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Nov. 18, 2021 | The Eagle | csceagle.com Sports
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As of Nov. 17, 2021 1. Black Hills State 2. MSU-Denver 3. UCCS 4. New Mexico Highlands 5. Fort Lewis 6. Regis 7. South Dakota Mines 8. Westminster 9. Colorado Mesa 10. Adams State 11. CHADRON STATE
2021-22 SEASON WOMEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS
As of Nov. 17, 2021
1. Colorado Mesa 2. Colorado Mines 3. Regis 4. Black Hills State 5. CSU-Pueblo 6. MSU-Denver 7. Western 8. Adams State 9. New Mexico Highlands 10. CHADRON STATE
Photo by Mackenzie Dahlberg Cole Thurness, senior of Rapid City, South Dakota, falls toward the field during a carry while Yellow Jacket Lathen Stevens, senior of Edgemont, South Dakota, holds onto Thurness’ ankle for a tackle during the last football game of the season, Saturday afternoon at Lyle Hare Stadium in Spearfish, South Dakota.
Senior duo breaks CSC football records
u By Mackenzie Dahlberg
Sports Editor
Dalton Holst, graduate of Gillette, Wyoming, and Cole Thurness, senior of Rapid City, South Dakota, wrapped up their Eagle careers, breaking Chadron State College career records and taking their final win against Black Hills State University, 57-6.
“When the season started, we knew that Dalton was going to have his name all up and down the record books and Cole also had an opportunity,” Jay Long, head football coach, said. “We knew they need to have a good year.”
Holst capped off his time as an Eagle by beating the career passing touch-
Athletes Weekof the
Dalton Holst
Hometown: Gillette, Wyoming Class: Graduate Sport: Football
Holst broke CSC’s career passing touchdowns record with 97 and received RMAC Offensive Player of the Week. He threw four touchdowns and 236 yards during his last game as an Eagle against Black Hills State University. downs with 97, throwing four against BHSU Saturday. This season, he also became CSC’s career passing yards record holder during the Eagles’ victory against New Mexico Highlands.
Jonn McLain previously held the record with 94 passing touchdowns when he played for Chadron State from 2009 to 2014.
Holst’s career of passing touchdowns and 11,529 career passing yards placed him as number four all-time in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC).
Holst said that he’s been able to play with some amazing receivers, running backs, and offensive linemen, and without those players like the offensive linemen blocking well, he wouldn’t have been able to get the ball off as much. Please see, Football, page 15
Cole Thurness
Hometown: Rapid City, South Dakota Class: Senior Sport: Football
Thurness broke CSC’s career receptions with 191 catches and tied CSC’s career touchdown receptions with 26. On Saturday against Black Hills State University, he caught eight passes, two of which led to touchdowns
Sports
Photo by Mackenzie Dahlberg
Amelia Berg, front, senior of Fort Collins, Colorado, passes the ball while her teammates Aracely Hernandez, middle, senior of Greeley, Colorado, and Rylee Greiman, junior of Windsor, Colorado, watch behind her during CSC’s last volleyball game of the season, Saturday evening against Black Hills State University in the Donald E. Young Center in Spearfish, South Dakota.
Eagles volleyball season ends with a sting
u By Mackenzie Dahlberg
Sports Editor
The Eagles took on South Dakota rivals for their last two matches of the season but were shutout by both South Dakota School of Mines, Friday, and Black Hills State University, Saturday.
“We played well defensively, got some good block touches, got some really good defensive digs, extending some of the rallies,” Jennifer Stadler, head volleyball coach, said. “We had a lot of hitting errors this weekend. So, we were unable to capitalize on playing well defensively.”
The closest Chadron State was to taking a set over the weekend was their first set Friday against South Dakota Mines, 25-21. Amelia Berg, senior of Fort Collins, Colorado, had seven of her nine total kills in that set against the Hardrockers.
Saturday had a troubling start for the Eagles with the first two sets being taken by BHSU, 2516 and 25-13.
In the last set its season, CSC started off with kills from Olivia Moten-Schell, sophomore of Billings, Montana, Audrey Bennett, freshman of Lenexa, Kansas, and Rylee Greiman, junior of Windsor, Colorado, along with attack errors from the Yellow Jackets putting the Eagles in the lead, 5-3.
Soon after, BHSU came back to tie at five points before taking the lead. Despite the lead shift, CSC kept the score close to even tie the score again at 11s following an attack error from Yellow Jacket Madison Hoopman, junior of Douglas, Wyoming.
“Overall, I think everyone did pretty good in the end of the season,” Bennett said. “Whether you played or not, it showed how much everyone cares for this team.”
The Yellow Jackets broke away from the Eagles with a kill by Mariah Robinson, redshirt sophomore of Buffalo, Wyoming, an Eagle attack error, a Black Hills ace and another kill from Robinson to move the score up to 19-13.
The Eagle broke up BHSU’s point rally with a kill by Greiman set up by Berg, as the end of the season drew closer with each point. Berg and Aiyana Fujiyama, freshman of Wahiawa, Hawaii, blocked an attack resulting in a Yellow Jacket error to score the last point for Eagles, still sitting behind 24-18.
The Eagles’ season came to an end with a kill from Hoopman, capping of the Eagles season with a loss to one of the teams they had beat in five sets at home.
Throughout both games, Bennett shifted from setter to a hitting position. She had five kills and 16 assists on Friday and 15 assists on Saturday.
Leading Saturday for the Eagles, Greiman had seven kills. She also tied in the lead with nine digs along with Aracely Hernandez, senior of Greeley, Colorado, playing her last game.
“It’s always hard to see seniors go, no matter when it is,” Jennifer Stadler, head volleyball coach, said. “I think it’s especially harder when we haven’t had the best season and then also not playing to the best of our abilities. All four of them have put a lot of heart, soul and hard work into the program. So, their work ethic and their leadership are definitely going to be missed.”
Berg, Hernandez, Alli Keisel, senior of Fleming, Colorado, and Kincaid Strain, senior of Elk River, Minnesota, finished their carriers with the Eagles, leaving the volleyball court for the last time.
Women wrestlers finish strong at first meet
u By Mackenzie Dahlberg
Sports Editor
Chadron State women’s wrestling team started its program with five wrestlers competing at the Colorado Mesa Open, Saturday. One wrestler finished with a bronze medal and two wrestlers were one round away from placing.
“This was better than the start I expected,” Alijah Jeffery, head women’s wrestling coach, said. “Usually, you see those pre-mat jitters, especially that first tournament, going out there and kind of freezing up. There was none of that. Everyone went out there, wrestled hard right away and was full of confidence.”
Kamila Montenegro, junior of Las Vegas, won five of her six matches to finish third in the 170-pound bracket. She pinned her first opponent then took her only loss of the day by decision, 8-4. Montenegro returned to the mat to pin her remaining opponents in a range of times. For her last match, she faced her first opponent again, Courtney Cardoza, freshman of Ottawa University Arizona, and pinned her just shy of three minutes.
“Not only did she (Montenegro) have a great performance, I know in the past she had struggled with getting out of position or being a little bit more reckless in a match,” Jeffery said. “What I saw from her is she’s very aware of her style and what was going to work for her. Six matches in a day is a lot, and she kept it together and wrestled strong.”
Taylor Lindstrom, freshman of Rapid City, South Dakota, made it to the third round of the 101-weight class, finishing one match shy of placing. All of her matches were technical falls with Lindstrom being on both side of the outcome. She lost her first and third matches, 10-0 and 17-6 respectively, but won her second match against teammate Kinsey Smith, junior of Windsor, Colorado, 12-2.
Lindstrom said it’s a really great experience to be a member of the first CSC women’s wrestling team.
14 Nov. 18, 2021 | The Eagle | csceagle.com Sports
Eagles get left in the dust
u By Mackenzie Dahlberg
Sports Editor
Chadron State men’s basketball team faced teams from the Lone Star State at home, taking its first two losses of the season.
“I think the biggest thing that we’re taking away from the weekend is we have to be more fundamentally sound and not shoot ourselves in the foot offensively with silly turnovers that are unforced,” Shane Paben, head men’s basketball coach, said. “We also have to make sure our rotations on defense are better and just play with a little more intensity on defense.”
CSC started against Texas A&M International University with the lead changing five times throughout the game but were unable to keep the lead at the end, 82-73.
The Eagles drove to cut down the Dustdevils’ lead as the clock counted down.
Chadron State momentarily held onto a one-point lead four and a half minutes into the half following a three-pointer from CJ Jennings, senior of Colorado Springs, Colorado, who returned to the court after being unable to play last year.
“It felt good being back on the court,” Jennings said. “We didn’t get the results we wanted but we’re hoping to learn from our mistakes this past weekend.”
Less than 30 seconds later, the lead was lost to Dustdevil Tyrese Davis, sophomore of Dallas, with a layup in the paint.
The Eagles closed in again with under two minutes left with a good layup from Teddy Parham, Jr., junior of Los Angeles, shortening the point gap to five points.
The Dustdevils were able to break away from the Eagles in the end, taking the win Friday by nine points.
Jennings led the Eagles with 22 points and Parham was second with 14 points. Jennings made four of eight shots from the arc and was nine of 13 for field goals.
Parham was 100% with four shots from the free-throw line. He made two of three shots from the arc and four of seven within the arc. He also led the night with six rebounds for the Eagles, four of which were offensive.
Mason Hiemstra, junior of Alliance, was another Eagle that scored in the double digits with 11 points. He made his only threepoint attempt, and he was two of three from the free-throw line and four of nine in the field goal range.
The Eagles returned to the court on Saturday against Texas A&M University-Kingsville and began their season 0-2 in a 10-point loss, 84-74.
Parham led the Eagle with five field goals, two free throws, and three three-pointers for 15 points.
Jennings was close behind with the same number of three-pointers, along with a free throw and four two-pointers for 12 total points. Jennings was the leader for rebounds with seven rebounds, six of them being defensive.
Brady Delimont, senior of Ainsworth, and Porter Anderson, sophomore of Russellville, Arkansas, were two other eagles that reached 11 points. Delimont made three two-point shots, three shots from the arc and two from the free throw line while Anderson made four field goals along with three free throws.
“I think we played nervous opening weekend, which is to be expected but as a whole we need to be more lose out on the court,” Jennings said.
The men’s basketball team ventured to Kearney to play the University of Nebraska-Kearney, 6 p.m., Wednesday.
CSC was trampled by the Lopers 79-58, moving its record to 0-3.
Jennings and Hiemstra tied in the lead for the Eagles with 12 points. Jennings made four of his 11 field goals, two of six shots from the arc and made both of his free-throws.
Jennings also led in rebounds with four, two of each.
Hiemstra made four shots for two-points and four shots from the free-throw line.
The Eagles travel to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to play the University of Sioux Fall at 6 p.m., Friday.
Women’s wrestling, from page 13
“I’m glad we are here to represent Chadron and be the start of a really good program,” she said. “And all the support behind us is amazing, we love the attention this program is bringing to not only our college but Nebraska and other surrounding states and I’m sure there will be women’s wrestling teams all over in the near future.”
Karstin Hollen, freshman of Mesa, Arizona, was also one round away from placing at 143 pounds. Hollen was pinned in her first match in 42 seconds but put up a fight against Kairah Castillo of Black Widow Wrestling Club, finishing the match tied 6-6, but taking the loss due to match criteria.
“I was impressed by everybody,” Jeffery said. “We had talked leading up to this first competition about not being concerned about wins or loses but being concerned about going out there and trying things and trying to score points and everyone on the team did that.
He said that both Lindstrom and Hollen are right there and once they make a few tweaks and get more comfortable with freestyle wrestling and the mat, they’ll be just fine.
The Eagles competes in the Lindenwood Open, Sunday at St. Charles, Missouri.
“Hopefully we can get some more wins and produce some more placers,” Jeffery said. “We’re heading in the right direction so we’re just going to keep working hard.”
Photo by Mackenzie Dahlberg CJ Jennings, senior of Colorado Springs, Colorado, goes up for a layup against Dustdevil defender Tyrese Davis, sophomore of Dallas, during the men’s basketball game against Texas A&M International University, Friday evening in the Chicoine Center.
Sports
Photo by Mackenzie Dahlberg Jori Peters, senior of Mitchell, holds the ball close during women’s basketball practice, Monday, Nov. 1 in the Armstrong Gym.
Things go south for CSC women’s basketball in the south
u By Mackenzie Dahlberg
Sports Editor
Chadron State women’s basketball team traveled to Texas to start off their season against two A&M teams, taking losses against both.
“We made some adjustments,” Janet Raymer, head women’s basketball coach, said. “I think the atmosphere that the girls created was positive. Sometimes, when you’re losing a game, it’s hard to bring energy and to get energy from the bench and from the first game to the second game, we improved that a lot.”
The Eagles held onto the lead for the first half of their Friday game against Texas A&M University-Kingsville, 2723, but were unable to put points on the board in the third quarter, losing to the Javelinas, 58-51.
The scoring for CSC started with a three-pointer from Jori Peters, senior of Mitchell, about two minutes into the game. Tatum Peterson, senior of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, extended the early lead to five points with a shot in the paint.
In the first half of play, the biggest lead the Eagles had against the Javelinas was 12 points following a three pointer from Ashayla Powers, freshman of Longmont, Colorado, with four and a half minutes left of the half.
Texas A&M-Kingsville took the lead a minute and a half into the third quarter and kept the Eagles at zero points throughout the quarter, remaining in the lead for the rest of the game.
Friday’s game saw three Eagles score 10 or more points. Powers led the Eagles with five field goals, a three-pointer and three free-throws for 14 points.
Peterson had 11 points, three from the free-throw line and four field goals, and Samiyah Worrell, junior of Fountain, Colorado, scored 10 points with three two-pointers, two free throws and two from the arc.
Powers also led the Eagles with 10 rebounds, three offensive and seven defensive.
“It’s expected and she (Powers) made some adjustments to try and keep herself out of foul trouble,” Stadler said. “She has a high ceiling so she’s going to continue to improve for us. She’ll be fun to watch.”
Against Texas A&M International University on Saturday, Chadron State outscored the Dustdevils in the fourth quarter, 25-20, but were unable to take game, 92-72.
Powers was the first player from either team to start the scoring back up in the fourth quarter with a jump shot in the paint with 8:36 left of the game.
Elle Ravenscroft, freshman of Nenzel, made a jumper to put the Eagles 21 points away from the Dustdevils.
That was one of the moments with the smallest point gap of the quarter until Brittni McCully, senior of Mullen, finished the game with a field goal, reducing the point gap 20 points with three seconds left on the clock.
Powers and Emily Achter, junior of Melbourne, Australia, were the only Eagles to reach double digits on Saturday for points. Powers scored 16 while Achter scored 11.
“We’re trying to do a better job with our offense, being more direct in what we’re trying to get done and then defensively have a stronger presence,” Stadler said.
CSC women’s basketball team continues its travels, this time to play against Wayne State University at 6:30 p.m., Thursday in Wayne. Football, from page 12
“It was one I didn’t really know like how far away it was or what needed to be done,” He said. “I’ve just been able to play with so many great players in my career. That’s a credit to my teammates throughout the years, they’ve been amazing.”
Thurness received eight passes from Holst of Saturday allowing the wide receiver to set the career receptions record at 191, passing Cory Brooks’ record of 188 from 1992 to 1995. Thurness was able to tie the college’s career receiving touchdowns at 26 with Tevon Wright, of Miami, Florida, who played from 2016 to 2019.
“It was awesome to see him (Thurness) get that record; I knew he was kind of close,” Holst said. “He’s just a guy that we relied on over the years just because of his great hands to catch the ball in traffic. He had a great career here and I’m excited to see what the future holds for him.”
Against the Yellow Jackets, the duo (Holst and Thurness) scored the first touchdown in the second quarter with a one-yard pass from Holst to Thurness, moving the Eagles lead to 16-6 with an extra point kick from Gunnar Jones, senior of Florence, Alabama.
Four minutes later, Jeydon Cox, redshirt freshman of Jackson, Wyoming, rushed in a 17-yard touchdown, his second one of the game after scoring the first six points for the Eagles in the first quarter.
Holst connected with two other receivers for his next two touchdown throws, Ahlonte Hair, sophomore of Live Oak, Florida, for a 71-yard pass in the second quarter and Chad Mikelson, senior of Julesburg, Colorado, for 38 yards with about a minute left in the third quarter.
The two touchdowns were spaced between kicked points by Jones who made all three of his field goal and six extra point attempts, despite it being a windy day.
“Winning our last three or four games was really big for us,” Long said. “Our motto is always to finish. I thought that we finished this season on a strong note and I’m really proud of our seniors for doing that with us.”
Holst threw to Thurness once more for a four-yard touchdown during the first drive of the fourth quarter, and the quarterback was taken out shortly after to officially finish his Eagle football career.
The Eagles accomplished a clean sweep of the final 2021 RMAC Football Players of the Week.
Long said he doesn’t know if he’s seen a clean sweep in the RMAC before, and that it was pretty neat to experience for our guys, especially with how well the three played and how well all three phases played on Saturday.
Holst received Offensive Player of the Week for his game, throwing 236 yards and four touchdowns.
Jones took specials teams for the third time this season, scoring 15 of the 57 points scored against BHSU and having a kickoff average of 55.7 yards.
Joey Geil, sophomore of Casper, Wyoming, finished as the Defensive Player of the Week with 10 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter.
CSC football moves into the off season of recruiting, before restarting their training in January to build themselves up for the 2022 season while seniors say good-bye.
Along with the two records he set this year, Holst already held two carrier records of passing yards per game and total offense per game. He also has four CSC season records of passing attempts, passing yards, passing touchdowns and total offense.
“I’ve loved my time at Chadron,” Holst said. “I wouldn’t even start to speculate what my career would been like. There will always be some more wins and some games you’d like to maybe change the outcome of but honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
16 Nov. 18, 2021 | The Eagle | csceagle.com Sports
Photo by Mackenzie Dahlberg Quade Smith, freshman of Layton, Utah, pulls his opponent down toward the mat during the men’s wrestling dual against Northeastern Junior College, Nov. 1 in the Chicoine Center.
Eagles wrestle in two places
u By Mackenzie Dahlberg
Sports Editor
The men’s wrestling team competed at two different locations, the first against the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Lincoln, Thursday, and another at the Dakota Wesleyan Open, in Mitchell, South Dakota, Saturday.
Facing off against the Huskers, the Eagles only won two of the 10 duals to take their first loss of the season, 31-9.
“Wrestling a Division I power like Nebraska, it was encouraging to see our guys wrestle hard,” Brett Hunter, head men’s wrestling coach, said. “The effort was there and that’s probably what I’m most excited for moving forward is the effort. I thought they did a good job with that.”
Quade Smith, freshman of Layton, Utah, pinned his Husker opponent Jeremiah Reno, freshman of Kansas City, Missouri, in the third period to start the day strong for the Eagles, scoring six team points.
“When the ref called the pin, I was super excited that I had beat the kid more than anything,” Smith said. “It made me feel more confident in my abilities to help this team succeed and made me feel good about my potential to come.”
Smith received the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Wrestler of the Week honors due to his strong performance against Reno.
Adding three more points for the Eagles was Eli Hinojosa, redshirt junior of Imperial, who wrestled for a decision win, 6-2.
The closest Eagle to taking his match was Darwin Hull, freshman of Schertz, Texas, who took a decision loss by one point to Tahjae Jenkins-Harris, freshman of North Las Vegas, Nevada, 5-4.
Three of the six wrestlers who traveled to Mitchell, South Dakota, split their matches and finished the Dakota Wesleyan Open in the quarterfinals.
Hunter said that because of some confusion, and thinking their wrestlers had an extra pound when in the end they didn’t, put wrestlers in a different weight class than what they should’ve been in.
“Honestly, I thought they wrestled well, obviously we hoped that they would’ve placed but they’re there to get matches and I think that’s what they did,” he said. “The biggest thing for those guys is to continue to get matches in, so we’re sending guys all over the place every week just to get matches in.”
In the 149-pound bracket, Ethan Leake, redshirt sophomore of Clovis, California, started off his day with two decision wins, 13-6 in his first dual and 11-9 in his second. He finished the tournament 2-2 with a technical fall and a decision loss.
The other two Eagles to have a 2-2 record at the tournament were both in the 285-pound weight class, Terry Winstead, redshirt junior of Harrah, Oklahoma, and Gavin Peitzmeier, redshirt sophomore of Omaha.
Winstead pinned his first opponent a minute and 14 seconds into the match before moving onto his next match to take a major decision win, 9-0. He was then pinned in 24 seconds in his third dual and took a decision loss to Fort Hays State University’s Tony Caldwell, freshman of Wichita, Kansas, in his last match, 9-4.
Peitzmeier started his day with a tie breaker win, 6-3, and his second match was a decision win, 3-1. He then went up against two Southwest Minnesota State University wrestlers and was pinned by Jacob Dykes, junior of Iowa City, Iowa, in his third dual at 1:41 and took a major decision loss to Neil Hanson, senior of Milaca, Minnesota, 11-3.
After the busy weekend, CSC men’s wrestling team continues its schedule for the Holiday Inn Open in Kearney, at 8 a.m., Saturday.
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