April 1: Former 1980s NSU coach Doug Ekmark was inducted into the Minnesota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Ekmark, a 1966 Anoka (MN) High School, coached for almost five decades at the college and high school levels, mostly in Minnesota. He has degrees from Hamline University and the University of St. Thomas.

April 1: Former University of North Dakota hockey teammates Tyler Kleven, Jake Sanderson, Jacob Bernard-Docker and Shane Pinto suited up for the Ottawa Senators in their NHL game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. It is unclear if four college teammates have ever played on the same team in NHL history.

April 1: Rapid City native Becky Hammon will be among 12 inductees to be enshrined into the 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.

April 2: It was the perfect opening for the Augustana softball team on their revamped Bowden Field in Sioux Falls. The Vikings swept Minnesota State-Mankato in a doubleheader with junior Lexi Lander (Onawa, IA) throwing a perfect game in the finale. Lander got out (nine ground outs, seven flyouts and five strikeouts) all 21 consecutive batters she faced in the 2-0 Augie win sparked by RBI singles from Torri Chute (Stillwater, MN) and Delaney Young (Park Cottage Grove, MN). Augie home improvements include an artificial turf field, bigger, heated dugouts with bathrooms and grandstand/press box renovations. Now, two of the nicest DII softball complexes in the nation are located in South Dakota along with Koehler Hall of Fame Field in Aberdeen, which opened on the NSU campus in 2021.

April 8: Rapid City Stevens senior Simeon Birnbaum set a national, state and meet record in the 3,200 meters at the 55 th annual Arcadia Invitational in California. Birnbaum broke his own state record of 8:55.22 set in 2022 by more than 21 seconds, clocking a 8:34.10, which also broke the National Federation High School record of 8:34.23 set in 2008 by German Fernandez of Riverbank High in California.

April 8: The SDSU softball team defeated Nebraska-Omaha 1-0 in a school-record 14-inning, 3-hour and 48-minute game played in Sioux Falls. The previously longest game the Jacks played in was 11 innings. SDSU pinch runner Tori Tollefson scored the game’s lone run on a throwing error in the bottom of the 14 th inning. Singles by Chiara Bassi and Emma Osmundson and a sacrifice bunt by Mia Jarecki set up the Jacks’ game-winning run. Tori Kniesche pitched all 14 innings for the Jacks, facing 52 batters while throwing 213 pitches with 15 strikeouts while giving up six hits and five walks.

April 9: It was a big week for Texas A&M star golfer Sam Bennett and his caddie/coach Brian Kortan. As an amateur, Bennett finished tied for 16 th (2 under 286) in the Master’s. Texas A&M coach Kortan is a Yankton native who won the 1987 State A golf championship and led his Bucks to the high school team title that year. Bennett, who won the U.S. Amateur national title in 2022 with Kortan tending his bag, was in contention for the Masters’ title for the first three days. He and his coach as caddie made a lot of national headlines during Masters week as Bennett was in third place after two rounds and played the third round with eventual champion Jon Rahm and runner-up Brooks Koepka. Kortan was a pro golfer for 16 years, playing on a variety of levels, including the PGA, Nationwide and Dakotas (which brought him to Aberdeen) tours.

April 11: The University of Sioux Falls women’s softball team gave their coach a milestone win against an across-the-street rival. USF nipped Augustana 2-0 to give coach Shannon Pivovar her 100th career win. Kait Van Der Zwaag not only threw a one-hit shutout for the Cougars, but she also hit the game-winning, two-run homer. A former SDSU assistant, Pivovar is 100-103 in her six seasons as the USF coach.

April 13: Hamlin senior Gracelyn Leiseth set the high school girls’ discus state record at the Menno Relays with a toss of 171 feet, 8 inches. It broke the 165-11 mark of Custer’s Kellyn Kortemeyer at the 2022 state track meet. Leiseth, a University of Florida recruit, also has the state record (52-6.75) in the shot put.

April 14: Former SDSU basketball standout Myah Selland of Letcher signed a WNBA training camp contract with the Minnesota Lynx. She will report April 29 to the Lynx, who have their first pre-season game on May 5.

April 15: South Dakota native and Oklahoma sophomore Danielle Sievers helped the Sooners win their second national gymnastics title in a row. Sievers had one of the top scores in vault and floor, and she also competed on the bars for OU. Sievers, who is from Gary and a Deuel High School graduate, has already earned All-American and Big 12 champion honors during her career.

April 15: Augustana has hired Jillian Flores Bennett to replace retiring Dave Krauth as its women’s basketball coach. She is only the seventh coach in the program’s history, which started in 1972 and was led by Krauth for the last 34 seasons. Bennett has a 46-15 record as a college head coach, and coached a junior college (Iowa Western Community College) to a 26-5 record last season. Bennett, a native of Council Bluffs (Lewis Central High School), played at IWCC from 2007-09 and finished her career at Benedictine College (Atchison, KS) from 2009-11.

April 17: Yankton has hired three Watertown graduates as head coaches: Matt Decker (2015 Watertown graduate) will head girls’ basketball; Robert Coyle III (2018 WHS graduate) wrestling; and 2019 WHS graduate Tayler (Corey) Stacey volleyball.

April 17: McCook Central-Montrose seventh-grader Jaxon Scheff competed in his first race (the mile run) this spring. Scheff, who is legally blind, used a guide runner (Plankinton native, former DWU runner and 23-year-old Layne Lewis of Mitchell) to become the first known blind athlete to compete in a state-sanctioned track meet in state history. Last fall, Scheff competed in middle school cross country.

April 17: Two-time All-American Joel Scott (Monument, CO) announced he was transferring from Black Hills State to Colorado State where he will use his final year of eligibility in men’s basketball. Scott, who took the Yellow Jackets to two NCAA DII Final Fours, scored 2,471 points (seventh all-time in state history) in his four seasons at Black Hills. Mike Daum of SDSU is the all-time leader in SD collegiate career scoring with 3,067 points (2019 last season) followed by Eric Kline of NSU/Augie (3,062, 1995); Alan Miller of DWU (2,920, 1985); Scott Morgan of DWU (2,810, 1993); Ty Hoglund of DWU (2,729, 2020); and Brett Schwartz of Dakota State (2,581, 1991).

April 19: SDSU women’s basketball coach Aaron Johnston and Katrina Merriweather (Cincinnati) have been named to the coaching staff for the USA Women’s AmeriCup Team. Kamie Ethridge (Washington State) will serve as the head coach for Team USA, which is set to compete at the 2023 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup this summer in Leon, Mexico.

April 20: SDSU named its football captains for the 2023 season: Mason McCormick (Sioux Falls Roosevelt); Adam Bock (Solon, IA); Mark Gronowski (Naperville, IL); DyShawn Gales (Chicago); Isaiah Davis (Joplin, MO); and Garret Greenfield (Rock Valley, IA). That means with McCormick as one of the captains, the Jacks will take to the field this fall for the ninth season in a row led by at least one team captain from South Dakota. Since 2016, 14 of the Jacks 38 captains have been from South Dakota: McCormick in 2022; McCormick, Wes Genant of Parkston and Xavier Ward of Freeman in fall 2021; Genant and Preston Tetzlaff of Brookings in spring 2021; Evan Greeneway of Yankton in 2019; Dalton Cox of Aberdeen Roncalli in 2018; Taryn Christion of Sioux Falls Roosevelt in 2018; Christion and Dallas Goedert of Britton in 2017; Shayne Gottlob of Salem in 2016; and Nick Mears of Milbank in 2016.

April 25: Paolo Banchero of Orlando was named the 2023 NBA Rookie of the Year. His agent is Mitchell native Mike Miller, the last Orlando player to win the award in 2001. The only other Magic player to win the award was Shaquille O’Neal in 1993.

April 26: Aberdeen native Paiton Burckhard played in 165 games in her five-year career as a SDSU women’s basketball player. She missed only one game in five seasons (2018-23). Burckhard now is tied for the second-most career games played in the history of NCAA women’s basketball. Victaria Saxton (2018-23) of South Carolina has the record with 166 games played. Jordan Lewis of Alabama/Baylor also played in 165 career games from 2017-22.

April 27: Iowa State defensive end Will McDonald IV was selected by the New York Jets in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft with the 15 th overall pick. He joined running back George Amundson as the only first-round picks in Cyclone history. Amundson, an Aberdeen native, was the 14th overall selection in the first round of the 1973 NFL draft by the Houston Oilers.

April 28: Timber Lake native and SDSU tight end Tucker Kraft was selected in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers. Kraft was the 78 th overall pick and the 33 rd Jackrabbit to be taken in the NFL Draft. Here is the SDSU draft history: 1939, Bob Riddell, end, Philadelphia (17^th round); 1951, Harry Gibbons, back, Chicago (20) and Dick Peot, tackle, Detroit (28); 1953, Pete Retzlaff, back, Detroit (22); 1955, Jerry Welch, back, Baltimore (22); 1956, Dick Klawitter, center, Chicago (8); 1957, Harwood Hoeft, end, Baltimore (24); 1958, Wayne Haensel, tackle, New York Giants (25); 1959, LeRoy Bergan, tackle, Baltimore (17); 1961, Leland Bondhus, tackle, Green Bay (19); 1962, Joe Thorne, back, Green Bay (12) and Ron Frank, tackle, San Francisco (16); 1964, Wayne Rasmussen, back, Detroit (9); 1966, Ron Meyer, quarterback, Chicago (7); and Ed Maras, end, Green Bay (20); 1970, Tim Roth, defensive end, Oakland (16); 1973, Phil Engle, tackle, Green Bay (11); 1975, Lynn Boden, tackle, Detroit (1) and Jerry Lawrence, defensive tackle, Houston (8); 1976, Todd Simonson, defensive tackle, Houston (6) and Bob Gissler, defensive end, Miami (14); 1978, Bill Matthews, linebacker, New England (5); 1980, Chuck Loewen, offensive lineman, San Diego (7); 1986, Bruce Klostermann, linebacker, Denver (8); 1993, Doug Miller, linebacker, San Diego (7); 1995, Adam Timmerman, offensive lineman, Green Bay (7); 1999, Steve Heiden, tight end, San Diego (3); 2010, Danny Batten, defensive end, Buffalo (6); 2018, Dallas Goedert, tight end, Philadelphia (2); 2019, Jordan Brown, cornerback,Cincinnati (7); 2022, Pierre Strong Jr., running back, New England (4) and Chris Oladokun, quarterback, Pittsburgh (7); and 2023, Tucker Kraft, tight end, Green Bay (3).

April 29: The 2023 Jackrabbit Athletic Scholarship Auction eclipsed the $2 million mark, raising a record $2,092,665 for SDSU scholarships. Last year, the event raised a $1.59 million, the previous record.

April 27-29: Several South Dakotans won titles at the prestigious 113th Drake Relays: Jackson Harrison of Northern State (men’s 10,000 meters); Colten Brand of Augustana (men’s 1,500 meters); Joe Lynch of USD (men’s high jump); Meredith Clark of USD (women’s shot put); Jacy Pulse of USD (women’s 400-meter hurdles); Simeon Burnbaum of RC Stevens (boys’ mile); Hugo Morvan of USD (men’s 110-meter hurdles); Marshall Faurot of USD (men’s pole vault); and the Augustana women’s distance medley team (Mia Salas, Ella Heinitz, Caroline Sudbeck and PJ English).

April 30: Several undrafted players with South Dakota connections have signed free agent contracts with NFL teams or have been invited to rookie minicamps. USD offensive tackle Alex Jensen signed with Miami; NDSU defensive lineman Spencer Waege (Watertown) signed with San Francisco; and Iowa linebacker Seth Benson (SF Washington) signed with Denver. Among those invited to rookie minicamps: USD kicker Eddie Ogamba (Baltimore); USD long snapper Dalton Godfrey (Philadelphia and Oakland); and SDSU defensive tackle Caleb Sanders (NY Giants).

In 2022, there were 17 players in the NFL that had SD connections. All 17, except for former SDSU quarterback Chris Oladokun, played in at least one regular-season game as Oladokun spent the season on Kansas City’s practice squad. His teammate, USD’s Jack Cochrane, played in the Super Bowl for the champion Chiefs. The other NFLers with SD ties were USD’s Kameron Cline (Indianapolis), Chris Streveler (NY Jets), and Tom Compton (Denver); SF Washington’s Matt Farniok (Dallas) and Nate Gerry (Washington); USF’s Dennis Gardeck (Arizona) and Trey Pipkins III (LA Chargers); SDSU’s Don Gardner (Tampa Bay), Cade Johnson (Seattle), Christian Rozeboom (LA Rams), Pierre Strong Jr. (New England), and Dallas Godert (Philadelphia), also a Britton-Hecla graduate; Parkston’s Riley Reiff (Chicago); Warner’s Derrek Tuszka (LA Chargers); and Augustana’s C.J. Ham (Minnesota).

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: