April 30, 2024: Hall of Fame wrestler and wrestling coach Stan Opp (1951-2024) has died at age 72 at his home in Malaga, WA. The 1969 Aberdeen Central and 1973 SDSU graduate who was born in Eureka was one of South Dakota’s first great high school and college wrestlers (154-24-5 combined record). He had numerous successes on the national and world stages: 1969 national Junior Olympic champion; 1970 national AAU and U.S. Wrestling Federation national champion; fifth in the 1973 World Games in Moscow; and member of USA international teams that wrestled around the world from 1970-76. Opp, a North Central Conference MVP, was a three-time national place winner (twice national runner-up at 118 pounds) at SDSU where he compiled a 94-19-4 record. Opp went 60-5-1 and won a pair of state titles at Aberdeen Central. He had a great career as a college and high school wrestling coach in the state of Washington. He was the NAIA national rookie college coach of the year in 1978 and is in six halls of fame, including the National Wrestling, SDSU and Aberdeen Central halls.
May 1: After 30 seasons as a high school head football coach, Kerwin Hoellein has resigned at Warner. Teams from Warner, Eureka-Bowdle, Wolsey-Wessington and Andes Central went 191-100 under the Northern State graduate. Last fall, Hoellein and his Monarchs went 12-0 to win the State 9A title. Four of his teams during his career were state runners-up.
May 5: The University of Minnesota Crookston equestrian team wrapped up the 2023-24 season at the 2024 Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association National Championships in North Carolina. The event featured 500 riders from across the U.S. and Canada. Minnesota-Crookston senior Gabriella “Gabi” Siefkes of Aberdeen wrapped up her decorated Golden Eagle career by earning two national Honorable Mention awards. Siefkes competed in Individual Open Equitation over Fences and Individual Open Equitational on the Flat (where you put your horses through walking, trotting and cantering — at a speed between a trot and gallop). Siefkes also is a National Collegiate Equestrian Association All-Academic First-Team honoree.
May 6: The South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame will induct 14 individuals at its 14th annual banquet Aug. 24 at the Ramkota Hotel in Sioux Falls. Honorees include: 1978 Watertown graduate Kay (Stormo) Freund; 1954 Lake Norden graduate Dale Jacobsen; 2004 Aberdeen Central graduate Derrick McCauley; 1953 Aberdeen Central graduate Wayne Fix; 1994 Hitchcock graduate JoEllen (Hofer) Salmen; 1967 Glenham graduate Dennis Smith; and 1978 Mobridge graduate Tara (Batcheller) Volesky. The other seven are three Huron graduates in Brian Shanks (1974), Denny Busch (1959) and Jay Ellwein (1994) along with Troy Schaefer (1983 Pierre); Jill (Young) Sargent (2007 Mitchell Christian); Dick Padrnos (Lake Andes 1951); and Roger Hammerbeck (Chamberlain 1966). The 1978 Armour Packers will be recognized as a Team of Excellence. Burnell Glanzer coached Armour to a Class B title and 26-0 record. That season started the Packers on their way to a boys’ state record 64-game winning streak.
May 6: Former Rapid City Stevens basketball great Becky Hammon returned to her home state as the featured speaker of an event in Sioux Falls. Hammon is a six-time WNBA All-Star, former NBA assistant (first ever woman to do so), and now the head coach of the two-time defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces. Also, Hammon’s former coach, Ron Riherd of Rapid City, was honored with the National High School Basketball Coaches Association’s Wooden Legacy Coaching Award. The award is given in honor of legendary UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden and seeks to honor coaches who have achieved excellence on the floor, in the classroom and in the community. Also honored with a Wooden Award was Larry Toft of Sioux Falls, who won 12 state titles as a girls’ basketball assistant (six at SF Roosevelt and six at SF Washington).
May 7: Great Plains Lutheran’s track and field teams continued their successful Eastern Coteau Conference Meet championships at Britton. The Panthers won the boys’ division for the 18th year in a row and the girls’ division for the 14th year in a row. Counting relays, Micah Holien led the GPL boys by winning three events while Abby Kjenstad (winner of four events), Katherine Prahl (four), Halle Bauer (three) and Sophie Kannas (three) powered the GPL girls.
May 7: One streak continued and another ended Tuesday at the Lake Region Conference track and field meet in Ipswich. The Ipswich boys won their seventh consecutive LRC championship, while the Warner girls’ claimed their first LRC crown since 1996. Ipswich had won every girls’ conference championship since joining the LRC in 2006. The Tigers finished three and half points behind Warner in the team standings. The Warner girls won one event, the 1,600-meter sprint medley relay (Sophia Hoeft, Jaycee Jung, Kyleigh Schopp and Shaye Sauerwein).
May 7: The Augustana baseball team, ranked 12th in the nation, finished with a program record number of wins (41-8) and won its third regular-season conference title in a row. The Vikings also placed seven players on the NSIC team: Ashton Michek (also NSIC pitcher of the year), Jack Hines (also NSIC player of the year), Caleb Saari, Drey Dirksen, J.D. Hennen, Tate Meiners and Jason Axelberg. Coach Tim Huber was the NSIC coach of the year.
May 8: USD has announced that the Coyotes have signed football coach Bob Nielson to a four-year contract extension that would keep him at USD through the 2027 season. Last year, the Coyotes had their best season in the FCS DI era, with a 10-3 record, hosting two playoff games and finishing the season ranked fourth in the nation. Nielson has a 31-season coaching record of 228-125-1 (most wins among active FCS coaches) and is 42-45 in his eight seasons (2016-) at USD.
May 8: Kade Schimke of Ellendale will be a part of the U.S. under-18 squad that will compete in the 2024 Euro Youth Basketball Cup June 14-16 in Spain. The tourney draws players from all over the world.
May 8: SDSU outfielder Thatcher Kozal led a 10-6 thrilling comeback win over Nebraska. With SDSU trailing 6-2 after seven innings, the Waverly (NE) native hit three-run homers in both the eighth and ninth innings. The Jacks (18-25) have beaten the Cornhuskers (30-17) two years in a row. Dylan Driessen was the winning pitcher.
May 8: The Augustana softball team (45-13 and 27-1 NSIC) won the NSIC Tournament in impressive fashion as the Vikings outscored its three opponents 20-0. Vikings’ pitcher Grace Glanzer (SF Roosevelt) threw a perfect game, a no-hitter (one walk away from another perfect game) and a three-hitter with 18 total strikeouts in the tourney and was named the NSIC pitcher and newcomer of the year. The Vikings have won 27 straight and four NSIC regular-season titles in a row. Augie heads to Pittsburg, KS, for the Central Regional where No. 1 Pittsburg State (51-6) will host — the Gorillas are coached by former NSU head coach Jenny Fuller. The Vikings are 244-57 overall, 132-14 in the NSIC and won the 2019 national tournament in the last five seasons.
May 10: SDSU women’s basketball associate head coach Carissa Thielbar has resigned to spend more time with her family. SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston has added former Mitchell and SDSU standout Macy Miller to his staff. Thielbar spent 10 seasons with the Jacks, helping the program reach seven NCAA Tournaments and win 14 Summit League titles. Miller had been serving as an assistant coach under another former SDSU standout, Kristin Rotert, at Northwestern (IA). Carissa is married to Minnesota Twins pitcher Caleb Thielbar, another former SDSU star athlete.
May 10: Former NSU basketball standout Derek Hoellein is the new head football coach at Warner. The Monarchs won the State 9A title last fall under head coach Kerwin Hoellein with his son Derek as one of his assistants. Derek will continue in his role as Warner’s head coach for its boys’ basketball team as well.
May 6-12: Pierre football coach Steve Steele was one of 25 coaches selected from more than 1,500 applicants from around the world to participate in the week-long inaugural Tampa Bay Buccaneers National Coaching Academy. The program is designed to provide an opportunity for coaches who are seeking eventual initial entry into the NFL. Steele and his fellow participants were a diverse group that included two international coaches, five women and 15 college coaches. They joined the Bucs coaching staff for the team’s Rookie Camp while they were in Tampa Bay. Last fall, Pierre won its never-been-done-before seventh straight football championship in a row. In eight seasons as Pierre head coach, Michigan native Steve Steele has a 78-16 record, with six of those losses coming in his first season in 2016. In Steele’s tenure, the Governors have had winning streaks of 20 and 18 games. Steele also has served as a successful hockey coach in Pierre who has helped revitalized that program.
May 12: The new Arena Football League continues to have problems three weeks into the season. There have been postponements, changes of opponents, cancellations, teams dropping out and complaints about the AFL’s organization. Eight minutes before the 6:30 p.m. kickoff at Summit Arena at The Monument in Rapid City, the Rapid City Marshalls posted a statement on social media saying its game that night against the Billings Outlaws would be cancelled and tickets refunded. The Rapid City team wrote that “ongoing issues within the AFL and (unfilled) commitments” as the reason for the cancellation. A few days later, the Marshalls announced they were folding.
May 12: The 70th season of racing at Casino Speedway in Watertown has gotten underway. Promoters-owners Todd and Vicki Good run the quarter-mile dirt oval track that opened on May 28, 1955. Feature winners on opening night were Chad Becker (Late Models) of Aberdeen; Mike Sterns (Modifieds) of Aberdeen; Mike Nichols (Midwest Modifieds) of Watertown; Tony Croninger (Gen X Late Models) of Watertown; Jayden Bogh (Street Stocks) of Huron; and Adam VanDerostyne (Hornets) of Canby, MN.
May 12: Former NSU standout Sundance Wicks has been named the head coach of the University of Wyoming men’s basketball team. A native of Gillette, Wicks spent three seasons as a Wyoming assistant (2020-23) before becoming the head coach at Green Bay last season. Wicks was the 224 Horizon League Coach of the Year and the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year given to the top rookie, first-year head coach in NCAA DI. Green Bay was 18-14 last season after going 3-29 the season before, the ninth-best turnaround in DI history. Wicks will replace Jeff Linder, who left the Cowboys where his four teams went 63-59 to become the assistant coach at Texas Tech.
May 13: Sioux Falls has secured the 2026 Olympic Team Trials for men’s and women’s curling. The event will be Nov. 7-16, 2025, at the Denny Sanford Premier Center.
May 13: Kevin Williamson has been named men’s basketball head coach at DWU. He comes from California’s University of Saint Katherine where his teams compiled an 83-42 record with three NAIA tourney appearances. Williamson spent time as an assistant coach in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference from 2010-15 at Bemidji and Duluth.
May 14: The Las Vegas Aces defeated the Phoenix Mercury 89-80 on opening night of the 2024 WNBA season. The Mercury are coached by Nate Tibbetts (Sioux Falls Roosevelt/USD) and the Aces by Becky Hammon (Rapid City Stevens). Almost 17 percent of the 12 WNBA head coaches are South Dakotans. Also, Tibbetts has two South Dakota assistant coaches in former DWU men’s coach Matt Wilber (Dell Rapids native who was a standout basketball and baseball player for Augustana) and former SDSU standout Megan Vogel.
May 14: Former Aberdeen resident Mitchell Hofer led Sioux Falls Christian to the State A team tennis title. The SFC freshman also won the state singles championship (Flight 1). Hofer and Jack Squire finished as the Flight 1 state doubles runners-up to Jack Hancock and Noah Geyer of Rapid City Christian.
May 15: Augustana (50-13) won its Super Regional series 2-0 with a 6-0 win over Rogers State in Oklahoma. Torri Chute and Andrea Cain combined for two homers each while Grace Glanzer pitched a complete game shutout. The Vikings, winners of 32 straight, now head to Florida for the NCAA DII World Series on May 19-25. This is Augie’s seventh appearance in the World Series.
May 16: Alex Schumacher broke a 52-year-old Miller school record in the 800 meters. He ran a 1:57.19 to break the record of 1:57.2 set in 1972 by Miller and USD legend Rick Nissen.
May 17: Gene Morsching retired after 37 years as the city recreation superintendent of the Aberdeen Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department. The Huron native and SDSU graduate came to Aberdeen in 1987 after having previously worked in Redfield. That city department and its legendary staff has enriched life in Aberdeen with many experiences, activities and new/improved facilities over the last four decades, and Morsching has been one of the cornerstones to those enrichments.
May 21: Dakota State will join the Montana-based Frontier Conference in the fall of 2025 after its North Star Athletic Association disbands in the spring of 2025. Other NSAA schools joining the Frontier are Dickinson State, Bellevue (NE), Mayville and Valley City. That will bring the conference to 11 full-time schools, with the other Montana schools being Montana Tech, Carroll, Montana Western, Rocky Mountain, Providence and Montana State-Northern. The Frontier is set to have 13 members in football as Bellevue doesn’t field a team but Eastern Oregon, Southern Oregon and Arizona Christian are associate members. The conference will enact an east-west division structure to manage the travel, which will stretch nearly 1,100 miles in driving distance from north to south.
May 22: Matt Rohrbach is returning to Aberdeen Christian as its athletic director and boys’ basketball coach. The former AC standout coached the Knights in 2022-23 to third place in the State B. He returns from the University of Jamestown where he was an assistant coach for men’s basketball.
May 23: Augustana All-American senior baseball player Jack Hines (Lombard, IL) has been named the NCBWA National Player of the Year. The left-fielder hit .445 this season with 93 hits, 89 RBIs, 77 runs scored and 21 homers. In his three-season career with the Vikings, Hines started 168 games and collected 237 hits, 178 runs scored, 171 RBIs and 37 homers. He was one of the nation’s best fielders, committing only nine errors with a fielding percentage of .950 this season. Augie baseball has never had a national player of the year, but in 2017, Jacob Blank was the DII national pitcher of the year. In the last three seasons, Hines has helped the Vikings to a 141-44-1 record, three conference titles, one conference tournament championship, three regional tournaments, two super regionals and the 2023 DII World Series.
May 25: Berkeley Engelland of Mount Vernon-Plankinton won the 400 and 800 meter Class A titles at the state track meet for the fourth consecutive year. She is a 12-time state champ who in 2023 won the 100, 200, 400 and 800 meters.
May 25: Sioux Falls Christian swept the Class A boys’ and girls’ state track meet titles for the third season in a row. The SFC boys won their fourth straight title and the SFC girls won their third straight title.
May 25: The first javelin state championships for classes A and B were held at the state track meet in Sioux Falls. State titles were won by TyAnn Mortenson of Faith in girls’ B; Rylan Peck of Gregory in boys’ B; Cristhian Rodriguez of Hamlin in boys’ A; and Elizabet Boschee of Sanborn Central-Woonsocket in girls’ A. The javelin played an important role in the Gregory boys winning the Class B title by two points over Freeman Academy-Marion. The Gorillas scored 21 points in the event with Peck first and teammates Rane Kenzy second and Trey Murray sixth.
May 28: Gustavus Adolphus sophomore Gage Gohl of Sioux Falls Lincoln and partner Tyler Haddorff won the NCAA DIII doubles tennis national championship in St. Louis. The conference doubles’ team of the year each also earned All-American honors. They are the sixth doubles’ team from the Minnesota college in St. Peter to win a national title.
May 28: Former NSU standout player and coach Paul Sather landed a big-time team to come to Grand Forks this fall. On Dec. 18, Alabama will play Sather’s UND men’s basketball team at the Betty Englestad Sioux Center. Alabama, which features Devils Lake, N.D., native Grant Nelson, is coming off a 25-12 season and reached its first NCAA Final Four in program history where it lost to eventual national champion, UConn. Nelson formerly played for NDSU.
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.
