Jackson County Central graduate Alaina Wolff had 10 digs for the South Dakota volleyball team as the Coyotes completed their regular season with a 3-0 win over North Dakota.
She has started 22 of the team’s 30 matches. Her 27 service aces are second on the team and she’s averaging 2.02 digs per set, which is fifth.
USD is 27-3 overall and won the Summit League regular-season title with a 16-2 record.
The Coyotes are the No. 1 seed for the Summit League tournament. They have a first-round bye and will play the winner of Thursday’s Denver-South Dakota State match in the semifinals on Friday.
Heron Lake-Okabena-Lakefield graduate Lindsey Wilber’s Dakota Wesleyan team is the number one seed in its pool for the NAIA Women’s Volleyball National Championship in Sioux City next week.
The Tigers have a 23-7 record after beating Kansas Wesleyan 3-0 in an opening round match at the Corn Palace in Mitchell Saturday. Other teams in DWU’s pool are MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) and Southern Oregon.
JCC graduate Lacey Reitz is an assistant coach at Northwestern (Iowa), which is also a number one seed in its pool for the NAIA tourney. The Red Raiders (22-7) defeated Philander Smith (Ark.) in their opening round match.
Jackson County Central grad Andrew Boyum, a freshman at Iowa Central Community College, placed 75th out of 130 runners at the NJCAA Half Marathon Championships in Tallahassee, Fla. with a time of 1:20:53.
The Tritons were third in the team standings.
JCC doesn’t have swimming and diving teams, but two JCC graduates are competing in the sport on the collegiate level and they were at a meet together last weekend in Sioux Falls.
Hailey Handevidt is a senior at Augustana University and Caleb Rubitschung is a freshman at Iowa Lakes Community College.
And in attendance was Kelly Antonson, who worked with them while she was manager of the JCC Pool.
Handevidt set PRs in both three-meter diving (175.75) and one-meter diving (167.05).
Rubitschung competed in both the 50-meter freestyle (26.02) and 200-meter freestyle (2:05.12).
Martin County West grads Lucas Jagodzinske and Blake Jagodzinske are wrestling at Augsburg University and both competed in the Augsburg Invitational on Saturday.
Lucas went 4-0 shared the Freshman 149-pound title with an Augsburg teammate, and Blake was 4-1 and placed third at 157 pounds in the Gold Division.
MCW graduate Katie Lange, a sophomore with the Augsburg women’s wrestling team, placed sixth at 143 pounds at the competitive Missouri Valley College Open in Marshall, Mo. The 30-team tournament featured seven of the top 20 teams in the National Wrestling Coaches Association NCAA women's national rankings, and 15 of the top 20 teams in the NAIA national rankings.
Lange went 5-3 at the tournament with two technical falls and three pins, moving to 12-2 on the season with six technical falls and six pins.
There was news on some other former area wrestlers in a previous newsletter:
Martin County West grad Christian Bachenberg is a freshman with the Martin Luther College men’s basketball team.
He’s averaging just under 14 minutes per game through six games for the Knights with highs of four points vs. Hamline and four rebounds vs. Macalaster.
JCC graduate Pat Garvin is in his third season as head coach of the Bethany Lutheran College men’s basketball team. The Vikings outscored Central 15-5 in the last 5:49 Tuesday to win 79-74.
Bethany is 5-0 to start the season for the first time in program history. The Vikings have an exhibition game at Minnesota State Mankato Saturday.
Martin County West grad Tony Taylor is in the second season of his second stint and 10th season overall as an assistant coach for the St. Olaf College men’s basketball program. He serves as the program's recruiting and video coordinator and also assists with game and practice planning.
Taylor was an assistant coach at Minneapolis Southwest and head coach at Windom and New Life Academy in Woodbury.
The Oles are 3-1 in the regular season after exhibition losses to Minnesota and Southwest Minnesota State.
JCC graduate Brody Anderson is a graduate assistant coach with the Peru State College men’s basketball team. He spent last season at Harris-Lake Park and prior to that worked with Minnesota Nice AAU, Eagles United AAU, and Marshall Hoops Club. He will be pursuing his masters in Sport and Recreation Management at Wayne State.
The Bobcats are 5-1 overall and open Heart of America Athletic Conference play Saturday vs. MidAmerica Nazarene. Peru State was picked to finish fourth of 14 teams in the conference coaches preseason poll.
Martin County West grad Alyssa Williamson, a 5-6 senior guard, has started every game this season for the Hamline University women’s basketball team, which is 4-0 for what is believed to be the first time in program history.
Williamson is playing 20 minutes per game, averaging 9.0 points that included a career-high 15 in the opener vs. Buena Vista. She’s shooting .571 from the field and averaging 2.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
Hamline is off until playing at Bethel next Wednesday.
Fairmont graduate Taylor Crissinger is a 6-foot senior forward on the Wiscoonsin-River Falls women’s basketball team.
She’s playing 6.3 minutes per game for the Falcons, averaging 1.5 points and 1 rebound.
UWRF is 4-1 on the season heading into a home game Saturday vs. Northland.
Two Windom grads are members of the 12-2 Dordt University men’s hockey team.
Freshman defenseman Zach Espenson is second on the team in goals (8), assists (10) and points (18). Sophomore forward Alex Espenson has five goals and eight assists for 13 points.
The Defenders will host Nebraska in a series Dec. 2-3.
Andy Wolf, who has played with the Jackson Bulls amateur baseball team since 2000, has been named head baseball coach at Okoboji High School.
The Pioneers had a 10-15 record last season, 6-10 in the Siouxland Conference.