DWU to add five members to its athletic hall of fame in 2022 class

MITCHELL — The Dakota Wesleyan University Athletic Hall of Fame will add five new members in its 2022 class when the university holds its induction ceremony during the Blue and White Days homecoming celebration.

The inductees include former athletes Trae Bergh (men’s basketball), Lauren Fitts (women’s golf), Chris Pritchard (men’s golf), Lionel Riley (football and wrestling) and DWU alumnus and former Howard High School wrestling coach Ken Ruml.

The DWU Hall of Fame banquet is planned for 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1 at the DWU’s Sherman Center.

Here’s a look at the complete class:

• Bergh, a 2016 DWU grad, played in 106 total basketball games for the Tigers, starting in 98. He was a two-time GPAC All-Conference honoree, including a first-team selection in 2016. Bergh, a Crooks native who now lives in Dakota Dunes, made his mark as a 3-point shooter, draining 329 of them in his four years as a Tiger and earned NAIA All-America first-team honors in 2016. He scored 1,809 points, including 734 in his final season for DWU. In 2015, Bergh was a key cog in the Tigers’ run to the NAIA championship game and he won the national Emil Liston award in 2014 for high basketball and academic achievement. 
• Fitts, a 2016 DWU graduate, was a four-time GPAC women’s golfer of the year and holds the school records for 18, 36 and 54-hole rounds, plus was a member of the team records in tournaments of those same lengths. Fitts, a Brookings High School graduate who currently lives in Cedar Falls, Iowa, helped DWU continue a run of 13 consecutive appearances at the NAIA tournament as a team and in the 2015-16 season, Fitts recorded six wins in 12 tournaments. 
• Pritchard, a 2011 DWU graduate, was an all-GPAC first-team pick twice and carded 170 birdies in his Tiger career. Pritchard, who resides in Belle Fourche but is a native of Wales, was an all-North region selection in 2010, qualifying for the NAIA national tournament twice as a Tiger team member, including for the first time in program history as a team in 2009. He also holds the program record for rounds played with 92. 
• Riley, a 2007 DWU graduate, was a two-sport athlete in both football and wrestling. Throughout Riley's four years on the Tiger football team, he tallied 188 tackles and six sacks in 31 games, earning all-GPAC first-team honors in 2006. On the mat, Riley — who lives in Chicago — wrestled in the heavyweight class for three seasons, reaching NAIA nationals twice and earning All-America honors in 2006 with an eighth place. In 2007, he won the GPAC heavyweight title in Mitchell while wrestling with a cast on his arm.
• Ruml, a 1971 DWU graduate, was named the DWU High School Coach of the Year in 1996 and served as the head wrestling coach at Howard for more than 27 years with more than 200 wins and fewer than 60 losses. Ruml's teams secured three state titles, a pair of second-place finishes and three third-place finishes, coaching 18 state champions during his tenure.