Catching Up: A Look at Former Area Athletes

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Salem native Seth McGregor won the heavyweight division at a National Junior College Athletic Association National Qualifying regional tournament on Feb. 13 in Grand Rapids, Minn.

McGregor, who is a sophomore for the Iowa Central Community College wrestling team, won three matches Sunday to claim the title.

Iowa Central took home the team title at the regional and has won five consecutive team titles at nationals heading into this year’s national tournament, which will be held Friday and Saturday in Spokane, Wash.

n Mitchell native Shea Patrick was named to the 2011 all-Summit League team for his efforts at the Summit League Swimming and Diving Championships on Feb. 17-19 in Indianapolis.

Patrick, a sophomore for the South Dakota State University men’s swimming and diving team, placed third in the 200-yard breaststroke, sixth in the 100 breaststroke and seventh in the 200 individual medley for the Jackrabbits.

He also was part of the 200-medley relay team, which took fifth with a school-record time of 1 minute, 34.87 seconds. The SDSU men finished third at the event as a team.

Andrea Budahl, also from Mitchell, competed in the finals on all four days of the Summit League Championships for the SDSU women’s swimming and diving team.

Budahl helped the Jacks set a school record in the 800-freestyle relay on Wednesday. She swam the third leg of the relay.

On Thursday, Budahl finished third in the 500 freestyle, and on Friday, she took fifth in the 400-individual medley.

On Saturday, Budahl took third in the 1,650 freestyle.

n Kimball High School graduate Melissa Kroupa earned all-Great Plains Athletic Conference honors in three events at the GPAC Championships on Saturday in Lincoln, Neb.

Kroupa, a junior on the University of Sioux Falls track and field team, placed fourth in the 600-meter dash with an NAIA Nationals automatic qualifying time of 1:38.22. She also ran on the 3,200-meter relay team that qualified for nationals.

Kroupa and Mitchell native Kendra Knight helped the 1,600-relay team qualify for nationals.

The USF women’s team scored a program best 120 points to finish second at the event.

n Keith Cutler got his first start of the season for the University of Sioux Falls men’s basketball team Friday.

Cutler, a Platte native who is a freshman at USF, scored 13 points in the Cougars’ 75-71 win over Northwestern College (Iowa).

He was 4-of-6 from the field, including three 3-pointers.

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