Panic Button - Odds and Ends...
The Kornely family at DWU for senior day as Ryan Kornely, upper-right corner oversees all.
By Rich Winter
This space between football/volleyball and the start of the winter sports season can be kind of tiresome. Sitting here on Sunday morning though, and can't help but reflect on some of the nifty behind-the-scenes things that I'm hearing about during this almost winter sports seasons.
Ryan Kornely - Senior DWU - So, a couple of years ago, former Todd County player Ryan Kornely blew out his knee while playing for Dakota Wesleyan. The injury was tough enough, Kornely was told his football career was over.
Well, not quite!
You see, Kornely stuck around as a graduate assistant for DWU and recently his family went to Mitchell to celebrate his being part of the winningest four-year class in DWU history. I had no idea that Ryan stuck with it despite injuring the knee. If he decides to coach, guessing he's picked up a lot of coaching moxey in the last few years and he'd be a great hire for a high school.
Sticking with it takes character....Love that!
Kellan Herman named assistant coach at Northwestern:
Kellan Herman with his sister Kelsie at the state cross country meet.
After playing basketball at Presentation College in Aberdeen for a couple of season, former Todd County prep player, Kellan Herman gave up college hoops to concentrate on his studies. Well, the studies are about over but they're already paying dividends. Word floated up the other day that Herman had been named an assistant basketball coach at Northwestern, a Class B school up by Aberdeen.
That's awesome!
Saw him in Subway the other day and he said the team isn't very big but they have a lot of young kids, freshman and sophomores that will be working to get better.
Hudson Pearman has his sites set high:
Former Todd County state qualifying wrestler Hudson Pearman aiming high for senior season with Valentine.
At the same Subway, just moments after Kellan Herman walked out, in walked Hudson Pearman and his younger brother. Seems like Pearman finished second at the Nebraska state meet as a sophomore and then had a really, really hard tournament his junior year.
Forgive me if I'm wrong here, but this is my recollection of his junior-year state tournament. Lost really early in the tournament after going in as one of the favorites in his weight class. I was never good enough at wrestling to imagine what it would be like to go in hoping for the finals and lose in the quarters. It has to be incredibly hard to get back on the mat and try to salvage what's left of the season. So, Pearman got back on the mat, wrestled his butt off to get all the way to the third and 4th place match where he lost to the same kid that beat him in the first round. Seems like that match went to double-overtime and down to criteria or some such thing.
At any rate, asked Peaman about his goals, and he said 'High' - Good luck this season. Pearman also noted the Valentine team was looking very strong, maybe the best team they've ever had down there...I'm going down to see IT at some point.
Bennett County junior, Daniel Winsand making sweet music:
Bennett County junior Daniel Winsand made his fifth trip to the All-State Chorus this season...That's amazing!
Bennett County junior, Daniel Winsand has been friends with my nephew since forever, so I get to see him on a pretty regular basis. Was excited to see him put in some good work on the football field late in the season and he looked pretty tough out there against St. Francis.
On a semi unrelated note, the kid is magic on the mic. Recently named to the All-State chorus for a fifth straight year...How awesome is that?
I can't wait to see the Arcoren sister play:
The four Arcoren sisters, and someone else at a recent St. Francis Indian School Veterans day pow wow.
I'm so excited for high school basketball to get here. Feel like I don't know the Little Wound, Red Cloud and Pine Ridge kids very well and am certainly going to try to delve into their world as Lakota Nation approaches.
Next weekend I'll be hyping high-school hoops galore, but for now I'm just gonna say, look out for the St. Francis Indian School girls. Anyone who watched that Region 7A first-round game over in Winner knows exactly how good this team can be. Really excited to see sophomores Matilda Anderson and Haylee Quick Bear but I'm also really excited to see the role players, a bunch of whose last name is Arcoren. This Lady Warrior squad got seeded No. 12 at LNI and this just in...be wary, very wary!
Will Russell Leader Charge make the 11B all-state squad:
Red Cloud junior, Russel Leader Charge has to make the 11B all-state first team or at least honorable mention.
Guessing the folks over in Red Cloud already know if Leader Charge made the all-state team or not. I don't and I'm anxiously awaiting to see the 11B all-staters announced on Monday morning.
Not sure the Iron-11 from Red Cloud got the publicity they deserved. Well, likely, the Rapid City Journal did a great story on them around playoff time. I don't have stats on Leader Charge but judging from the box-scores of the last few football games, Leader Charge put together a campaign worthy of all-state accolades.
It's interesting that we/I get so locked into our daily routines and routine coverage that sometimes we don't see amazing things happening all around us. There are some really outstanding young people right there among us.
Can't wait for winter sports as new stories, new kids and new heroes emerge...It's gonna be fun!
Aren't they just cute....
