April 12-13: Geneva Olson of Sioux Falls was part of a foursome who set a world record by playing pickleball for 36 consecutive hours in Carrollton (TX) to raise awareness for mental health issues and to help raise money for organ-donor families who have lost loved ones. The old record of 34 hours and 5 minutes was set in the United Kingdom. The group played 143 games. The other three members of The Pickle Breakers were Olson’s partner Jaret Petras (a national champ in Czechoslovakia), North Dakotan Laura Maala and Chong Kim of Texas.
May 2: Brown County Speedway got what is believed to be its earliest start to a season. Winners were Andy Rossow (Street Stock) of Florence; Trevor Nelson (Super Stocks) of Warner; Taylor Schmidt (Midwest Modifieds) of Bath; Kent Arment (Modifieds) of Aberdeen; and Trevor Anderson (Late Models) of Watertown. Arment is also the track operations manager for the Aberdeen speedway.
May 2-3: The Howard Wood Dakota Relays in Sioux Falls celebrated its 100th anniversary. The highlights were many as always, including: Custer High School pole-vaulting sisters Ciana (senior), Tenlee (eighth-grader) and Kelsey (sophomore) Stiefel finished first, second and third, respectively. Also, Sioux Falls Lincoln (Mikey Roche, Ben Burchett, Evan Abild and Griffin Fischer) set the state’s all-time record in the 800-meter relay in 1:27.06 (SF Christian had set the record of 1:27.42 in 2023).
May 3: Mobridge native and Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott’s horse, Sovereignty ridden by Junior Alvarado, won the 151st Kentucky Derby. It was the second Kentucky Derby win for the 71-year-old Mott. In 2019, Mott’s victory with 65–1 long shot Country House came after a 23-minute wait as racing officials studied video of the race and disqualified the apparent winner, Maximum Security, for interference. All 19 horses in the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby were descendants of the 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat, reported the Louisville Courier Journal.
May 4: Miss/Mr Basketball: Rapid City Stevens senior Taaliyah Porter has been named South Dakota high school’s Miss Basketball. Griffen Goodbary of Sioux Falls Christian was named Mr. Basketball.
May 5: Harrison Krajewski set the Yankton career record for boys’ tennis wins at 109. Harrison is the younger brother of ParaOlympic badminton silver medalist Miles Krajewski.
May 8: The South Dakota State Jackrabbit men’s basketball team is returning to the Sanford Pentagon when they play the Wyoming Cowboys in a non-conference matchup on Dec. 15. Wyoming coach Sundance Wicks is a former NSU assistant coach and standout player. Meanwhile, coach Bryan Petersen was an assistant at SDSU the previous six seasons before being promoted to head coach earlier this year.
May 9: Chamberlain graduate and University of Nebraska all-Big Ten nose tackle Nash Hutmacher has signed with Tampa Bay as a NFL free agent. He also wrestled for the Cornhuskers, and was one of South Dakota’s greatest high school wrestlers in history.
May 9: Rapid City native Simeon Birnbaum of Oregon won the 1,500 meters in 3 minutes, 37.02 seconds in the Oregon Twilight.
May 10: The USD softball team (32-24) ended a memorable season and Summit League Tournament with a runner-up finish. The Coyotes played six games, including 50 innings, over four days in the double-elimination event in which they lost their second game of the tourney. USD lost to rival SDSU 6-5 in 13 innings only to eliminate the Jacks 3-2 in eight innings the following day. During the tourney, USD gave coach Robert Wagner his 200 th win in eight seasons with Coyotes. The team also forced eventual champ Omaha into two championship games. The Coyotes ended up with four players on the all-tourney team: Clara Edwards, Abi Brown, Rylie Jones and Madison Evans.
May 13: South Dakota native Danielle Sievers (Gary/Deuel) wrapped up an incredible collegiate gymnastics career last month. She and fellow Oklahoma teammates Jordan Bowers, Danae Fletcher and Audrey Davis helped the Sooners win their third national championship in the last four years. Sievers was a four-time NCAA All-American for Oklahoma, including this season. Sievers also won numerous other awards including being a two-time conference individual champion, an all-conference selection as well as earning many accolades for her work in the classroom where she was a multiple All-American. The four OU seniors led the Sooners to a 128-9 record over the last four years, including four region titles and four conference titles.
May 14: Craig Nowotny is stepping down from his role as St. Thomas More activities director. Nowotny has spent 29 years at the school with the Cavaliers athletic teams winning 30 state championships. Nowotny will continue his role as assistant coach on the football team this fall, which will mark his 50th season in coaching.
May 16: The 15th annual South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame will induct its 15th class Aug. 23 at the Sioux Falls Ramkota Hotel. Honorees are: Sisseton native Courtney (Grimsrud) Miller; Clark’s Lon Nelson; Hanson’s Jenny Bridge and Craig Cheeseman; Pine Ridge’s George Bettelyoun; Winner’s Sam Goodhope; Colome’s Roxie (Harter) Smith; Howard’s NaTascha (Dawson) Krempges; Canton’s Bill Christensen; Dell Rapids St. Mary’s Colby Fitzgerald; Huron’s Nick Brod; and Sioux Falls Washington’s Jim Johnson. Also, the 1999 Sioux Falls Roosevelt girls’ basketball team led by Mandy Kappel, Krista Orsack and coach Fred Tibbetts will be recognized as a Team of Excellence.
May 17: The SDSU men’s track team won the school’s first DI outdoor conference title in school history. The Jacks won the 2025 Summit League crown with 197 points followed by NDSU (173) and USD (157). It was also the Jacks first outdoor track conference title since 1986 when current coach Rod DeHaven was a star runner for the Jacks. At the 1986 North Central Conference meet won by the SDSU men, DeHaven won the 800, 1,500 and 5,000. The SDSU men won four events at the 2025 Summit League championships: Cody Larson (Warner) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase; James Pierce (Lead) in the 400 meters; Sam Castle (O’Gorman) in the 800 meters; and Hunter Wallster (Canada) in the hammer throw. The Jacks had numerous runner-up finishes, including Larson in the 5,000 meters. The SDSU men swept the 2024-25 cross country, indoor track and outdoor track Summit League championships. The Jacks are the first to do so on the men’s side since Southern Utah won the Summit League triple crown in 2006-07.
May 18: Rapid City Stevens graduate and Oregon freshman Simeon Birnbaum won the 5,000 meters at the Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene (OR). His time was 13 minutes and 31.87 seconds, breaking the meet record of 13:41.06 set by Wisconsin’s Mohammed Ahmed in 2012. A couple of hours earlier, Birnbaum finished third in the 1,500 meters. His efforts helped the Ducks win the team championship.
May 19: Scott Solberg of Hub City Radio in Aberdeen is stepping down as voice of the Aberdeen Roncalli Cavaliers. He started covering the school on radio in 2004-05. He will be replaced this fall by Matt McClure.
May 20: Led by former Aberdeen resident Mitchell Hofer, Sioux Falls Christian won its second State A boys’ tennis title in a row. Hofer, a sophomore, was the state champion and also won the state doubles title with partner Jack Squire. It was Hofer’s second singles’ state championship. Hofer and his SFC boys’ basketball team won the State A title in March.

May 20: The Huron boys’ tennis team won the sportsmanship award for the fifth year in a row and for the sixth time in the last seven years.

May 23: Harrisburg won its first State AA boys’ tennis title. Sioux Falls Lincoln had won the previous 10 state titles, and finished second (494.5 to SFL’s 473). Among Harrisburg’s state title winners was seventh-grader Robert Rallis, who won flight three. Will Koziara of O’Gorman was the state individual champion; he is the grandson of former legendary OG coaches Don and Kate Barnes.

May 25: University of Mississippi senior catcher Lexie Brady helped lead her Rebels to the College World Series of Softball for the first time in school history. The O’Gorman graduate is a three-year starter for Ole Miss, an All-Southeastern Conference honoree and is one of the team’s top hitters with a .340 batting average. The Rebels (42-19) were picked to finish second to last in the SEC standings, so few expected a 40-plus win season.

May 27: The Dells Rapids high school baseball team used old-school fundamentals to win a state title. Cooper Frost of Dell Rapids executed a game-winning squeeze bunt that scored teammate Tad Tjaden to provide his team with a walk-off 5-4 win in the South Dakota High School Baseball Association’s State B championship. The extra-inning game ended with one out in the bottom of the eighth with Tjaden and Connor Hanson setting up the game-winning bunt by executing a double steal. Dell Rapids (25-5), coached by Danny Miller, has now won four high school baseball seasons titles in the past five years. Drake Eastman of Dell Rapids was the tourney MVP.

May 28: Aberdeen native and Northern State graduate Eric Kline has been selected to the 2025 Small College Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2025. He was a three-time All-American and the 1995 NAIA DII national player of the year. He is the first NSU athlete to earn the honor and joins former NSU coach Don Meyer (1944-2014) in the hall. Kline will be inducted Oct. 31 in central Florida.

May 29: The final awards from the North Star Athletic Association included a couple of South Dakotans from Dakota State. The sports information director of the year was Nick Huntimer, who recently completed his 21st year with the Trojans. The conference athletic trainer of the year was Abbey Cook, who has been with the Trojans for four years. The North Star is disbanding as former members such as Presentation College closed and other schools moved to different conferences. The conference was formed in 2013 with members at one time from four states (Iowa, Nebraska and the Dakotas). Conference members Bellevue, Dakota State, Mayville State, Valley City State and Dickinson are joining the Frontier Conference.

May 29: Wagner junior Ashlyn Koupal won the State A high jump title for the fifth year in a row. She also is one of the top basketball recruits in the Upper Midwest.

May 30: Custer senior Ciana Stiefel won the State A pole vault while eighth-grade sister Tenlee Stiefel finished second and sophomore sister Kelsey Stiefel finished third.

May 30: Holden Wollmann of Bridgewater-Emery won the State B boys’ 800-meter title in 1:58.84. Adrik Schoon of Jones County finished second in 1:59.00. Schoon broke the school record of 1:59.7 set by now U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-Murdo, in 1979.

May 31: It was a state track meet to remember for the State B champion Bennett County girls. They are the first team since 1983 (Armour) to win the State B basketball and track titles in the same school year. Bennett County sisters Reagan (freshman) and Peyson (eighth-grader) O’Neill contributed 70 of their teams 85 points. The other 15 came from the O’Neill’s freshman cousin, Harley Harris. Field MVP Reagan won the 100 and 200 meters, the long jump and the 400-meter relay with her sister, her cousin and eighth-grader Macy Claussen. Peyson, the track co-MVP, won the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles and the high jump. Harris won the triple jump. Meanwhile, Bennett County sophomore Rush O’Neill, Reagan and Peyson’s brother, won the long jump, high jump and 200-meter state titles on the boys’ side. Rush was the boys’ field MVP. The O’Neill’s grandmother, Vera (Schlosser) O’Neill, was a high jump state champion at Cresbard and is a Bennett County assistant coach.

May 31: Northwestern junior Ella Boekelheide swept the State B track meet’s distance races and was the track co-MVP. She won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters. She has won seven state track titles as she was the 2024 800 and 1,600 champ and the 1,600 and 3,200 champ in 2022. In 2023, she was the state runner-up in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200. She also won State B cross country titles in 2024 and 2021 and was the state runner-up in 2023 and 2022.

May 31: The Sioux Falls Lincoln boys scored 120 points to win the State AA track meet. Brandon Valley was second with 119.5 points. In the final event of the day in 4×400, SFL finished second to earn the eight points they needed to win the state meet. Running that relay for SFL was Javon Haukaas, Issac Herrboldt, Raymion Vermeer and Evan Abild.

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