Catching Up: A look at former area athletes

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Former Freeman Academy standout Ashley Unruh won the Briar Cliff Invitational cross country event Saturday in North Sioux City.

Unruh, who now runs for the University of Sioux Falls, ran unattached in the event. She finished in a time of 17 minutes, 39.95 seconds. Unruh, a senior at USF, was five seconds clear of the second-place finisher.

Another former Freeman Academy star, Lillie Koerner, finished 21st in a time of 19:02.60. Koerner is a freshman running for Dordt College (Iowa). Koerner was Dordt’s top finisher and she led the school’s women’s team to a third-place team finish at the 14-team event.

Also at the event, Dakota State University’s Stephanie Warnke placed 26th in a time of 19:11.56. Warnke is a former South Central standout and is a senior for the Trojans.

Other former area standouts to finish the race for DSU’s women’s cross country team were Colome’s Claire Beck (113th) and Avon’s Nicole Jurrens (125th) and Amber Wiebenga (130th).

Former Sanborn Central standout Lukas Van Laecken had 11 rushing attempts for a team-high 61 yards for the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology football team over the weekend.

Van Laecken, a freshman for the Hardrockers, also had four catches for 37 yards in the 60-6 loss to Missouri S&T. Van Laecken had 98 all-purpose yards and had a fumble in the game.

Winner native Todd Sherman started at right tackle in the game for Mines.

Sherman, a senior for the Hardrockers, is a 6-foot-5, 260-pounder for Mines, which hosts Minot State (N.D.) on Saturday.

South Dakota State University’s Kelli Fiegen had 13 kills and two aces to lead the Jackrabbits to a four-set victory over Southern Utah University on Saturday in Brookings.

Fiegen, a 6-foot-3 middle hitter from Parkston, has a team-high 262 kills for the Jackrabbits through 22 matches this season. SDSU is 12-10 overall and 4-5 in the Summit League. She also leads the Jacks with 78 total blocks this year.

SDSU is at Western Illinois on Friday.

— “Catching Up” runs Thursdays in The Daily Republic. To nominate an athlete from your town, send information via e-mail to sports@mitchellrepublic.com.

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