June 1: Recent Rapid City Stevens graduate Simeon Birnbaum won the prestigious mile run at the HOKA Festival of Miles in St. Louis. His time of 3:57.53 was a new state record and the fourth fastest mile in United States high school history.
June 2: Grand Forks Red River senior Lauren Dosch was one of the MVPs of her girls’ track team this season. Dosch is a former Aberdeen resident as her dad Tom is a former head coach of the NSU Wolves football team. Dosch won the 800 meters (2:13.33) at the recent North Dakota State A track meet and ran legs on Red River’s state champion 4×400 and 4×800 relay teams.
June 3: In the first state-sanctioned fastpitch softball tournaments, the girls from Sioux Falls Lincoln (AA), West Central (A) and Castlewood (B) won state titles in Aberdeen. The state tourney will return to Aberdeen next year.
June 4: Aberdeen sports legend Bob “Pally” Beattie, 87, died. He came to Northern State in the 1950s after an all-state high school career in football and baseball in Warwick, RI. He played minor-league baseball for the Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland. In 1963, he was a defensive back and punter in the Canadian Football League for Ottawa until a knee injury ended his football career. He spent time as assistant football coach at Northern State and head football coach Aberdeen Central, and helped Aberdeen baseball teams win amateur state championships with sons Brad and Burt. Bob also was an MLB scout for the San Diego Padres (he worked for the team’s director of scouting, Aberdeen native Bill Gayton). He is in several halls of fame.
June 6: The Augustana baseball team’s season ended at the NCAA DII World Series with two losses. The NSIC and NCAA Central Region champion Vikings (47-21) recorded the second-most wins in program history. It was Augie’s second appearance in the World Series as the Vikings won the national title in 2018. This year, Augie was led by Jack Hines (Lombard, IL) with a .350 batting average and All-American pitcher Seth Miller (Blaine, MN), who went 11-2 this season. Augie coach Tim Huber was in his 15th season with the Vikings and he has a 547-248-1 record.
June 6: For the second year in a row, a Bison High School girl has won the State B Golf Championship. Allison Kahler won the title after finishing second at the state meet the past two seasons. In 2022, Kahler’s teammate and classmate Greta Anderson won the state title. Bison competes in golf in a co-op with two other schools as Bison-Hettinger-Scranton.
June 6: Castlewood senior Mackenzie Everson played in five state tournaments during the 2022-23 sports season. She and her Castlewood teammates finished sixth in the State B volleyball tourney last fall and finished fifth in the State B basketball tourney in March. In May, Everson ran in four events in the state track meet and placed in three of them. At the beginning of June, Everson and her Castlewood softball teammates won the inaugural State B Fastpitch Tournament in Aberdeen. This week, Everson finished tied for 30th in the State B golf tourney, which helped her team finish seventh. She also was the valedictorian of her senior class.
June 6: Eighty-two percent of the voters in the Mitchell School District approved a $17 million bond issue that will pave the way to complete proposed new athletic facilities. The improvements include three new gymnasiums, a new wrestling/competitive dance room, new locker rooms and a weight room facility.
June 6: Huron senior Bryn Huber made a 30-foot birdie on the first playoff hole to win the State AA girls’ golf championship in Pierre. Huber and Allison Meyerink of Mitchell were tied for the lead after 36 holes. Huber shot a 70 in her final high school round, the best score of her high school career.
June 9: Former Rapid City Stevens standout athlete Austin Hagen has been promoted from assistant to head football coach at St. Thomas More. Hagen replaced legendary Wayne Sullivan, now the new assistant principal at Sturgis. Sullivan started the football program at St. Thomas More in 1991. His teams went 231-95 in the past 32 seasons, winning 17 Black Hills Conference football titles. Sullivan advanced STM to the state semifinals 14 times and the Cavaliers were state runners-up six times.
June 10: The winningest high school boys’ basketball coach in state history has died. Britton native and NSU graduate Larry Luitjens was 81. His teams were 748-45 in 46 seasons (1968-2014). In 41 seasons, his Custer teams won five state titles (1990, 1992, 1993, 1998 and 2002) in 13 state title game appearances and won seven Lakota Nation Invitational championships. Luitjens also coached at DeSmet for four years and won two (1970 and 1971) state titles there. His 1969 De Smet team was the state runner-up.
June 12: Denver won the NBA title by taking its series with Miami 4-1. The Heat used the G League and their affiliate Sioux Falls Skyforce to develop their roster, coaching staff and support staff. Seven members of the Miami’s playoff roster, including starter Gabe Vincent, had played for the Skyforce. Four members of the coaching staff spent time with the Skyforce. Three Miami support staff members — strength coaches and certified athletic trainers — worked for Sanford Sports.
June 12: A pioneer in women’s sports, Carol Stellner (1941-2023), has died at age 81. The Aberdeen woman is a member of the softball and bowling halls of fame in South Dakota. Stellner, a Doland native, played softball at NSU and was a fixture on the South Dakota bowling scene for decades.
June 12: More than 2,300 Jackrabbit Club members contributed more than $2.32 million to SDSU during the most recent fiscal year. That shattered the previous annual fund record by 25 percent in support of the $4.3 million given as student-athlete scholarships at SDSU.
June 13: Representatives of Sanford International and the Minnehaha Country Club have agreed on a three-year extension to keep the PGA Champions Tour event in Sioux Falls through 2027. The sixth annual Sanford International will be Sept. 11-17. The event has brought to South Dakota some of golf’s biggest names including Jack Nicklaus, Fred Couples, Davis Love III, Bernhard Langer, Ernie Els, John Daly and Hale Irwin.
June 13: Former South Dakota State standout Myah Selland (Letcher) will continue her basketball career in Spain. Selland signed a professional contract with BAXI Ferrol in Ferrol, Spain, and will report to the team for the 2023-24 season later this year. Ferrol is set to compete in the top level of the Spanish League during the upcoming season following a 27-3 mark in 2022-23.
June 14: Rapid City Stevens graduate Simeon Birnbaum continued his record-breaking 2023. He won the two-mile run in record time at the prestigious Brooks PR Invitational in Seattle. Birnbaum, who will run for Oregon this fall, ran it in 8 minutes and 34.10 seconds to break the meet record by 8 seconds. It was the second fastest two-mile run in high school history.
June 14: Clark native and pro golfer Kim Kaufman will join former Texas Tech football coaches Kliff Kingsbury and Mike Leach (1961-2022) among others as inductees to the school’s Hall of Fame on Sept. 29. Kaufman was a four-time All-American and the first women’s golfer in school history to earn a No. 1 ranking in the nation. Other inductees will be Gonzalo Escobar (men’s tennis), Greg Lowery (men’s basketball), Matt Wingo (football), Jason Young (track and field) and Cathy Carlson (women’s tennis).
June 15: Former Aberdeen Roncalli state champion and NSU All-American hurdler Jake Hamik will be inducted into the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Hall of Fame on July 11 in Sioux Falls.
June 16: Sioux Falls Christian ran the fastest 800-meter relay in South Dakota high school history at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene, OR. The boys’ team of Jahaeim Reuer, Carter VanDonge, Noah Schroder and Josiah Adams finished third in a time of 1:27.42.
June 16: Street Stock racer Jodie Michaelsohn of Aberdeen earned his first feature win on his home track in 11 years. In the feature at Brown County Speedway, Michaelsohn got his first lead only a few feet from the checkered flag when he slipped past Maria Broksieck of Goodwin just before the finish line.

June 17: A NSU football recruit went 10-0 to win the 220-pound wrestling division of the Summer Scuffle in Kansas where he also was named tourney MVP. Noah Hutmacher of Chamberlain, also a state champion wrestler in high school, will be a freshman for the Wolves this fall.
June 17: A 14-year-old, Kate McElroy of Watertown, won the women’s division of the Harvey Mills Longest Day 10K in Brookings. She ran it 42 minutes, 39 seconds, the same time as her 40-year-old dad, Owen McElroy, who edged her for fourth place while Kate finished fifth overall.
June 17: Gracelyn Leiseth of Hamlin won the shot put and finished second in the discus at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene, OR. She will be a freshman at the University of Florida this fall.
June 18: Recent Rapid City Stevens graduate Simeon Birnbaum won the boys one-mile run in 4:02.22 at the Nike Outdoor Nationals. The event was run at Birnbaum’s new home, Hayward Field in Eugene where he will be a freshman at the University of Oregon this fall. 
June 21: Mike Vernon has been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame and will be inducted Nov. 13 in Toronto. Vernon was a standout NHL goalie who won 385 games with his hometown Calgary Flames, Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks and Florida Panthers from 1982-2002. He helped the Flames win the Stanley Cup in 1989 and the Red Wins win the Cup in 1997, when he was voted MVP (Conn Smythe Trophy) of the Stanley Cup playoffs. In 2018-19, Vernon’s son, Matt Vernon, was the North American Hockey League goalie of the year in leading the Aberdeen Wings to the NAHL championship with his MVP Robertson Cup performance.
June 23: Laurel Prieb Field was officially opened at the Veterans Memorial Sports Complex in Webster. The $100,000-plus field, a replica of the Minnesota Twins’ Target Field, was named in honor of Prieb, a 1973 Webster graduate who had a 44-year career in Major League Baseball. Also on hand was Minnesota Twins president and CEO Dave St. Peter and there was a video message from former MLB commissioner Bud Selig, who is Prieb’s father-in-law.
June 23: Woonsocket native and pro fisherman Duane Hjelm won a national tournament in his home state. Hjelm caught 10 walleyes that weighed 27.1 pounds from two days of fishing on the Missouri River to win the National Walleye Tour event in Pickstown. Hjelm earned $95,055 in cash and prizes, including $15,000 in cash and a Ranger fishing boat equipped with a Mercury engine in beating a field of 131 other pros.

June 24: Watertown, CT, native David Gravel won the richest payday in sprint car and dirt track history at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon. Gravel earned $250,000 by winning the 40-lap World of Outlaws feature in the second annual BillionAuto.com High Bank Nationals. Ironically, Gravel is a driver for Huset’s Speedway owner Tod Quiring and was running a special BillionAuto.com paint scheme throughout the four-day event. Feature runner-up, Rico Abreu of St. Helena, CA, earned $50,000.

June 25: A father and son accomplished a rare feat in South Dakota amateur baseball as each hit home runs in the same game. Brent Osborn and his son Bennett led Redfield Dairy Queen to a 17-5 win over Northville. Brent had a solo homer and a single while Bennett went 5-for-5 (2 homers, 2 doubles and a single) with five RBIs and four runs scored.
June 24: Led by a pair of world champions, South Dakota finished fifth in the National Junior High Finals Rodeo June 18-24 in in Georgia. Casper Hammerstrom of New Underwood and Slone Weishaar of Belle Fourche were the world champion team ropers, earning $2,336.67. Taos Weborg of St. Charles, who was the 2022 Junior High bareback world champion as a seventh-grader, finished fourth in all-around.
June 27: Recent Hamlin graduate Gracelyn Leiseth was named the South Dakota Gatorade girls’ track athlete of the year for the third year in a row. Leiseth, who will throw for Florida this fall, holds the all-time state records in the shot put and discus and was one of the best high school throwers in the nation. Leiseth is the first three-time winner since Jasmyne King of Rapid City Central won it in 2008-10 before going on to run at the University of Miami.
June 28: Olympic swimming gold medalist Michael Andrew, who spent the first 10 years or so of his life growing up in Aberdeen, added another national title to his resume. Andrew won the men’s 50-meter butterfly at the 2023 Phillips 66 National Championships in Indianapolis. The 24-year-old swam the race in 23.11 seconds with emerging swimming superstar Dare Rose second (23.2) and Andrew’s fellow Olympic gold medalist Caeleb Dressel third (22.35). Andrew is now qualified for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, on July 14-30.

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.