The postseason accolades continue to roll in for Chadron State senior LB Kevin Lindholm as he was named today to the 2012 Daktronics All-America First Team. Also recognized was Eagles junior safety Trelan Taylor, who earned second team honors.
The All-American teams are sponsored by Daktronics and selected by the NCAA Division II members of CoSIDA…the College Sports Information Directors of America
Lindholm, a native of Eads, Colo., and a three-time Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference First-Team selection and this year’s RMAC Defensive Player of the Year, led the Eagles with 122 tackles this season, including 20.5 tackles for a loss, 4.5 sacks, and three fumble recoveries.
Lindholm, also a First-Team All-American for Beyond Sports Network, finished his career with 299 tackles, the 9th most in school history, while his 37.5 tackles for loss ranks him fifth at CSC.
Taylor, a native of San Diego, finished the season as the RMAC leader in interceptions with 8 and he was the Eagles’ third-leading tackler with 74. He also forced two fumbles and was named to the all-conference first team on defense and the all-conference third team at punt returner.
For the season, Taylor averaged 12.2 yards on 22 punt returns and he tied a school record by scoring on an 86-yard punt return. He also returned an interception for a touchdown and compiled 376 all-purpose yards.
Five other players from the RMAC were named Daktronics 1st-Team All-Americans: TE Dave Pawelek and punter Taylor Acardi of Colo Mines, CB Abduhl Kenneh and LB Jordan Campbell of New Mexico Highlands, and OT Ryan Jensen of CSU-Pueblo.
CSU-Pueblo CB C-J Roberts was the only RMAC player besides Taylor to earn 2nd-Team All-American honors. West Texas, which beat the Eagles 38-30 in the playoffs, had 3 First-Teamers while Wayne State’s Randy Weich was the 2nd-team punter.
Shippensburg junior quarterback Zach Zulli and West Texas A&M junior defensive lineman Ethan Westbrooks are the 2012 Daktronics All-America Ron Lenz Players of the Year.
At the 2012 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas…Dean Gorsuch of Gering…has been pushed out of 1st in steer wrestling by defending world champion Luke Branquinho of California.
Each of the 10 NFR rounds pays the winner $18,257…which goes toward the World Championship standings. The average scores or times from the 10 rounds determine the WNFR winner, who earns another $46,820. World Champions are determined by adding together a contestant’s WNFR and regular season earning
Only the top 6 finishers in each round win any money and Branquino was 2nd in last night’s 5th round, while Gorsuch finished out of the money for the third straight round. The 2-time world champion is $12,000 behind Branquino at $116,000
Another steer wrestler from the region, Todd Suhn of Hermosa, SD, also finished out of the money last night and is 12th at $72,319…just over $600 out of 11th
Bareback rider Steven Dent of Mullen saw his Las Vegas nightmare continue last night as he was bucked off, keeping him without any earnings at the halfway point. Dent started the WNFR 2nd bareback riding…just $900 out of 1st…but now finds himself 4th…$51,000 out of 1st and about $7,100 behind 3rd place J.R. Vezain of Cowley, Wy.
Three Nebraska and South Dakota cowboys whose first names all start with the letter “C” sit 7-10-11 in saddle broncs. Cole Elsher of Faith, SD, has nearly $95,000 after winning last night’s 5th round while Cort Scheer of Elsmere, NE, and 2006 world champ Chad Ferley of Oelrichs were among the 12 riders bucked off. Scheer has $82,000 and Ferley $74,000.
In barrel racing, Lisa Lockhart of Oelrich placed for the 3rd straight round…finishing 6th…while Trula Churchill of Valentine made money for the first time, finishing 2nd and missing 1st by 1-100th of a second. Churchill jumped to $75,000 while Lockhart has $91,000.
Perennial champion Trevor Brazile set three more records last with a 3rd-place finish in Team Roping as he clinched the All-Around World Championship.
It’s Brazile’s 10th All-Around buckle and 7th straight, both records, and gives him 17 buckles overall…including 3 in Steer Roping, 3 in Tie-Down Roping, and 1 in Team Roping.
That’s a record for a multi-event cowboy and 1 behind the overall record 18 by legendary Steer Roping specialist Guy Allen for the most championship buckles overall with 18. If Brazile and his roping partner can claim that title, he’ll be the first cowboy with multiple world championships in 4 different categories.
CHADRON – Chadron State College interim volleyball coach Janel Baily has signed two high school seniors, including a Chadron High standout, to National Letters of Intent, and says a junior college transfer will also be joining the Eagles.
The two high school seniors are Alia Brennan, a 5-foot-11 middle hitter from Chadron, and Shelby Gardner, a setter from Colby, Kan. Both recruits have a CSC heritage. Brennan will be the third generation from her family to attend the college and Gardner’s father, Chris, played football for the Eagles.
The junior college transfer, who will be joining the Eagles at the start of the spring semester is Hanna Flaming, a 5-foot-11 National Junior College Athletic Association Division II All-American outside hitter from Butler Community College.
“We are excited,” Baily said. “Alia and Shelby are both great students and extremely athletic and ready for the challenge of competing collegiately. Both of these girls were raised cheering for CSC and I’m pleased they have decided to become part of the Eagle family.”
In the fall, Brennan, who earned three letters in volleyball, helped guide the Cardinals to a 27-4 record and an appearance at the Nebraska State Volleyball Tournament in November. She was a two-time honorable mention all-state selection and all-conference as a junior and senior.
“Alia is a great grab for us because I know she will love Chadron but also because she is extremely athletic, competitive and loves to be coached,” Baily said.
Gardner, a four-year starter and three-time captain at Colby High, played on teams that compiled a record of 90-57 during her career. She was a three-time all-league selection and the Liberal Tournament MVP in 2011. “Shelby is a well-trained setter capable of running a quick 5-1 offense and will be fighting for playing time right away,” Baily said.
Gardner is also a talented thrower for the Colby track and field team and has been her high school’s Female Thrower of the Year twice.
Flaming, a native of Benton, Kan., led Butler to a 31-7 record and finished the season with 292 kills and hit .274, while adding 223 digs and 55 blocks. She was also an all-conference and academic all-conference choice at Butler. “I’m excited to have a player of Hanna’s caliber come in and she’s going to help us out a lot,” Baily said.
In high school, Flaming was a three-time all-state selection and also earned all-conference honors in basketball and softball.
Baily expects to sign more student-athletes on April 17, the national signing date.
The Lady Cardinals got out to a large lead in Monday Night’s game against Hot Springs and never looked back. By halftime the Cardinals were winning by 30 points 46 – 16. The Lady Cardinals were able to dominate the Lady Bison by the end of the third quarter the score was 65 – 19. Chadron scored 9 more to have a final score of 74 – 23.
Their were three Cardinals with 14 points Alia Brennan, Briley Hannaford and Ashlea Kerr, and Peyton Hinn finished the night with 10 points.
The Chadron Boys evened their record to 3 – 3 on Monday night as Bo Westlake and Spencer Eiliason both had double doubles. Eiliason scored 15 points and 17 rebounds, while Westlake added 14 points and brought down 17 rebounds.
The Cardinals dominated early leading 27 – 9 at halftime. Hot Springs cut the deficit in half, trailing by just 9 at the end of the 3rd quarter, but Chadron held off the Bison the rest of the way to a 49 -39 win.
Chadron is now 3 – 3, and will host Scottsbulff on Friday December 14th. Scottsbluff beat Chadron 57 – 39, back on November 29th.
The Girls and Boys will host Scottsbulff on Friday December 14th.
The Chadron boys basketball team split a pair of games over the weekend. They won their home opener Friday 55-35 over Gordon-Rushville, then falling Saturday at Torrington 56-51. The Cardinals are now 2-3 on the year.
The Gordon-Rushville game was all Chadron from the beginning, as the Cardinals jumped out to a 13 – 2 lead and never looked back. They kept the lead at 11 at halftime 23 – 12, and pushed it to 40-26 at the end of the third quarter.
Spencer Eiliason and Cy Rayhill led the Cardinals in scoring with 14 points apiece. Bo Westlake had 9 while Von Sayaloune scored 8. For Gordon-Rushville, Trevor Standing Soldier scored 22 points of the Mustangs 35 points.
In the Torrington game, Chadron fell behind early trailed 35 – 19 at halftime. The Cardinals rallied after the break, but fell short as they lost by 5.
Chadron Boys and Girls will play at Hot Springs tonight, Monday December 10th.
Ashlea Kerr defends against Gordon-Rushville – Courtesy of Con Marshall
The Chadron Lady Cardinals remain unbeaten over the weekend with two victories that pushed their record to 5-0. Chadron beat Gordon-Rushville Friday night 65 – 31 in their home opener, then went to Torrington on Saturday and beat the Trailblazers 73-43.
The Cardinals got off to a fast start Friday against the Mustangs, building a lead of 11 after the first quarter and pulling away to 26 at the half 38-12 and 36 after three quarters before settling for the 34 point win.
The Cardinals were led in scoring Alia Brennan with 14 points, Ashlea Kerr had 13, Peyton Hinn chipped in with 10, while Bailea Kerr had 8. Brandi Roth led the Mustangs in scoring with 9 points.
Chadron had cruised to an easy 80-26 win over Torrington a week earlier in the season-opening Western Conference Invitational and did pretty much the same Saturday.
Torrington stayed close in the first period, trailing only 18-10, but the margin eventually grew to 35 before settling to 30 at the close. Ashlea Kerr led Chadron with 17 points and 9 rebounds, while Peyton Hinn added 15 points.
The Chadron boys and girls travel to Hot Springs tonight, December 10th.
ABERDEEN, S.D — Chadron State tied Northern State University on the mat 20-20 Saturday night in Aberdeen, SD, but it goes down in the books as a victory by the Wolves on criteria as Northern State came up with a pine and the technical fall while the Eagles had just 1 pin
The outcomes in the first and last matches made the difference. In the opener, Northern State’s 125 pounder Anthony Bruno, took a 15-0 technical fall over true freshman Jace Johnson while the final match saw defending two-time NCAA Division II national champion, Matt Meuleners, pin the Eagles’ Michael Hill.
This was the first time Hill, who is now 14-4 for the season, has been pinned this season.
Chadron State earned bonus points in three of its matches, a pin from Leandro Arias at 141 points and major decisions by Perry McAfee…12-3 at 133…and Chris Leak 11-2 at 197 pounds.
Chadron State’s other wins came at 174 pounds, where Tyler Smart won a 6-5 decision, and at 184, where Jordan Debus was a 10-7 winner.
CSC was missing 3 regulars because of injury or illness…including 174-pound Bret Klopp, who reinjured a knee during the dual with Dickinson State on Wednesday night. CSC coach Brett Hunter was particularly pleased with Smart’s performance in moving up a weight class to fill in for Klopp.
The Eagles are now off for the holidays, returning to action January 4th and 5th with 5 duals in the Phoenix area.
125—Anthony Bruno, NSU, tech. fall Jace Johnson, 15-0.
133—Perry McAfee, CSC, major dec. Tyler Frost, 12-3.
141—Leandro Arias, CSC, pinned Ian Muirhead, 6:50.
149—Gavin Larsen, NSU, dec. Jesse Larralde, 8-4.
157—Neil Sell, NSU, dec. Bryce Wiedeman, 7-3.
165—Blake Lundren, NSU, dec. Dylan Fors, 3-1.
174—Tyler Smart, CSC, dec. Anthony Navarro, 6-5.
184—Jordan Debus, CSC, dec. Chad Gibson, 10-7.
197—Chris Leak, CSC, major dec. Baker Haar, 11-2.
Hwt—Matt Meuleners, NSU, pinned Michael Hill 4:59.
SPEARFISH, S.D. – It didn’t take Skylar Hoopes long to get his name in the Chadron State College record book.
Skylar Hoopes
Hoopes cleared 15 feet, 5 inches in the pole vault on Saturday while making his college debut with the Eagles at the Yellow Jacket Holiday Classic hosted by Black Hills State University. The old CSC record of 15-3 was set by James Hobson in 2001.
Hoopes is a 23-year-old redshirt freshman who graduated from Niobrara County High School at Lusk, Wyo., in 2008 but then spent 2 years on a Mormon Church mission.
He enrolled at Chadron State last fall and practiced with the Eagle track team, but did not compete while chipping away the rust from being away from athletics.
The men’s pole vault was one of 15 events that the Eagles won during the meet, which included athletes from South Dakota Mines and Montana State-Billings as well as CSC and host Black HIlls State.
A Chadron State athlete also won the women’s pole vault when senior Kaelie Jelden exceeded her previous career best by two inches by clearing 11-5 ¾.
Junior Alyssa Norton also had a career-best while winning the shot put with a throw of 46-5. That’s more than two feet farther than her previous best, which came three years ago. Norton also was second in the 20-pound weight throw at 51-7 ¼.
Several other Chadron State athletes also had some excellent marks Saturday.
For instance, sophomore Charith Kapukotuwa won the 35-pound weight throw with a mark of 59-4 ¼. That’s two feet, 10 ½ inches farther than his previous best. The only Chadron State athlete with a better mark is Doug Lytle, who set the school record of 60-1 ½ in 1996.
In addition, CSC junior Alex Graham won the 60-meter dash in 6.75 seconds, just one-hundredth of a second shy of the school record he set last winter.
The Eagles also won five more men’s events on the track. The winners were Dean Francis, 200; Xavier Kvistad, 400; Alex Johnson, 800; Lanar Newman, 60 high hurdles; and the 4×400 relay team.
Newman also was second in the long jump with a mark of 22-5 ¼.
CSC senior Trae Patch won both the women’s 60 and 200-meter dashes to emerge as the meet’s only double winner.
Jazz and Shelby Bozner, siblings from Rock Springs, Wyo., were on Chadron State’s list of event winners. Jazz won the men’s heptathlon and Shelby captured the women’s pentathlon.
Shelby also ran on the Lady Eagles’ first place 4×400-meter relay and was third in the high hurdles.
CSC will return to Spearfish for the Dave Little Invitational Meet on Jan. 26 for its next action.
Gritt Ryder poured in 26 points and the 6th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College basketball team remained unbeaten with a 92-44 win over Air Force Prep in the final day of the Lady Cougar Holiday Classic Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace.
The 90-point explosion was also the Cougars fifth straight game scoring 90 or more points. In Saturday’s win the Cougars placed four players in double figures and shot 47 percent from the field.
Behind Ryder’s 26 points was Shalisa Moffit with 16 points, Laurin Rivera with 14 points, and Ashley Stevens with 10 points.
Brower, who scored just two points but put down a team-leading six rebounds, said it is nice running the offense from her point guard position with an offense like they have.
“Our offense is great because depending on what day, we can do many things. Depending on what the defense does, we can change our offense.
Defensively, the Cougars put together another stellar offense. The Cougars have held their opponents to under 50 points for the 13th time in 14 games played. Brower said they pride themselves on their defense.
“Playing tight defense is what we like,” she said. “We like to play up-in-your-face defense and give it all you got when in the game. When we are in there, we just play as hard as we can on defense. That will then transfer to what we do on offense.”
Overall, Brower said this team plays hard on both offense and defense and a key for the Cougars in not only Saturday’s win but their other 13 wins is playing as a team.
“It feels good to be 14-0 but we still have to stay focused and not let that get to our heads,” said.
They definitely played a solid game once again as nine players finished in the scoring column and the bench scored 38 points. The Cougars also had 26 points in the paint. WNCC also dished out 16 assists, led by Moffit and Rivera with four each and those assists led the team to connect on eight 3-pointers.
Four of the team’s eight 3-pointers came from Ryder, who was 4 of 6 from beyond the arc. Rivera pitched in three treys, while Maurissa Ortega had the other bomb.
The Cougars started early once again, running out to a 12-0 lead and pushed it to 28-3 on a Ashley Stevens old-fashioned three-point play. WNCC continued paying strong in racing to a 44-16 halftime lead.
The second half was all WNCC. The Cougars went up 55-20 after back-to-back 3-pointers by Ryder. Then, leading 66-31, the Cougars went on a 11-0 run that included Ortega’s trey for a 77-31 lead and they cruised to the 92-44 win.
Brower said this team has grown leaps and bounds from the beginning of the year.
“I would say this team has improved a lot and I would say I have. Since the first day of practice I feel more comfortable.
The Torrington High graduate added that the college game is so much faster than the high school game.
“This is a lot faster than my high school but I feel like we all are doing good and we are just working hard,” she said. ”
WNCC will wrap up the first semester on Tuesday when they travel to Longmont, Colo., to face the Colorado Christian University junior varsity before taking a three-week break for Christmas. WNCC will then return to action Jan. 7 when they face Northwest Kansas Technical College at Goodland, Kan.
Brower said they have to play well to finish off the first semester unbeaten.
“We just need to keep focused and play like we are right now,” Brower said. “We have to keep on this roll. Like Coach Harnish always says, remember where we came from, how we got here through hard work and everything, so we just have to keep that up.”
Air Force Prep 16 38 44
WNCC (14-0) 44 48 92
AIR FORCE PREP
Myah Jackson 5, Taylor Ashley Shaw 7, Callie Brown 2, Mo Hall 11, Yasmine Ebanks 6, Angela Goodman 2, Dee Mullins 8, Ashley Lundun 3.
