Catching up: Burke native Lahna Matucha wins North Star athlete of the week

MADISON, S.D. – Burke native Lahna Matucha, a junior at Dakota State University, was named the North Star Athletic Association’s (NSAA) women’s indoor field athlete of the week of 2022, the conference office announced Tuesday.

Matucha captured the individual title in the high jump at the Mount Marty Opener on Jan. 15, in Yankton. She cleared the high jump of 1.56 meters (5 feet, 1.25 inches) to claim the indoor meet title for the Trojans.

Matucha, who is a respiratory care major at DSU, had set her career-best of 1.65 meters (5 feet, 5 inches) in the South Dakota State Holiday Open on Dec. 3 in Brookings. Her high jump mark is currently tied for first in the NSAA and tied for third-best mark in the NAIA.

Dakota State is next in action on Jan. 21 at the South Dakota State D-II Open in Brookings.

SPEARFISH, S.D. — Winner High School graduates Kalla Bertram and Morgan Hammerbeck have each been playing regular time for the Black Hills State University women’s basketball team this season.

Hammerbeck, a 5-foot-11 sophomore forward from Hamill, has started all 15 games for the Yellow Jackets and has made seven starts on the season. She is averaging 5.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game and scored a season-high 12 points in a game against Western Colorado on Dec. 3 and pulled down 10 rebounds in a game Nov. 19 at Wayne State (Neb.)

Bertram, a 5-foot-9 freshman guard from Colome, has played in all 15 games for BHSU, averaging 3.2 points per game. She had a season-high nine points in a game Nov. 20 in Sioux Falls and is shooting 50% from the field this season (16-for-32).

BHSU (8-7, 6-3 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) plays its rivalry game against South Dakota Mines at 6:30 p.m. Central on Thursday, Jan. 20 and hosts Colorado Mesa on Monday, Jan. 24.

ORANGE CITY, Iowa — Mitchell High School graduate and Northwestern College track athlete Caitlyn Ostbye has started the 2022 part of the indoor track season with a solid effort at the Dordt Open on Jan. 15.

Ostbye, a sophomore sprinter, finished fourth overall in a time of 1:00.73 in the 400-meter race. She finished under 60 seconds in the preliminary round with a time of 59.94 seconds, which is the seventh-best time in the Great Plains Athletic Conference this year.

Ostbye has the Great Plains Athletic Conference’s 11th-best indoor time in the 60-meter sprint, 8.09 seconds from Dec. 10, at the Concordia Early Bird meet and is sixth in the GPAC’s 200-meter run standings (26.06 seconds).

Northwestern is next in action at the SDSU Division II Invitational on Jan. 21 in Brookings.