Jan. 31: Freeman Academy will close at the end of this school year after serving thousands of students for 123 years. It was founded as South Dakota Mennonite College in 1900 and began serving students in the fall of 1903. The school’s corporation voted to close the school for grades 1-12 that currently serves 53 students this year. The school has a history of turning out stellar humans, life success stories and excellent athletes. This past fall, Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy won the State 9AA football championship and Freeman Academy was runner-up in Class B soccer.
Feb. 1: Rapid City native and world champion pool player Shane Van Boening added a couple of more titles to his impressive resume. He won the Master of the Table all-around title at Caesars Southern Indiana at the 27th annual The Derby City Classic. With the title came $20,000. Also during the 10-day event, he won the One-Pocket title.
Feb. 2: The roster for the 2026 McDonald’s High School All-American Girls’ Basketball Game in Phoenix on March 31 was announced. Among the 24 of the top prospects in the nation tabbed for the illustrious event was Nebraska recruit and Wagner senior Ashlyn Koupal. One of her teammates on the West team will be Minnesotan Maddyn Greenway (Providence Academy of Plymouth), daughter of former Mount Vernon, Iowa and Minnesota Vikings standout Chad Greenway.
Feb. 2: Bill and Jill Gassen have gifted South Dakota Athletics $1 million towards the future indoor track and field facility on the USD campus in Vermillion. Both Gassens were former members of the Coyote track program and Bill also was a standout defensive lineman for the USD football team. In August 2025, USD announced it would be building its state-of-the-art facility. At the same time, Denny Sanford gave a lead gift of $20 million with the facility being called the Gassen Family Fieldhouse as Bill is the president and CEO of Sanford Health. Along with an indoor track and seating for 2,000, the facility will include coaching offices, a recruiting lounge, a training and nutrition center and locker rooms along with batting cages and tennis courts. USD hopes to be competing in the new facility by January 2028.
Feb. 3: Webster native and Harrisburg educator Ronette Costain has been named as one of eight finalists for national high school volleyball coach of the year. She and the other national finalists from other sports will be honored July 1 in Coralville (IA), site of the National High School Activities Association convention where the national coaches of the year will be announced. Costain has led Harrisburg to the past four State AA volleyball titles in a row and 561 wins.
Feb. 3: Minnesota Vikings team captain C.J. Ham, 32, said he is retiring from the NFL. After being an undrafted player out of Augustana in 2016, Ham went on to play 141 games through the end of the 2025 season, all with the Vikings. The Duluth (MN) native survived and thrived in an era when fullbacks went out of vogue in the NFL. Ham was a two-time Pro Bowl member. His full name is Cortez Thaddeus Ham Jr.
Feb. 5: Former South Dakota State standout and the National Football League’s all-time scoring leader, Adam Vinatieri, will be part of the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame class. Born in Yankton and raised in Rapid City, Vinatieri played at South Dakota State from 1991-94 and earned all-North Central Conference honors both as a kicker (1992) and punter (1992-94). He also was an NCAA Division II All-America selection as a punter by both CoSIDA and Football Gazette his senior season. Last fall, Vinatieri returned to South Dakota where he was inducted into the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame.
Feb. 5: Jeff Fylling, 69, has died. He was the voice of Augustana athletics for almost 50 years. Through his voice, he created some of the best sports images in state history. He broadcasted more than 2,000 Augie events and more than 1,200 high school football and boys’/girls’ basketball games for KSOO and Results Radio in Sioux Falls. 
Feb. 5: The Freeman boys’ and girls’ basketball teams not only got wins over Alcester-Hudson in a home doubleheader, one player from each of the host teams scored her and his 1,000th career point. Freeman junior Rylee Peters and sophomore David Walter each hit the milestone.
Feb. 6: After one season as head football coach and seven seasons on staff at the University of South Dakota, Travis Johansen is leaving the Coyotes to become the defensive coordinator at Rutgers of the Big Ten Conference. USD went 10-5 under Johansen last fall. USD offensive coordinator Matt Vitzthum was promoted to head coach. Vitzthum has been with the Coyotes for two seasons, with the Coyotes compiling a 21-8 record and making two FCS playoff appearances in those two seasons.
Feb. 7: South Dakota State nearly completed a double-digit comeback, but was unable to find a game-winning field goal late as the Jackrabbits fell 68-67 to South Dakota on Saturday inside First Bank & Trust Arena in Brookings. South Dakota’s victory over South Dakota State ended a 10-game winning streak for the Jackrabbits over the Coyotes. The Coyotes’ Jordan Crawford drained a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession to tie the score at 67. An empty possession for SDSU led to Uzziah Buntyn for USD making a free throw to put the visitors ahead 68-67 with 1:20 to play. Cameron Fens had a double-double for South Dakota behind 14 points and 12 rebounds. Crawford scored 19 points while Buntyn finished with 15 points
Feb. 8: Pierre native Grey Zabel and his Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl 29-13 over the New England Patriots. He is a rookie starting offensive lineman who won a lot of praise this season from coaches, teammates, fans, opponents and national media. Zabel has won at every significant level he has played at with three state titles with the Governors (2017, 2018 and 2019) and two FCS national titles at NDSU (2021 and 2024). Here are the rest of the South Dakotans to play in the Super Bowl, according to a list compiled by Matt Zimmer of Sioux Falls Live:

• Lyle Alzado, Yankton College, Super Bowl 12, Broncos; and Super Bowl 18 with Raiders.
• Ordell Braase, Mitchell, USD, Super Bowl 3, Colts.
• Matt Chatham, USD, Super Bowls 36, 38, 39, Patriots.
• Dallas Clark, Sioux Falls, Super Bowl 41, Colts.
• Jack Cochrane, USD, Super Bowls 57, 58, 59, Chiefs.
• Tom Compton, USD, Super Bowl 51, Falcons.
• Cooper DeJean, Sioux Falls, Super Bowl 59, Eagles.
• Nate Gerry, Sioux Falls, Super Bowl 52, Eagles.
• Dallas Goedert, SDSU, Britton, Super Bowls 57, 59, Eagles.
• Corbin Lacina, Augustana, Super Bowl 38, Bills.
• Jim Langer, SDSU, Super Bowls 7,8, Dolphins.
• Paul Laaveg, Sioux Falls, Super Bowl 7, Commanders.
• Karl Mecklenburg, Augustana, Super Bowls 21, 22, 24, Broncos.
• Doug Miller, Sturgis, SDSU, Super Bowl 29, Chargers.
• Jay Novacek, Martin, Super Bowls 27, 28, 30, Cowboys.
• Craig Puki, Deadwood, Super Bowl 16, 49ers.
• Riley Reiff, Parkston, Super Bowl 56, Bengals.
• Christian Rozeboom, SDSU, Super Bowl 56, Rams.
• Adam Timmerman, SDSU, Super Bowls 31, 32, Packers; and Super Bowls 34 and 36 with the
  Rams.
• Adam Vinatieri, Rapid City, SDSU, Super Bowls 31, 36, 38, 39, Patriots; and Super Bowls 41
  and 44 with the Colts.
• Grey Zabel, Pierre, Super Bowl 60, Seahawks.
• F

Feb. 9: North Dakota State is leaving the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Starting this fall, the Bison will begin competing in the FBS Mountain West Conference as a football-only member, a move that will cost the Bison almost $15 million. NDSU has won 10 FSC national championships since 2011. The Bison had an FCS-record 39-game winning streak from 2017 to spring 2021, breaking their previous 33-game record from 2012 to ’14. Thirteen Bison players have been selected in the NFL Draft since 2014.
Feb. 10: No. 13 Purdue (20-4) defeated No. 7 Nebraska 80-77 in overtime in Lincoln. Former SDSU standout Oscar Cluff scored the game-winning basket with 5.9 seconds left, plus kept the Boilermakers in the game with two offensive rebounds on its game-winning possession. Cluff had 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Feb. 11: Some of the top high school football teams in Nebraska and South Dakota will square off against each other across the next two seasons. Five teams from Omaha metro and five from Sioux Falls metro will play a home-and-away series beginning in the fall of 2026: (Aug. 28) Brandon Valley at Bellevue West; (Sept. 18) SF Washington at Millard North; (Sept 25) Omaha Central at SF Lincoln; (Oct. 2) Westview at SF Jefferson; and (Oct. 9) Omaha North at Harrisburg.

Feb. 13: Top-seeded and undefeated Sturgis defeated Aberdeen Central for the second year in a row to claim the State A wrestling dual championships.
Feb. 14: O’Gorman graduate and NSU senior Izzy Moore scored 41 points to pace the Wolves over host Minnesota-Duluth 74-58 in women’s basketball. That is the second-highest single game point total in program history. Renee Ruesink scored 44 points for NSU in 1986-87 and Maurie Simon also scored 44 for the Wolves in 1975.
Feb. 14: Yankton graduate and 2024 ParaOlympic silver medalist Miles Krajewski won the world championship in Para-Badminton. He is Team USA’s first world champion in that sport. The 20-year-old Krajewski defeated Thailand’s Natthapong Meechair 21-19, 22-20 to win the SH6 men’s single title in Bahrain.
Feb. 14: The Sioux Falls Stampede defeated Des Moines 4-1 in front of 11,167 fans at the Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls. It was the largest crowd to witness a hockey game in the history of South Dakota. The Sioux Falls team took the ice as the Fighting Weiner Dogs as they do every year when they host the annual (19th this year) wiener dog races. More than 50 dogs raced on the ice during intermission, with Simon winning the weiner dog race.
Feb. 15: Coach Kaley Ness and her Northern State softball Wolves took advantage of 50-degree temperatures to move a doubleheader from inside the Aberdeen Dome to its outside on-campus home at Koehler Field in Aberdeen. There have been past seasons for the NSU program where the weather has allowed the Wolves to host only a handful of outside games in an entire season let alone a doubleheader in mid-February. In the first game against Mount Marty that went extra innings, NSU’s Madi Jones scored the winning run in the eighth on Kinsley Stover’s sacrifice fly for a 4-3 Wolves’ win. Corina Coopersmith added a three-RBI double for the Wolves earlier in the game. In the second game, Riley O’Connell pitched NSU to an 8-0 win. Aune Boben and Hailey Cota each provided three hits and three RBIs.
Feb. 16: Friends, family and fans of Carter Johnson filled Fitzgerald Stadium in Rapid City to honor the 19-year-old who was killed in a bus crash involving his Iowa Lakes Community College baseball team on Feb. 11. Johnson graduated from Rapid City Stevens and played baseball for the famed American Legion baseball program, Rapid City Post 22.
Feb. 17: The SDSU baseball team set a school record by scoring 17 runs in one inning in its 19-11 win over Incarnate Word in Texas. The next day, Incarnate defeated the Jacks 19-18, meaning the two teams scored a combined 67 runs in the two games.
Feb. 17: Nick Kornder will be honored in Las Vegas this June for his 25-year career in the athletics communication profession. He has been the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference assistant commissioner for media relations since 2006. Before that, he was the sports information director at Northern State.
Feb. 18: Former NSU standout player and coach Paul Sather had his contract as the head coach of the men’s basketball team at the University of North Dakota extended for three years through the 2028-29 season. Sather is in his seventh season at UND (16-14). He is 371-280 as a head college coach, with 89 of those wins with the Fighting Hawks.
Feb. 19: SDSU senior Brooklyn Meyer set a school record for most points in a game for a women’s basketball player. She scored 44 in a 95-93 win at Oral Roberts. SDSU won the game when senior Madison Mathiowetz beat the buzzer with a game-winning layup. Her layup came on a screen from Meyer and a pass from fellow senior Ellie Colbeck. The previous school record for most points in a game was 39 held by Karla Stevenson (1986-87).
Feb. 21: The SDSU women’s basketball team defeated host Denver 71-55 to earn coach Aaron Johnston his 650th career victory. He is the 12 th active DI head coach to reach 650 wins. Johnston has been the SDSU head coach since 2000, and is 650-211 as the Jacks’ leader.
Feb. 21: Aberdeen native and Nebraska senior swimmer Gena Jorgenson won the Big Ten Championship in the 1,650-meter freestyle in Minneapolis. She is the first Cornhusker swimmer to win a conference title in three years. She is an All-Big Ten and All-American performer.
Feb. 22: Team USA defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime to win the gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Anchorage (AK) native Jeremy Swayman was a goaltender for the Americans, and was a goalie for the Sioux Falls Stampede during the 2016-17 season. He currently plays in the NHL for the Boston Bruins.
Feb. 24: Mike Ring got his 400th win as the Highmore-Harrold girls’ basketball coach. Ring is 400-274
in 31 seasons with the Pirates. He is the 13th GBB coach in state history to reach 400 career wins: Jim Bridge, Dawn Seiler, Rob VanLaecken, Fred Tibbetts, Ron Determan, Brad Poppe, Mark Senftner, Doug Groth, Kent Kolsrud, Brandon Kandolin, Tim McCain and Bryan Carmichael. In 2024, Bridge retired as the Hanson GBB coach with a state-leading 636 wins.
Feb. 25: In her final college basketball game, NSU senior Izzy Moore became the 36th member of the Wolves’ 1,000-point club.
Feb. 27: Dale Weber of Salem has died at age 86. Weber was a South Dakota amateur baseball player from 1955-75 and had been an officer for that group for 47 years, including 37 years as president. He was a long-time award-winning coach, teacher and administrator at Colton, Mount Vernon and Salem. A 1957 Delmont High School and 1961 Yankton College graduate, Weber was a multiple-sport standout athlete in high school and college. Weber also was a high school and college basketball official for 30 years and a prep football referee for 44 years.
Feb. 27: O’Gorman honored retiring boys’ basketball coach Derek Robey in his last regular-season game as the Knights’ head coach. OG defeated Robey’s hometown of Mitchell 59-56. Chace Hermanson made a three-pointer with 2.8 seconds left to give OG the win. The 61-year-old Robey has been coaching high school hoops for more than 40 years, and in 21 years at the helm at O’Gorman has led the Knights to six ‘AA’ state titles. He is a former coach at Aberdeen Roncalli and Aberdeen Central and is a NSU graduate.

Feb. 28: The USD men’s basketball team defeated SDSU 75-70 to sweep the Jackrabbits for the first time in the regular season since 1997. The Coyotes were led by its starting five, Jordan Crawford, Cameron Fens, Uzziah Buntyn, Vince Buzelis and Ethan Kizer, who scored 70 of USD 75 points. USD beat SDSU 68-67 earlier in the season. At one point this season due to injuries, USD was down to six players.

Feb. 28: Augustana sophomore Tameron Ferguson had game-saving and game-winning baskets in his team’s 83-82 overtime win over Minnesota State Moorhead in the quarterfinals of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament. He sent the game into overtime with his basket to tie the game at 74 with 49 seconds left in regulation. With 27 seconds left in overtime, he made the game-winning basket from 30 feet out. With 11:50 left in the second half, Isa El-Amin of Moorhead drove the lane and his shot immediately stopped on the edge of the rim, with the ball balanced perfectly still between the net and backboard. It didn’t bounce at all, but just came to a complete stop in a freak play.
Feb. 28: Aberdeen junior Owen Ward was the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the State A wrestling tourney in Sioux Falls. Ward won the 190-pound title 14-11 in overtime against Kelson Dirk of Sturgis. Ward trailed 10-1 at the start of the third period.

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.