Feb. 3: Guinness World Records announced that a Rapid City woman (Wendy Crockett) and Australian man (Ian McPhee) set a team world record for longest journey (80,208 miles) in a single country by a pair of motorcyclists. Over 119 days in 2022, the duo visited the lower 48 states in the U.S. in alphabetical order. The friends proved their toughness and determination as they persevered through 52 days of mechanical and/or health breakdowns during the trip.

March 1: The South Dakota High School Activities Association is discussing a proposal where girls’ wrestling gets its own weekend for a state tournament. Since it started three years ago, the girls’ have had their state tournament alongside the boys’ state tourney. However, girls’ wrestling continues to grow with 125 girls participating in wrestling in the 2020-21 season; 284 in 2021-22; and 416 this past season in 2022-23.

March 2: The basketball career of Avery Broughton has ended. The Corsica-Stickney star finished with 2,229 career points (17 th all-time in SD girls’ history) and with more than 1,100 rebounds.

March 3: The Minnesota Vikings have hired Dalmin Gibson as a special teams assistant. Gibson was born in Rapid City and is a 2010 graduate of Harding County where he was a football, basketball and rodeo standout. He spent last season as an assistant for Southern Illinois and then Michigan State the two seasons before that. He also has coached at Colorado, Wayne State and Dickinson State (where he graduated in 2014 and played linebacker).

March 3: The Watertown girls’ basketball team nipped Sioux Falls Lincoln 38-36 to earn the Arrows’ first trip to the State AA tourney since 2009.

March 3: The 12th-seeded Mitchell girls’ basketball team (9-12) defeated host and fifth-seeded Brandon Valley 53-49 to earn a trip to the State AA tourney. In their last game on Feb. 25 on the same court, Brandon Valley defeated the Kernels 55-33.

March 4: Britton-Hecla and SDSU graduate Dallas Goedert got a part-time job this summer from his regular job as one of the best tight ends in the NFL. Goedert of the Philadelphia Eagles was hired by the NFL Network to help analyze this year’s class of TEs at the NFL Combine, called by many as the best TE class since Godert’s 2018 class. Ironically, this year’s TE class includes another small-town South Dakotan in Timber Lake and SDSU graduate Tucker Kraft. Goedert was the 49th overall pick (17th in the second round) in the 2018 Draft, and Kraft also is projected to be a top draft pick.

March 4: Rogers, MN, native Logan Nelson, 29, of the Rapid City Rush scored his 300th career point in the ECHL, a minor hockey league. This is Nelson’s eighth season in the ECHL and this was his 435th game and his 135th with the Rush. Louis Dumont is the all-time ECHL career points leader as he scored 890 in 771 games. Nelson would need 28 points to put him in the top 100 of all-time ECHL scorers.

March 6: Tea Area will join the Eastern South Dakota Conference in 2024-25. That will bring the conference to 10 schools as the Titans will join Harrisburg, Brandon Valley, Aberdeen Central, Watertown, Brookings, Mitchell, Yankton, Pierre and Huron. The conference started in 1924 as the Big Eight (Aberdeen, Brookings, Huron, Madison, Mitchell, Sioux Falls, Watertown and Yankton) Basketball Conference before being reorganized into the ESD in 1927.

March 6: SDSU men’s basketball seniors Matt Dentlinger (Arcadia, IA) and Alex Arians (Madison, WI) played their last games for the Jackrabbits in the two longest careers in school history over their five-season (2018-23) careers. Arians played in 150 games (137 starts) with 1,272 points, 722 rebounds, 326 assists and 106 steals. Dentlinger played in 155 games (108 starts) with 1,300 points, 643 rebounds, 162 assists, 117 blocked shots and 62 steals. The duo helped SDSU post an overall record of 111-44, a Summit League record of 67-13 and a home Frost Arena record of 62-4, and they helped the Jacks earn four conference titles, a Summit League Tournament championship and one NCAA DI Tournament appearance.

March 7: Doland native and former NSU assistant coach Tim Miles was named the Mountain West Conference coach of the year. His San Jose State men’s basketball team is having one of its best seasons in program history. A couple of days after picking up the award, Miles and his Spartans earned their 20th win (first time San Jose team had won that many games since 1980-81) and won their first Mountain West Tournament game since joining the conference in 2013-14.

March 7: The Hot Springs boys continued their magical 2022-23 sports season. Last fall, the Bison football team went 8-3, winning a couple of playoff games on the road before losing in the state semifinals. Now the Bison boys’ basketball team (19-4) has been upsetting higher-seeded teams on its way to the State A tourney. Hot Springs defeated Rapid City Christian 77-67 on March 3 (RCC defeated the Bison 66-47 on Feb. 24) in the region tourney and followed it up by defeating Winner 47-43 in a SoDak 16 game. Winner finished 21-2.

March 9: The average margin of victory was 19.0 points in the 48 SoDak 16 boys’ and girls’ basketball games which determine the eight spots in the six state basketball tournaments. Eight of the 48 SoDak 16 games were within five points; 15 games were determined by a margin of 25 points or more; and 37 games were won by 10 points or more.

March 9: Since the Class A division of high school girls’ basketball was created in 1985, only two women coaches have gotten their teams in the A state tourney five times. Marcelle Herman did it five times with Belle Fourche and this year is the fifth time for teams coached by Laura Big Crow. She started the girls’ program at Lakota Tech, which opened in the fall of 2020, and this is the second straight season that her Tatanka have qualified for the state tourney. Big Crow had five nieces on the 2022-23 Lakota Tech team. Previously, Big Crow was an assistant coach to Lyle “Dusty” LeBeau for three seasons at Pine Ridge before taking over that girls’ program and leading the Thorpes to the state tourney in 2012, 2013 and 2014 (state runners-up). Big Crow scored more than 1,000 points and had more than 1,000 rebounds during her career at Pine Ridge and went on to all-conference college careers at Williston State and Mayville State. Big Crow is a cousin to another Pine Ridge legend, SuAnne Big Crow.

March 10: The Augustana University women’s basketball season came to an end in the first round of the national tourney as the Vikings fell to Missouri Southern 75-74 in Duluth, MN. It marked the end of the career for retiring Augie coach Dave Krauth, who guided the Vikings to a 695-302 record in the past 34 seasons, all winning seasons. Since he became head coach in 1989, the Vikings qualified for 15 national tournaments. He has not only produced All-Americans, MVPs and all-conference players on the court, but numerous players who have earned prestigious academic awards. Krauth has been honored with numerous coach of the year awards from a variety of sources. Before Augie, Krauth was a tremendous high school boys’ and girls’ basketball coach with a 347-143 record. An Army veteran, Krauth’s first basketball coaching gig in the 1970s was at West Point Prep in New Jersey, taking over for Mike Krzyzewski.

March 11: Emporia State of Kansas ended NSU’s season by defeating the Wolves 72-51 in the first round of the NCAA DII national tourney in Maryville, MO. It was the first NCAA tourney win in the Hornets’ history and Emporia coach Craig Doty’s NCAA tourney debut against his home state. Doty, an Alcester-Hudson graduate who is now 37, is 249-114 in 11 seasons as a college basketball coach with three national championships (2018 NAIA title with Graceland, IA, and 2016 and 2014 National Junior College titles with Rock Valley, IA, College).

March 11: Jordan Belka’s basketball career has ended as his Northern State Wolves lost their first-round game in the NCAA DII national tourney. The Rogers, MN, native appeared in a record 149 games for NSU from 2018-23, starting 84. He ended with 1,314 points, 686 rebounds, 172 assists, 85 steals and 75 blocked shots. The Wolves went 115-44 during Belka’s five seasons, including 81-21 in the conference and 58-11 at home, and won four conference titles, four North Division titles, three conference tournaments and made four national tourney appearances.

March 11: Rapid City Christian senior girls’ basketball player Olivia Kieffer finished ninth all-time in state history in career points (2,492). Her 33 points in her final high school game gave the Comets seventh place in the State A tourney and moved her from 11th place to ninth place. Mitchell Christian 2007 graduate Jill Young is in first place (3,317 points) and 1986 Summit graduate Lori Wohlleber is in 10th place (2,490).

March 13: Corsica-Stickney senior Avery Broughton was named to the South Dakota Basketball Coaches Association’s 2022-2023 All-State girls basketball team for the fifth time. Broughton was named to the Class B first team for the fourth-straight year after earning second-team honors as an eighth-grader in 2018.

March 14: The two Rapid City public high schools will no longer have a gymnastics team. The community’s public school board cited low participation numbers, high costs of the sport and trouble finding coaches as some of the reasons. Rapid City Stevens and Central have been competing as a co-op team in recent seasons. In the 50 years of SD gymnastics, the two Rapid City schools have won a combined 17 state team titles and 14 state runner-up trophies.

March 14: Joel Scott of Black Hills State made one of two free throws with 4.7 seconds left to give his team a 68-67 lead over West Texas A&M in the South Central Region championship in Canyon, TX. Damian Thornton of West Texas got the ball down court and made a shot as time expired. Officials reviewed the play — for more than four minutes — and determined that time ran out on West Texas before the ball left Thornton’s hands. There were 14 lead changes and 14 ties in the game. Black Hills State will advance to its second straight NCAA DII Elite Eight in Evansville, IN.

March 14: The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay has hired Sundance Wicks as its new men’s basketball coach. Wicks was a former standout player and assistant coach at NSU. His athletic director at Green Bay is former NSU athletic director Josh Moon. The DI Green Bay Phoenix of the Horizon League went 3-29 last season. Wicks comes from Wyoming and also has coaching experience at Colorado, Northern Illinois, San Francisco and Missouri Western.

March 15: The New England Patriots have signed Parkston native and 11-year NFL veteran offensive tackle Riley Reiff. The 34-year-old has 149 career starts in his 163 NFL games for the Bears, Bengals, Vikings and Lions. A former first-round pick who started three seasons at Iowa, Reiff was coveted for his toughness, technique and work ethic, and he has proven himself to be a great leader and a solid and dependable pro player.

March 15: The Dakota State women’s basketball team advanced to its first national semifinals in program history. The Trojans defeated top-seeded Indiana Wesleyan 71-70 on freshman Caitlin Dyer’s game-winning three-pointer with 18.6 seconds left in the NAIA national quarterfinals. The Trojans were led by Savannah Walsdorf (20 points, five rebounds and four steals) and Howard graduate Elsie Aslesen (12 points, nine rebounds and six blocks).

March 16: Devon Schmitz celebrated his birthday by making a three-pointer as time expired to give Elk Point-Jefferson a 53-50 win over St. Thomas More in the opening round of the State A tourney. With four seconds left, STM tied the game at 50 on Caleb Hollenbeck’s three-pointer. Schmitz, who missed two free throws with 18 seconds left, made all six of his three-point attempts.

March 17: The St. Thomas More boys’ basketball team defeated Mount Vernon/Plankinton 65-47 in the State A tourney consolation semifinals to give coach Dave Hollenbeck his 500th win. Hollenbeck’s son Caleb led the charge with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Hollenbeck is the 10th boys’ coach in SD history to hit the milestone as he is 500-142 in 27 seasons with state titles in 2012, 2011, 2005 and 2004.

March 17: No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson shocked No. 1 Purdue and the college basketball world in beating the Boilermakers 63-58 in the NCAA men’s tourney. Fairleigh Dickinson of New Jersey is coached by Tobin Anderson, a former assistant boys’ basketball coach under his father Steve Anderson at Douglas High School in the 1990s. The Andersons coached Douglas to the SD State A title on March 9, 1996, as their Patriots defeated Lyman 54-52.

March 17: SDSU senior Myah Selland led the Jacks to a 62-57 overtime win over the University of Southern California in the first round of the NCAA women’s basketball tourney. The Letcher native scored 16 points in a row — SDSU’s final seven in regulation and first nine in overtime — to boost the Jackrabbits into the second round.

March 18: The University of Minnesota announced that it has hired Dawn Plitzuweit as its next women’s basketball coach. She coached West Virginia to 19 wins and a NCAA tourney berth this past season and before that she led USD to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2022. Plitzuweit, 50, is 365-141 as a college head coach. The Wisconsin native signed a six-year contract worth $800,000 per year in base salary.

March 18: The six Aberdeen Christian seniors (Andrew Brennan, Abe Holscher, Jackson Isakson, Ethan Russell, Malek Wieker and Kaden Clark) finished their high school basketball careers with an 85-15 record and four State B appearances (second, third and seventh plus the Covid year when the tourney was cancelled). Plus, the team had three 1,000-point plus career scorers in Russell (1,350 points), Wieker (1,299) and Jackson (1,255). The three surpassed the 1,000-point milestone within 16 days of each other as Isakson did it on Dec. 28, Russell on Jan. 7 and Wieker on Jan. 13.

March 18: Coach Jeff Gruenhagen and his De Smet Bulldogs won their third State B boys’ basketball title in a row, matching a feat accomplished only by Webster (1946-48), Mitchell (1984-86), Sioux Falls O’Gorman (2010-12) and Yankton, which won four in a row from 1922-25. Along with their three state titles and their fourth State B qualification as freshmen during the 2020 Covid year cancellation, the De Smet seniors had a 95-7 high school record (three losses to Sioux Valley and one each to Hamlin, Tea, Canistota and Dream City, AZ) and have the Bulldogs on a 61-game winning streak against Class B opponents along with continuing and raising De Smet’s home winning streak to 41.

March 18: Pierre earned fifth place, and its coach, Aberdeen native Brianna Kusler, became the first woman to lead a Class AA boys’ team to the state basketball tourney. Kusler also is the first woman to coach a Class AA boys’ team. Lincoln Kienholz of Pierre finished his career with 1,464 points, the 10th most in Class AA boys’ history.

March 18: Twin brothers Mac and Drew Ryken and their cousin Rugby Ryken, all seniors, scored 139 of champion Yankton’s 192 points in the Bucks three basketball State AA Tournament games. In the championship game, the trio of all-tourney selections scored Yankton’s final 22 points in its 65-61 win over Mitchell.

March 18: Rural Hayti farmer and 1995 Hamlin graduate Travis Wadsworth coached Hamlin in back-to-back basketball state tournaments. He is an assistant coach for the Hamlin girls, who won the State A tourney on March 11 in Watertown with his daughter Kami as one of the standout players. The following weekend, Wadsworth was an assistant boys’ coach as the Hamlin Chargers, including his freshman son Jackson, took third place in the State A.

March 18: Dakota Valley finished its second perfect season and earned it second straight State A boys’ basketball title. The Panthers have now won a Class A boys’ record 53 games in a row. Armour has the B boys’ record of 64 straight from 1978-80 while Mitchell has the AA record of 40 straight from 1983-86. Isaac Bruns of Dakota Valley finished his career with 2,309 points, the 15th most in SD boys’ history.

March 18: Eighth-seeded Arkansas nipped top seed and defending national champion Kansas 72-71 in the second round of the NCAA men’s basketball tourney. Arkansas is coached by former Rapid City Thrillers coach Eric Musselman.

March 18: Hot Springs junior Josh Kleinsasser had 21 points and nine rebounds to pace the Bison to a 60-50 win over Mount Vernon/Plankinton in the seventh-place game of the State A tourney. It was the first boys’ basketball state tournament win for Hot Springs since March 8, 1945, when the Bison defeated Leola 32-25.

March 19: A pair of former Aberdeen Cougars won an NCAA Division III women’s hockey title with Gustavus Adolphus College of St. Peter, MN. Sisters Hailey and Kaitlyn Holland helped the Gusties to a 2-1 win over Amherst (MA) College in triple overtime in the longest (3 hours and 55 minutes) women’s hockey national championship game in history. Kaitlyn Holland blasted home the game-winner to give the Gustavus program its first national title. Last year, the sisters helped the Gusties get to the national championship game.

March 19: Rapid City native Becky Hammon was named one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year, a recognition of women who have made a significant impact in their communities and across the country. One of the greatest pro players in history, Hammon coached the Las Vegas Aces to the WNBA championship in her first season with the team.

March 19: No. 1 Virginia Tech bounced No. 9 SDSU out of the second round of the NCAA women’s tourney with a 72-60 win in front of a sold-out home crowd of 8,925 fans in Blacksburg, VA. It ended one of SDSU’s best seasons (29-6) in history and the career of two of its best-ever players in Myah Selland of Letcher and Paiton Burckhard of Aberdeen. Selland played in 153 games for the Jacks from 2018-23 with 141 starts, 2,167 points, 887 rebounds, 452 assists, 188 steals and 78 blocked shots. Burckhard played in a school record 165 games for the Jacks from 2018-23 with 132 starts, 1,769 points, 826 rebounds, 261 assists, 138 steals and 39 blocked shots. The duo led SDSU to records of 129-36 overall, 76-5 conference and 67-8 at home in Frost Arena. They helped the Jacks win four conference titles and make five conference tourney championship games, winning two. The Jacks went 3-3 in NCAA tourney games, including a Sweet 16 appearance, plus Selland and Burckhard led SDSU to 2022 post-season wins over Ohio, Minnesota, Drake, Alabama, UCLA and Seton Hall to earn the WNIT national championship.

March 20: Black Hills State men’s basketball senior Joel Scott (Monument, CO) was named NCAA DII Conference Commissioner’s Association Ron Lenz National Player of the Year. In his four seasons (2019-23) with the Yellow Jackets, Scott has scored a school-record 2,471 points with 997 rebounds in 116 games played and 114 games started. BHSU has gone 55-14 in the last two seasons and advanced to the last two Final Fours. The Lenz award is voted on by sports information directors and is named after long-time SDSU SID Ron Lenz, a 1962 Sisseton graduate.

March 23: The Black Hills State men’s basketball season ended in the NCAA DII national semifinals for the second season in a row. West Liberty (W. VA) defeated the Yellow Jackets 87-82. In five seasons, coach Ryan Thompson has led Black Hills to a 104-41 record, two conference titles, a conference tourney title and an 8-2 NCAA tourney record.

March 28: The first-ever South Dakota high school girls’ fast-pitch softball game was played. Inside. In Iowa. Dell Rapids defeated Beresford 11-1 inside the Dordt dome in Sioux Center, IA. With snow on the ground across much of South Dakota, some of South Dakota’s 51 teams were still able to play outdoors later in the day on the state’s first opening day for the sport which will conclude June 1-3 with the state tournaments for classes AA, A and B in Aberdeen.

April 1: Rapid City native Becky Hammon will be among 12 inductees to be enshrined into the national Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Aug. 11-12. The six-time WNBA all-star and WNBA championship coach will be inducted along with Gregg Popovich, the winningest coach in NBA history. Hammon was an assistant coach, the first woman to do so, for Popovich in the NBA. Other inductees are Gene Bess, Pau Gasol, David Hixon, Gene Keady, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Dwayne Wade, Gary Blair, Jim Valvano and the 1976 women’s Olympic basketball team.

Email us at dave@sdsportscene.com if you think we missed something or if you have an event you would like us to consider for this feature.