Aaron Saunders
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asaunders@mitchellrepublic.com
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This weekend will be bittersweet for Dakota Wesleyan University wrestling coach Matt Sedivy. It will be the final time the Wesleyan head coach, who resigned in January, will coach his wrestlers. The final wrestling meet Sedivy will coach is the NAIA National Championships, which is Friday and Saturday in Topeka, Kan. In his final season leading the Tigers, Sedivy’s group won nine duals — the most wins in program history since the 1968-69 season, when the Tigers won 12. “It has been a heck of a ride,” Sedivy said.
All year long, teams in the Great Plains Athletic Conference game planned to stop Dakota Wesleyan University forward Jalen Voss.
Tevyn Waddell is no stranger to having success in the pool, but over the weekend, the 15-year-old swimmer surprised herself. The Mitchell Aquatic Club swimmer won five state titles and the Short Course State Swim Championships and broke five meet records and two state records in the process. “I have never broken a lot of state meet records,” Waddell said. “Seven records is kind of a lot. I am pretty impressed. I wasn’t expecting to break as many records as I did.” Waddell won and set records in the 400-meter and 1,500-meter freestyle, 200 IM, 100 backstroke and the 100 butterfly.
HURON — The Mitchell Kernel boys’ basketball team knew it was in for an uphill battle Tuesday night as it took on the top-seeded Huron Tigers in the first round of the District 3AA tournament. The Kernels saw the Tigers in Eastern South Dakota Conference action twice this season and fell both times by more than 30 points. With that in mind, the Kernels had every intention of coming into Huron Arena and upsetting the Tigers, but Huron was too much to handle, beating the Kernels 78-45. Huron’s length and and athleticism gave Mitchell fits all night.
RAPID CITY -- The Class A state wrestling tournament didn’t go as planned for Mitchell last year. The Kernels took seven wrestlers to the state tournament, but only one managed to advance to the second day of competition.
RAPID CITY — Tyler Jones grew up watching idol, Adam Feldman, wrestle for the Mitchell Kernels. As both men were inducted into the South Dakota Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame before championship matches at the Class A state wrestling tournament Saturday, Jones beamed with excitement and gratitude. “It is really special to me to be able to celebrate this with someone like Adam, who I grew up idolizing and trying to be like,” Jones said.
RAPID CITY -- Alex Herrick tried to fight back the tears after dropping the final match of his career at Mitchell High School, but he couldn’t. Perhaps it was the disappointment of losing to Vermillion’s Brett Bye in the Class A 152-pound finals, or maybe it was the realization that he had wrestled his final match as a Kernel. But as Mitchell wrestling coach Travis Carpenter said shortly after Herrick lost the match 14-4 at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, “Alex Herrick has nothing to be ashamed of.” The senior wrestler battled his way through the tournament to reach the state champio
Marty Gaulke’s hopes of qualifying for the Junior Gold Championships appeared to be waning as he entered his final tournament of the season in the Eastern South Dakota League. Gaulke was down by a three-pin average to Colton Graves, of Pierre. But Gaulke hunkered down, put together three games and claimed the Eastern South Dakota League singles competition title, punching a ticket to the championships. “I knew I could do it, but it wasn’t going to be easy,” said Gaulke, 17, of Mitchell.
Mitchell Baye, Trina Young, Andee Budahl and McKenzie Shroyer may have been on different sides at the Summit League Swimming and Diving Championships last weekend in Indianapolis, Ind., but the swimmers made sure they cheered each other on with pride. Baye and Shroyer swim for the University of South Dakota, while Budahl and Young compete for rival South Dakota State University. But despite their collegiate differences, all four swimmers began at the Mitchell Aquatic Club. “I am really good friends with McKenzie and Andee and I keep in touch with Mitchell,” Young said.
The Avon girls’ basketball team is on fire. The Pirates have won their last eight games and enter the District 12B tournament as the top seed and favorite to advance to region play. Avon (16-4) breezed to a first-place regular-season finish with 44.10 seed points. The next closest team was Burke/South Central, which finished 10-9 and had 41.16 seed points. “We have been really pleased with what we have done so far this year,” Avon girls’ basketball coach Brad Poppe said. “The girls have worked hard and put in a lot of time on the court.