotny’s assistant coach is Jayd Schuyler.

The wrestling schedule includes:
Dec. 3—at Kimball
Dec. 8—At Gregory/Wagner triangular
Dec. 9-10—at Rapid City
Dec. 16-17—at Valentine, Neb.
Dec. 30—at McCook Central
Jan. 3—at Stanley County
Jan. 6-7—at Lyman
Jan. 14—at Mitchell
Jan.17—at O’Neill/Valentine Tri
Jan. 20—Kimball/Philip Triangular in Winner
Jan. 21-Winner Invitational
Jan. 28—at Aberdeen Central
Jan. 31—Chamberlain/McCook Central Triangular
Feb. 4—at Big Dakota in Stanley Co.
Feb. 11—at Huron
Feb. 18—Regional in Wagner
Feb. 24-25—State tournament in Sioux Falls

Three members of the Colome football team have been named to the Class 9B all-state team.

Colome won the Class 9B championship over Langford Area and the Cowboy all state picks are Kelly O’Bryan, Matt Campbell and Wiley Heath.

O’Bryan was an all around asset for the Cowboys catching 31 passes for 525 yards, 8 touchdowns and racked up 1,280 yards of total offense.  For his career, the Colome senior had more than 60 catches for 1,045 yards and 15 touchdowns.  In the championship game, he was named the outstanding back.

Campbell helped pave the Cowboys to the state championship. Coach Dale Krumpus says Campbell is a “good, hard nosed football player.”  Campbell was named the outstanding lineman in the state championship game.

Heath was named to the defensive unit as a linebacker. Heath had 92 tackles for the season and recorded 201 tackles for his career along with 3.5 sacks. Krumpus said Heath’s top trait was putting himself in the right position to make the play.

Named to the honorable mention list was Colome’s Isaac Kortan.

Two members of the Winner High School football team have been named to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader Elite 45 team.  Krockett Krolikowski and Cameron Kuil were named to the honor list which was announced on Thanksgiving day.

Success on offense starts with guys in the trenches. For Winner, Krolikowski served as the anchor for the offensive line that paved the way for a ground attack that averaged 320 yards and 50 points per game and powered the team to its second straight 11B championship.  On defense, he logged 47 tackles and six sacks.  An SDSU commit, he has been a key piece to Winner’s 24-0 run over the past two years.  “Krockett is truly one of those special players that does not come around very often,” Coach Dan Aaker said. “He is unbelievably quick for his size and is very physical. If the teams don’t double team him they are in trouble.”

Also named to the list was senior Cameron Kuil.  A constant threat to score, Kuil scored 14 touchdowns on the ground, four receiving  and returned three kicks for touchdowns.  On defense, Kuil racked up 30 tackles and picked off four passes two of which were returned for a touchdown.  “Cameron was a threat to score at every position he played on the field. In two separate games, he rushed for a touchdown, intercepted a pass for a touchdown and ran a kickoff back,” Aaker said.
“He is the ultimate team player who only cares about playing for his teammates.”

Winner players who received special mention were Drew DeMers and Jayden Schroeder.

In Class 9B, Kelly O’Bryan and Matt Campbell of Colome were listed as special mention.

Cameron Kuil of Winner has been named the Midco Sports Class 11B player of the year.

The Winner senior helped Winner to back to back Class 11B football championships.

He rushed for 937 yards and scored 14 touchdowns this season.  He had 12 receptions for 305 yards and 4 touchdowns.
On defense, Kuil had 23 tackles, 5 interceptions (2 returned for TD).

Four members of the Colome High School football team have been named to the academic all state list.

The Colome players named are: Isaac Kortan, Wiley Heath, Will Cahoy and Jordan Shippy.

The requirements for the award that the player be a senior, have a 3.5 grade point average or higher and have been in the sport for three years.